Emily & Jen’s Downtown Chicago Wedding
Introducing the Van Curas! Emily and Jen’s downtown Chicago courthouse wedding was wonderful to photograph. The entire day was filled with laughter, love and smiles. I loved photographing them as they said their “I Do’s,” It was such a great day adventuring all around downtown Chicago taking wedding pictures!
Emily and Jen’s Love Story
Emily and Jen are both nurses and they met at work. They were friends for a year. When they both ended up traveling internationally, they were separated for an extended period of time. While they were away, they talked often and when they were both together again, they met up and just knew. They’ve been together ever since!
Emily told Jen that she felt like couples needed to date through all four seasons before getting engaged. So, even though they knew they wanted to get married, they had a running joke that they couldn’t get engaged until all the seasons had passed! Well, Jen couldn’t wait. She proposed to Emily one morning before they were headed to Paris to celebrate Emily’s birthday! To Jen’s surprise, Emily gave her a ring later that day. Emily had planned to propose, and Jen beat her to it!
A Downtown Chicago Wedding Ceremony
Jen and Emily LOVE to travel. They’ve been all over the world together: Paris, Spain, Alaska, Iceland and all over the US. Emily even lived on a BOAT in New Zealand for a while! Jen’s hometown is Chicago, so it was wonderful that they decided to have their courthouse wedding in Chicago. It was just Emily, Jen and a few family members, making their wedding day fun, easy and stress-free.
I met up with Emily and Jen at the Wyndham on the Riverfront where they were getting ready separately. Emily had a stunning ivory BHLDN wedding gown and Jen looked smart in a JCREW navy blazer. I loved how Emily donned a pair of Converse under her gown, and Jen wore her favorite Steve Maddens. They had a sweet first look at the hotel and then we headed to the Chicago City Hall Marriage Court for their ceremony.
Downtown Chicago Wedding Photography
The ceremony was short, but deeply personal. Both Emily and Jen had written their own vows and it was so special to be there to photograph them together. When they were pronounced as married, we spent the rest of the day taking wedding photos all around downtown Chicago! The true wedding reception will be back in Colorado, so we were able to spend the whole day celebrating their marriage and taking photos.
I loved photographing the happy newlyweds all around downtown Chicago. We took pictures at so many iconic downtown places. We took photographs under the L tracks, by the Chicago Theater sign, All through the Lincoln Park Conservatory, the Riverwalk, and anywhere else with great views of the amazing Chicago skyline and architecture. It was wonderful to get to know Emily and Jen better as I got to photograph them.
Congratulations, Jen and Emily! To share a quote from Charles Schulz, “In life, it’s not where you go, it’s who you travel with.” I’m happy that you have found your forever travel partners and wish you luck in all life’s adventures.
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