Who knew that November could actually be warmer than most days in October?!  Karen did.  She scoped out the weather for November 14 for the past 3 years and knew that it was always pretty decent!  We had planned on going to Volkening Lake in Schaumburg for bridal party pictures but a thick cloud cover came it, so Karen and Greg were ok with moving it to a random park near their church!

Isn’t this just too perfect?  My lovely husband who came along to be my 2nd shooter for the day captured this gem!

look at the picture on the right, it’s one of my favorites!  Though you can’t see their faces, can’t you tell what they look like?  It gives me chills and I tear up just thinking about it!

I’m so in love with this picture:

We then headed over to Belvedere Banquets in Elk Grove Village (1170 W Devon Ave Elk Grove Village, IL 60007-3214 (847) 534-0600?) for the reception! Don from XL Entertainment was there to keep the dance floor packed all night long! And it was a party, I love working with Don, he truly gets it when it comes to reception music! I also had a great time working with their videographer Don Bloom, he was really a pleasure and awesome!

And finally, this one I laid on the ground, in the middle of the dance floor, then got spun around by one of the groomsman (totally unplanned!) It seems whenever I’m at a wedding with Don he dares me to lay on the dance floor again with my fisheye, and there I went!

Hope you had a great time on your honeymoon!! Hope these brighten up this cloudy day! I had a great time with all you at your wedding!!

Kara
kara@karaschultz.com

While I was down in New Orleans for Pictage Partnercon, I met up with my good friend Mel! Her and her husband, also a Dave, had wanted some family pictures because well, they didn’t have any since their engagement session a few years ago (p.s. can you believe it was a few years at this point!?). They brought along Brando, their giant-headed lab! I love Brando, he’s silly and she always warns me of things Isabelle is going to do because of how Brando is. I’m pretty sure Brando and Isabelle would get along GREAT! They’re very similar labs!

I’m hoping this acts as a bribe for Mel to finish my new logo/branding (yeah, I put it out there! haha!) Ok enough of my talking, some of the cuteness:

poor Dave got this look from Mel!

this one cracks me up, I told them to stand in the doorways, they both stood the same, then switched and in the end did the same thing.

someone loves their big puppy

You know what picture is right before this Mel, I chose NOT to put it on my blog, though hilarious!

Now here’s to hoping this is enough in bribery   I miss you all and New Orleans, maybe I’ll come back and shoot a wedding!  I’d love it!!

Kara
kara@karaschultz.com

It’s always weird to be on the other side of the camera and Okema and her family got that experience first hand! Someone else posing them and actually have everyone in the family be in the picture! Imagine that! It’s a sad realization that many photographers don’t have pictures of their own family, and then we get desperate and say “I need pictures!” or the other way around when we hand off the camera to a family member who doesn’t know really how to get all our attention and then we’re not all looking at the camera. It is a finesse to get children (or in my case, puppies!) to look at the camera! We call it Photographer’s Child Syndrome (PCS) and most kids/dogs have it, just ask any photographer!

So Okema begged asked me to get some pictures of her family! We met up at Wilder Park in Elmhurst where you may remember Beth and Tom’s wedding . I think we squeezed the last bit out of fall! I smell holiday card pictures!

these next 4 are my favorites!

while I was editing the ones of her and her dad, I thought about how I see the other side of this photo, I generally see the dad and daughter as he’s giving her away and the emotion he feels seeing her in her dress, handing her off to her groom, it’s just too sweet to see both sides of it!

(don’t worry, I have more of you two together!)

Hope you enjoy them Okema!

Kara
kara@karaschultz.com

I met up with Traycie and Jason and their adorable puppy Lia for their second engagement session (remember their first?)! We went to Busse Woods in Schaumburg to try and get some of the fall color if it was still available and luckily it was! Lia was a handful, but it’s not like I’m not used to that at my own house! Traycie and Jason told me that I was pretty good at handling her and it was the truth, mainly because I have practice!

this was too cute not to include….haha

I would like to say that we really didn’t script a lot of these!! Lia just did her thing! and cute besides the point

Can’t wait for your new years eve wedding Traycie and Jason!

Kara
kara@karaschultz.com

Cathy and Tom are probably waiting for this post to go up! Or they think nothing had turned out, which isn’t the case AT ALL. They kind of suffered through my challenge that I took from The Image is Found who challenged photographers to do something they DON’T do normally! I normally always use a zoom (24-70 2.8 to be precise, it’s my go-to lens!) but I really would get to love my 50 1.4 which is a prime lens. I started with zooms, didn’t like zooming with my feet but was always jealous of what came out of those lens at that small of a aperture (controls depth of field, makes the background blurry, bokeh)! So Cathy and Tom (with the exception of my fisheye because I have to take that for Millennium Park!) were part of my experiment!

They were laughing the entire season, no joke! They also brought some Irish coffee to calm their nerves and warm them up a bit because it was a bit chilly out! I’m sure they’ll be completely relaxed on their wedding day knowing that I have it taken care of!

