What bride doesn't LOVE Inside Weddings magazine? And if you haven't already, you can subscribe to it here. Thank you Walt and Art at Inside Weddings for featuring another one of our beautiful weddings! For brides looking for inspiration, this is the magazine to buy!

It's always an honor to be featured in one of the BEST wedding magazines in the country! Renee and Kevin's wedding was absolutely and simply wonderful. This was our first time photographing a wedding at the incredible Venue Six10. It is perfect venue for gourmet dining and artful entertaining! It was also our first time working with working with Chrissy Magliano at Big City Bride. She was a so comforting. Chrissy has such a calm presence and made the day flow effortlessly. We look forward to working with them a lot this year and feel so blessed to do so!

Wishing you all a wonderful Spring season!!! Being in Chicago, it's amazing to have a 60 degree day today!

xoxoxo!

~ Dawn

We met with Renee and her mom, Barb, at our local Starbucks and we just clicked immediately! I love that Renee has a very laid back approach, which is good since she's an ER physician and knows how to deal with crazy, stressful situations on a daily basis. We talked about how her and her fiancé, Kevin, met and how he proposed, what their plans were for their wedding and why they wanted us to photograph their wedding. We got to know them and laughed a lot, it was wonderful. Barb was so happy for her daughter and you could just see it in her eyes, the way she looked at her daughter, it was beautiful. I knew they we were all a great fit.

Renee and Kevin are a fun couple with a fun attitude and all about sharing experiences together. Their engagement session began at Soldier Field where Renee and Kevin showed off their favorite Bear's players Walter Payton and Brian Urlacher by sporting their jerseys. It was so cute to see Kevin teaching Renee how to throw a football, but I think he enjoyed tackling her more! I love the photos under the columns at the stadium! Ahhhhh, so fun!

Afterwards we headed to Lincoln Park where they showed off their love of winter sports with their skiing and snow boarding gear. It made for some fantastic photos. They kissed under a pale pink sky as the sun set over the Chicago. You just couldn't order better weather! Grant's Memorial made for a castle like backdrop to show off their casual sense of fashion. And for a final shoot they wanted a backlit skyline photo, and those are always a favorite!

I hope you enjoy their engagement session photos as much as we do! Up next will be there wedding which is going to be featured in Inside Weddings magazine's next edition! So very exciting…!

xoxo,

~ Dawn

What an incredible honor to have Ashley Hebert and J.P.'s wedding featured not only in People magazine... and now Inside Weddings Summer 2013 issue.

Ashley and JP are so sweet and just a beautiful couple. We're so honored to have their wedding featured in this gorgeous bridal magazine. Mindy Weiss is one our most favorite Event Planners in the world!!! She did an amazing job bringing this wedding to fruition in such a short period of time. Thank you Walt and Art at Inside Weddings for featuring another one of our beautiful weddings! For brides looking for inspiration, this is the magazine to buy!

It's hard to believe it's been over 8 months since their wedding. Where does the time go? Summer has been crazy fun and we are well into the busy wedding season. Ohhhh, so much I need to blog. I'm a horrible blogger! We have SO MANY incredible photographs to share with you all. I'm so sorry. I keep saying I'm going to get better and then my kids say "Mom, can you take me...." and family wins! What can I say... I'm a mom first.

Ohhhh, remember to stop by to see Ashley & JP's website... it's adorable!

YES! Finally..... and so excited! I know I blogged about this wedding being featured in People magazine in December, well, now it's time to give you an upfront and personal look at their incredibly beautiful wedding.

Here's a recap of that post... "So incredibly excited for so many reasons. I am an avid fan of the TV show The Bachelor + The Bachelorette. It's like, total shut down mode, turn off the lights, red wine in hand, drag my husband with me to watch this show! I mean... doesn't everyone do this? When we got the call from our dear friend, Mindy Weiss, Event Planner extraordinaire, to photograph one of my favorite Bachelorettes of all time, Ashley Hebert's wedding to fiancé, JP Rosenbaum, I was like a school girl all over again! I wanted to shout at the top of my lungs but of course had to keep it all top secret until the wedding was published.

For now, all I can say is WOW, WOW, WOW, how gracious the beautiful Ashley and JP are with each other and everyone they meet. And their families are so sweet. JP's mom.... ohhhh, I just wanted to squeeze her every time I'd see her. And Ashley's sister, five months pregnant and cute as can be. Their little, Boo, was the best behaved puppy ever! She is just adorable. Every single ounce of this wedding was designed with love. From the incredibly beautiful invitations, the 3 gorgeous wedding cakes, flowers galore, Mindy & her team didn't miss a beat. Ashley + JP said "I do" at beautiful Langham Huntington in Pasadena, California. Their wedding was absolutely dreamy.

