Lizzy & David are MARRIED-! Well, they’ve actually been married for a year & a half since the day that Chicago shut down for the Pandemic on March 21st, 2020. These two for a month or more had pre-planned a small legal wedding for March 21st, 2020 with 15 to 20 of their immediate family members (with their BIG wedding day planned for March 8th, 2020), so it was fate that these two were able to get married mere hours before Chicago suddenly shut down for the Pandemic last year-!
Last year we’d met with these two in Chicago around March 1st, 2020 to talk to them about both that mini legal wedding coming up later that month on March 21st & mainly their big Chicago wedding date of August 8th, 2020. Lizzy & Jenny went to Miami University (of Ohio down near Cincinnati) together & were even in the same sorority (with Jenny’s big being on the university Dance Team with Lizzy), so at our first in-person meeting we caught up with them and learned more about Lizzy & David’s love story! We learned that David also went to Miami of Ohio, that the two of them dated a bit their Sophomore year of college (around when Jenny & Lizzy met), & that Lizzy and David had reconnected when they finally lived in the same state & city again a few years earlier in 2017 when David moved to Chicago for his residency to become a neurosurgeon! We all got excited chatting about their wedding plans, we mentioned hearing about a thing called “Covid-19” which David mentioned they had cases of in his hospital where he works, & then we all giddily chatted about our dogs (not knowing what would come in mere weeks here in the United States)-!
Our city in Indiana shut down on March 16th due to the Pandemic and so began our Shelter in Place order. Lizzy & David were still able to have their legal wedding on March 21st, 2020 around Chicago though just hours before their Shelter in Place took effect hours later that very day! Needless to say, last March was nuts & the 1st of March, 2020 was the last time we’d seen these two in person (before things all went South)-!
Though Lizzy & David were legally wed on March 21st, 2020 (as they’d planned for months in advance), they were unable to have their big wedding on August 8th, 2020. Chicago was closed to big indoor events for the next year and only really started opening up fully in late Spring 2021/ early Summer 2021 since folks were finally able to get vaccinated! Luckily Lizzy & David were able to keep their venues and swapped their big wedding date to August 28th, 2021! **And with that, we’ll start the story of their wedding day!
This past week Lizzy & David started their big wedding celebration day getting ready on separate floors at the downtown Chicago hotel Blu Aqua right near Michigan Avenue. Blu Aqua is unique in that the architecture of it makes it look like it’s covered in blue waves of water and the interior was as gorgeous as the exterior-!
Lizzy got ready in the bridal suite with her bridesmaids & mom with their hair stylist & makeup artist.
Lizzy’s makeup was first which was done beautifully. After her makeup was finished it was then time for hair-!
David got ready with his groomsmen and the dads down more casually later in the morning on the floor below Lizzy & the ladies .
While getting ready one of the bridesmaids brought Lizzy a wedding gift from David: A laptop computer! She was beyond excited abut the wonderful gift!
Once Lizzy was finished with her hair & makeup it was time for her to get into her wedding dress-! Her mom helped button up her dress while her bridesmaids watched.
David showed up to the hotel in his suit pants & shirt, but finished getting ready in one of the groomsman’s hotel rooms with everyone!
Soon Lizzy’s veil was put on and she was ready to go-!
Meanwhile David was finally fully dressed, had his flowers pinned on, & was ready to go!
After her veil was on a bridesmaid went to fetch Lizzy’s dad and the two of them had a First Look revealing wedding ready Lizzy to her dad!
After she bid adieu to her bridesmaids & family, Lizzy headed out to their First Look spot. We had gotten in earlier that morning and scouted out spots for Lizzy & David to have their First Look. Blu Aqua is gorgeous & unique in & of itself, but even more exciting was that on one of their floors they also have high rise giant outdoor gardens-! We found some spots up there on at the building’s high rise gardens for them to have their First Look at amidst the foliage in the shade and were so excited to finally be up there again for these two to have their First Look-! Jason had David facing away from Lizzy and Lizzy slowly approached David from behind for their First Look.
Lizzy tapped his shoulder, David turned around, and these two were all smiles! These two waited (literal) years for this moment ever since they got engaged (and then legally married a year & a half ago) and you could see all of the happiness & nerves wash away from them as they were reunited for their First Look!
We took some quick final portraits of the two of them for a couple minutes, then we all ran down to the trolley since things were running a little late & the bridal party was already in the trolley ready to go-! Since we were in downtown Chicago and were nearby all of their chosen bridal party, newlywed, and family portrait spots, we then headed out to do those at all of their locations. For the sake of cohesiveness we won’t share those until post-ceremony.
Warm & sweaty on the 91 degree day we arrived to Trigger (the wedding venue) before guests started to arrive.
We’d already been photographing everyone for 6 hours pre-ceremony (with some of the ladies having started their day 9.5 hours earlier at 7 a.m. for hair & makeup), so the bridal party & immediate family members headed into the basement for delicious empanadas for a late lunch.
