imaginative studios wedding journal

Janessa was my star for a day. She was so open to all my ideas and was just so awesome to work with. We drove all over the suburbs to shoot in some locations I’ve had my eye on for a while. There were so many great photos from the session, I just couldn’t narrow it down. So here are a bunch of favorites. Now I really can’t wait for her wedding in September!

Enjoy!

We are so thrilled and excited to be finally moving into our diggs. The new studio is a gorgeous 975 square foot space with 20 foot ceilings and plenty of room for us to showcase our work. 

As a result of the move we will be slightly unavailable during the transition. If you need to reach us, just go ahead and leave us a message and we will respond to you as soon as we can.

We appreciate your patience during this time and can’t wait for you to see the new storefront!

~gina

Ceremony: St Vincent’s, Chicago

Reception: The School of the Art Institute Ballroom, Chicago

Photographers: Gina, Melissa, & Amy

Lara & Jeff were originally supposed to have their ceremony at Holy Name Cathedral. Well because of the recent construction there, they had to change their plans and celebrate their union at St Vincent’s Church instead. As you can see from the pictures below, St Vincent’s is a beautiful church with incredible architecture and huge vaulted ceilings. I just loved photographing there! Check out the lovely photo of them below on the spiral staircase. And best of all they still had their same priest and musicians from Holy Name to make their day special.

Aside from that, myself, Melissa, and Amy, just had a blast following them all around the city for all the different location shots we did. Just as we were wrapping things up at the Planetarium which was our last stop, the sky opened up and it began to pour. Good thing we were done!

Then we headed over the Art Institute Ballroom for their amazing reception. 

Here are just a few of our favorites from the day!

and a close up of them at the church from the fabulous Melissa.

I love this picture by my assistant Amy.

Reporter Nara Schoenberg featured one of my favorite pictures from Marie & Markus’s wedding in her story on the most popular spots and some of the best kept secrets for chicago wedding photography locations in the city. It’s on news stands today on the front cover of the Tempo section. Be sure to pick up a copy and read this fascinating story!

This picture was taken in front of a beautiful graffiti wall in Pilsen.

Jill and Michael are expecting twins in just a few weeks. We thought it would be fun to go to Ping Tom Park in China Town and take these fun and beautiful portraits of the two of them (or four of them). I’m looking forward to meeting the twins soon!

Ceremony & Reception: Valley lo Club, Glenview

DJ: Kristen Marks, Toast & Jam

Flowers: Tina & Dollie flowers

Second Photographer: Matt

Third Photographer/Assistant: Amy Beth

Saturday proved itself to be a gorgeous day. All week I was so worried that it might rain on Terri & George’s beautiful outdoor ceremony. Well our fears were put to rest by a beautiful sunshine filled day with bright blue skies and big puffy clouds. And at last, it was warm out. Aside from the picture perfect day, Terri was absolutely stunning in her gown. The two of them just laughed all day and we had so much fun capturing all the moments for them. We also took off to the botanic gardens where Terri & George had their first glance and we were able to capture some stunning portraits of the two of them and their bridal party. What a perfect time of the year for such a lovely location!

Here are some of our favorites…

Springtime is here and Red Door Animal Shelter is preparing for the eighth annual Gimme Shelter! Walk for the Animals. On Sunday, June 1st, 2008, over 300 animal lovers will gather at Indian Boundary Park (2500 W. Lunt, Chicago) in West Ridge neighborhood for Red Door¢s largest fundraiser of the year. Attendees participate in a 2.5K walk around the park followed by breakfast of muffins and bagels, a raffle for great prizes, and other fun activities. 

Please consider making a donation in support of their efforts, or if you are in the area, please come out and cheer them on (and feel free to visit the shelter afterwards). All proceeds from the walk benefit the hundreds of cats, dogs and bunnies cared for by Red Door every year.    

Please make all checks payable to Red Door Animal Shelter and send them to: 

Red Door Animal Shelter 

PO Box 269119 

Chicago, IL 60626.  

You can also donate or register for the walk online at reddoorshelter.org.  Please note in the gift information section that your gift is in support of Gimme Shelter!  Also, please feel free to pass along this information to anyone who might like to participate! 

Thank you for your support!

gina & matt

Here are some pictures that Matt took at the Shelter:

 As most of you know, I’m the organizer of a group for women professional photographers in the city. Sunday we had our Spring Fashion Shoot downtown and what a blast we had! The makeup and hair was provided by Vixen Beauty, and what a fabulous job they did! 

The theme to our shoot was vintage inspired and all four models looks like they stepped out of an old movie! Speaking of "old" movies, Johnny Depp’s new movie "Public Enemies" just happened to be being shot downtown while we were there. They had all the old vintage cars lined up on State Street and all it took was a couple of attractive models to persuade them to let us take a few shots with the cars. Not only that, but our model Eva was actually allowed inside one of the cars to pose for a few quick snaps.

All in all we had around 25 photographers at the event and we really had so much fun. Take a peek at a few of my favorites below. You can also view the entire shoot by clicking here now.

Ceremony & Reception : The Ritz Carlton, Chicago

Second Photographer: Melissa

Third Photographer: Amy Beth

We had so much fun at this wedding! Nisha and Rishi had a traditional Indian Wedding with their own modern flair. The couple was so easy to work with and I really enjoyed going around Water Tower with them and taking some non conventional portraits of them together. Nisha was just gorgeous in both of her beautiful outfits that she wore through out the day. It was really touching to see Rishi give his emotional thanks to everyone at the wedding and to express his great love for his new wife.

Nisha’s sister practiced an elaborate choreographed dance and Rishi’s dad sang everyone a song. Then everyone got down to some serious partying!

Here are some of our favorites from the day:

 Elda just had her fashion show last Sunday and we were there to capture all the action. We are always so excited to photograph any of Elda’s pieces as she is truly the most gifted bridal designer. Just check out some of our faves here to see for yourself!

Event coordination provided by Frank Event Design