Ashley + JP thank you so much for all your kind words throughout your wedding.... it was incredibly awesome to hear you ohhhing and ahhhhing over your photos the morning after. We loved that and can't thank you enough for trusting us to capture one of the most important days in your lives. Bob and I wish you so much happiness, I agree with Chris Harrison, you were meant to be!!!

A huge shout out to our 2nd shooter, Christine Bentley, who rocked this wedding with Bob. It was no easy task sharing the floor with TV crews and she did a fantastic job making sure to capture the moments. Thank you girlie, we love you more than you know!

Now on to the photos! We hope you enjoy a little inside peek at their incredible wedding! I always enjoy looking through their photos as it reminds me of how much they are in love, and it inspires Bob and I to be more in love! Oh and check out Ashley + J.P.'s website, so cute!

Wishing everyone a beautiful new week!!!!

With love,

~ Dawn + Bob

Ahhhhh!!!! So excited to see another one of our weddings in the Winter 2013 edition of Inside Weddings. Lizzy & Brett were so excited to hear the news and we were excited for them. Their wedding was at one of my favorite venues in Chicago, The Standard Club, and was designed by Randy Schuster, their fabulous Event Planner. He did a fantastic job bringing the outdoors inside with huge trees dripping with orchids. Thank you Walt, Art and Marilyn at Inside Weddings for selecting our wedding. It's such an honor to be featured in a magazine that is so wildly respected.

Check out Lizzy + Brett's 3 Part Series of their Engagement Session, Wedding Day, Fun After The Wedding post right HERE. It's so fun!

So incredibly excited for so many reasons. I am an avid fan of the TV show The Bachelor + The Bachelorette. It's like, total shut down mode, turn off the lights, red wine in hand, drag my husband with me to watch this show! I mean... doesn't everyone do this? When we got the call from our dear friend, Mindy Weiss, Event Planner extraordinaire, to photograph one of my favorite Bachelorettes of all time, Ashley Hebert's wedding to fiancé, JP Rosenbaum, I was like a school girl all over again! I wanted to shout at the top of my lungs but of course had to keep it all top secret until the wedding was published.

For now, all I can say is WOW, WOW, WOW, how gracious the beautiful Ashely & JP are with each other and everyone they meet. And their families are so sweet. JP's mom.... ohhhh, I just wanted to squeeze her every time I'd see her. And Ashley's sister, five months pregnant and cute as can be. Their little, Boo, was the best behaved puppy ever! She is just adorable. Every single ounce of this wedding was designed with love. From the incredibly beautiful invitations, the 3 gorgeous wedding cakes, flowers galore, Mindy & her team didn't miss a beat. Ashley & JP said "I do" at beautiful Langham Huntington in Pasadena, California. Their wedding was absolutely dreamy. I can't wait to share way more photos that were taken, but will do that when the time is right.

Ashley and JP thank you so much for all your kind words throughout your wedding.... it was incredibly awesome to hear you ohhhing and ahhhhing over your photos the morning after. We loved that and can't thank you enough for trusting us to capture one of the most important days in your lives. Bob and I wish you so much happiness, I agree with Chris Harrison, you were meant to be!!!

A huge shout out to our 2nd shooter, Christine Bentley who rocked this wedding with Bob. It was no easy task sharing the floor with TV crews and such and she did a fantastic job making sure to capture the moments. Thank you girlie, we love you more than you know!

I soooo can't wait to share more photos but for now, Bob and I are so please to share their feature in People magazine. Oh and check out Ashley & JP's website... it's adorable!

We are thankful for the blessing God has graced us with and will always give Him the glory!

Much love!!!

~ Dawn & Bob

Their wedding was simply beautiful with incredible details, gorgeous bridal gown, shoes, cakes, flowers, ooohhhh the list goes on, but that's only the small part of what made their wedding spectacular. Their love for each other is pure right down to the last two paragraphs in this article. Since it's hard to read the text in the article, I'll recite it here because it's utterly noteworthy!

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While there isn't one thing the couple would change about their magical day, they were amazed at how quickly it passed. "I look at the pictures and I want so badly to step back in time and relive each moment," says Patrick. And the bride who has dreamt of her wedding for so long? Her favorite memory has nothing to do with the details.