So without further ado, a millennium park engagement session! I haven’t been down there too much lately, weird huh?

And there you have it! Can’t wait to see you both at your wedding that’s just around the corner!

Kara
kara@karaschultz.com

Next year, I’m seriously buying a yearly pass to Cantigny! I’ve been there so many times this year! I think the guard knows me…but I never get tired of it! Cantigny is just gorgeous with lots of great spots and sometimes I even find new ones! I love shooting weddings or engagements there!

Sarah and Mark met me right before I flew off to New Orleans! (I have a few New Orleans posts coming up! Clients first, me later!)

They were a lot of fun and it wasn’t that cold, it could’ve been much worse! I think I actually got warm during the session and wasn’t even donning my UnderArmour cold gear!

my favorites

Mark did this all on his own, I did not instigate!

Hope you enjoyed them Sarah and Mark! Can’t wait for your wedding in June, I’m sure it’ll be just as fun to photograph!

Kara
kara@karaschultz.com

I loved being able to photograph Amanda and Steve’s wedding, and you could see the awesome colors and how laid back they were from their sneak peek a few posts down! Even though it was freezing we braved it for their pictures!

Here’s another link to their engagement session if you missed it!

At this wedding, I got caught. I got caught crying. I even cried while I was editing them! I went to the bathroom and one of their guests said I must be a great photographer because I was crying during the father/daughter dance when Amanda’s dad handed off to her ailing grandfather and how many other photographers do that, well, I do! I’ll probably cry during your vows or some time during the day! You’ll see when you get there, you may cry too! I will, I know it. But look at those, you can totally see the emotion in all of them during it!

Ok, enough talking, time for slideshow right!?

Also if you’re looking for a interesting, different reception venue, look into Entourage located at 1301 American Lane Schaumburg, IL 60173 (847) 995-9400 They were great!

And my good friend Cynthia Sally did the makeup! I just love working with Cynthia, she totally gets it!

It was great to photograph your wedding!

Kara
kara@karaschultz.com

Lauren and Brian have been waiting for this day since the first little snippet of a view they got from weddingista’s post on first looks! Their first look was one of my favorites! It was so sweet! And you may remember their engagement shoot where I took everything with my prime lenses (ones that don’t zoom, all of you know how I love love love the zoom!)! The ivy wall there was on the side of an underpass! Who knew right?

Though things were running a bit behind schedule, we worked it so that we got everything in and got them back into hiding by the time the ceremony rolled around! They got married at Winnetka Community House located at 620 Lincoln Ave Winnetka, IL 60093-2371

Their florist was the Joanne at FlowersFlowers located at 524 Dempster Street Evanston, Illinois 60202 and they looked fabulous! The caterer that they chose was Catered by Design who did a fabulous job as well! They just told me to grab my meal from the kitchen when I was ready so that I wouldn’t miss any of the action in the room!

Song provided generously by Andrew Belle, he’s a wonderful LOCAL artist!

I hope you enjoyed your slideshow! It was great to be your wedding photographer!

Kara

Amanda and Steve worried that their wedding pictures would not have the lovely fall color in them since the leaves turned SO fast! Luckily we got in and got some of those beautiful fall colors, thankfully, her bridesmaids were troopers and braved the cold for these pictures! The loved when I said “ok, get nice and uncomfortably close!” On that day though, there was no uncomfortably close, just warm!! Amanda is hilarious and was totally laid back on her wedding day, Steve continued to give me crazy expressions and played in the playground (don’t worry, it’s in the slideshow).

Remember how fun their engagement session was? Yeah, they totally brought that on the day of too!

They got married in Arlington Heights and I almost missed the first kiss because the priest snuck it in! I think Amanda and Steve almost missed it too! Amanda said “NOW!?” and everyone laughed, luckily I snuck in the first pew during the vows because the priest had come in front of them so I wouldn’t have gotten my shot if I hadn’t quickly ran up there!

I totally instigated this

look at everyone else in this picture after Amanda and Steve, they crack me up!

work it!

love these both, but my real favorite is on the right!

We then headed to Entourage in Schaumburg for the reception, if you’re looking for a neat space for a wedding definitely check them out!

Entourage is located at 1301 American Lane Schaumburg, IL 60173 (847) 995-9400

It was great to be part of your wedding, I promise more photos SOON, like tomorrow….

Kara

So I totally thought I already did their slideshow but when I looked back, it was no where to be found! Leaving for New Orleans and being gone for a week definitely threw me off my game at home! But without further ado we have a slideshow!

Kirsten and Will got married on a cold, rainy October day but they didn’t let it damper their spirits! They were surrounded by their family and friends who braved the cool weather and the trip out to Oregon, IL for some of them since they live and work in Chicago for the wedding! They got married at White Pines Wedding Canyon and I had already shot there once before so I knew what it was like! Even though it was cold and we weren’t doing as much as we planned on before, we worked it, quickly I might add, so that they could get the images they wanted! You may remember their awesome engagement session and not too long ago their little sneak peek!

Hope you enjoyed it! It was great shooting your wedding!

Kara