"Right after the ceremony, Patrick and I were whisked away to a more secluded part of the property - just close enough to the ocean to hear the waves crashing - where we had a few minutes to be with each other and take in the moment" Melina recalls. "We didn't realize how profound that time would be for us after everything was said and done, but having those moments alone together to share our feelings was priceless."
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Bob and I did this on our wedding day. We stepped outside onto the veranda and just looked into our reception and really took in all the love that was in the room for us that evening. We held each other and cherished that moment. It's something we still talk about to this day.

I always share with our clients that if they can find the time to do this, they will not be sorry. And as Melina beautiful said, her favorite memory had nothing to do with the details, but everything to do with that moment they took for themselves on their wedding day.

Words cannot describe how excited we are for Melina and Patrick to have their wedding featured in the Fall 2012 edition of Inside Weddings magazine. Thank you Melina and Patrick for being so amazing, and for always praising our work. You make our job so easy! We love you both and wish you a lifetime of happiness! A humble, but huge thank you to Mindy Weiss for referring us. We love you dearly!!!

And last but not least, thank you to our dear friends, Ray Santana from Miami and Christine Bentley from Orange County, for second shooting this wedding with Bob. We love you both so much!

xoxoxo

~ Dawn + Bob

We are loving our new business cards by Studio-Z. When it came time to selecting who would re-print our letterpress business cards, it was an easy choice. After seeing the beautiful cards Zida made for Kenny Kim, I knew we would be in good hands.

I can't stress enough how important it is that love your business cards. Bob and I are educators in the photography industry and we travel the world teaching lighting techniques and business strategies. More times than not, we are handed business cards with an apology or a statement of being in the middle of re-branding.

I remember the days that I felt that way. Many, many years ago and I have to stress "many", I designed our first business card and it listed documentary style weddings, elegant parties, private galas, corporate events, editorial, magazine style books, full service retouching and design, portraits and advertising. Yes, that's right, all that was on our card, not to mention our logo, name, title, phone, cell, email, and address. It was a disaster in the making!

What's important to remember when designing your card is to make sure it reflects who you are. You are your brand and you need to brand yourself beautifully because if you don't love the direction of your brand then chances are your potential clients won't love it either. And when I say brand, I mean your entire brand; your website, blog, business cards, marketing materials, social media accounts, etc., should all be consistent. I'm not a brand expert but I can tell you that I love what Bob and I have created and it reflects in everything we do.

Remember not to overload your business card with information. You do need to have your name, email, website and phone number. You wouldn't believe how many people do not have any contact info on their business cards, only their website. You don't want to lose a client because they have to go searching for your info when their time is valuable. I feel that adding a photo to your business card is an option, one that we decided against. We wanted our cards to have a clean, professional look and we feel that our logo clearly states that we are a photography company.

You also want to have a unique card, one that someone will remember and not toss when you walk away. We selected a die cut shape that matched our brand. Our logo and text is letterpress onto Cranes Lettra 600 gram paper. It's beautiful to the touch and piece of art which always elicits a compliment.

Avoid cheap, do-it-yourself, cards. You only get one chance to make a first impression!

Thank you so much Zida for your patience with me. You are a true delight to work with and I'm so happy with our business cards. I'm very proud to share these with the world...!

I hope this helps. Enjoy the weekend everyone!

God bless you and yours,

~ Dawn + Bob

So happy to share this gorgeous wedding of Melissa and Ben at the JW Marriott in Chicago created by the very talented Reva Nathan & Associates in the Summer 2012 National Issue of The Knot. They are the sweetest most beautiful couple and we love everything about them. Thank you Rebecca Crumley, Weddings Photo Director, for selecting our client's wedding for your magazine. You are a doll...!

We are so honored to be a member of Inside Weddings Member's Circle. It's an incredible opportunity for us. Thank you Marilyn Oliveira, Art Scangas, and Walt Shepard for believing is us and inviting us into your circle.

We are beyond honored to have Taylor + Scott's beautiful wedding at The Standard Club created by Jan Ehrenberg founder of Parties, Events & More, featured in the Spring 2012 edition. Inside Weddings is a top wedding magazine for bride's looking to be inspired. Thank you so much!!!

And a huge thank you to Taylor + Scott for allowing us to be part of your lives. You are both beautiful inside and out and you have the most amazing family!!! We are truly honored.

xoxoxo ~ Dawn + Bob