Guests filtered in & seated themselves in the wedding ceremony room.
Soon enough the wedding ceremony started and Lizzy and David’s parents along with the bridal party lined up on the basement steps and headed up the aisle. David was accompanied by their officiant up the aisle and everyone was ready for Lizzy!
Lizzy’s dad walked her up the aisle & both Lizzy and David were beaming at each other.
The two embraced at the end of the aisle & their vow renewal started-!
Amidst their wedding vow renewal ceremony their friend & groomsman (and professional actor) Scott read an original poem for the two of them. It was a lovely and heartfelt addition to the already beautiful ceremony.
Next it was time for Lizzy & David to exchange vows. These two wrote their own vows which were both sweet and kept each other laughing!
Finally these two exchanged rings & had their First Kiss-!
They then headed down the aisle to the cheers of family & friends! In real life they then headed to the basement for some alone time together during Cocktail Hour, but here we’ll share with you their Bridal Party, Newlywed, and Family Portraits that we captured earlier in the day pre-ceremony!
We started out with the bridal party in downtown Chicago on Michigan Avenue- the famous bridge on a famous shopping strip in the downtown. Thankfully due to the Pandemic there were fewer people on the bridge than we’d ever seen (other than another full bridal party on the other corner), so we had a good amount of space for the trolley & bridal party portraits (as there are usually hundreds of folks sardined together crossing the bridge all at once)!
We captured just the bridesmaids & just the groomsmen here as well, then captured some Newlywed Portraits of Lizzy & David here as well!
Next we headed to another famous bridge in downtown Chicago for a fun bridal party portrait-! We had a blast at this spot and loved that the bridal party was down to climb all over the beams of this bridge!
Here we also captured some newlywed portraits of Lizzy & David-! During these portraits large groups of tourists would shout out to them from the cruise tours on the river below our feet which was pretty fun!
Next we headed to the last spot (since the trolley got a bit lost & we had to cut the last location). Here we captured the last full bridal party photo out in front of a pond with the Chicago skyline! We also captured portraits of Lizzy & David’s dog Brody with them-! Brody was in his wedding tux and was very excited to see his parents-! He was given fancy lettuce as a treat (the only dog other than ours who we’ve seen get that excited for lettuce) and got lots of hugs from mom & dad on their big wedding day!
We captured all of Lizzy & David’s group family portraits with their immediate families at the last location as well-!
After all of the group photos were done we took some last portraits of Lizzy & David & that was a wrap!
While we were taking portraits of Lizzy & David, guests enjoyed Cocktail Hour.
They all chatted, mingled, enjoyed hors d’oeuvres, etc there in the large room with the bar (while the garage doors to the ceremony room were closed as it was being converted into the dining room for the reception)-!
Soon the garage doors inside were opened and folks were encouraged to find their seats for the reception/ dinner!
The bridal party followed by Lizzy & David were announced in and the reception had formally started!
After being announced in Lizzy & David cut their cake!
They then took their seats to enjoy Lizzy’s dad’s Welcome speech & toast to Lizzy and David.
Salads were served and we headed off to enjoy those and capture detail photos of their rings together. Soon after it was time for dinner & toasts/ speeches-! Lizzy’s best friend Maid of Honor started the speeches out harkening back to when the two of them met in young adulthood and then lived together for a bit as roommates and mentioned how Lizzy is always ready to laugh, dance, and enjoy life with open arms. David’s Best Man then gave his speech both joking about how David had sent him (an incorrectly attributed) meme quote and how heartfelt & caring David is.
After the speeches folks enjoyed their dinner.
Lizzy’s bridesmaids bustled her & removed her veil for her during the reception so that Lizzy could dance her heart out and move with ease!
Once dinner was over David made a speech welcoming & thanking their guests, then toasted to Lizzy to kick off their First Dance!
It was then time for Lizzy & David’s First Dance! Lizzy had been on the Dance Team at Miami University, so of course these two had one of the most intricate and exciting First Dances that we’ve ever captured in the past (over a) decade! Lizzy had choreographed a bit of the beginning of it and we were also very impressed by how well these two pulled off such an amazing dance!
Lizzy & her dad also enjoyed a ton of fun dance moves, spins, and fun for their father-daughter dance!
Not to be shown up, David & his mom also kept it going with the spins, dips, and fun dance moves for their mother-son dance!
After the formal dances were over, Open Dance began!
First up was an Anniversary Dance wherein anyone who is married/ together takes the dance floor and they dance as slowly only the longest married are left on the dance floor! Lizzy & David awarded the Longest Married couple with Lizzy’s bouquet!
The rest of the reception was enjoyed by all who were dancing, signing their wooden signature board, taking photos in the photobooth, enjoying the whisky tasting station, enjoying the open bar, and enjoying the beautiful desserts.
The venue is pretty great in that it has 3 large rooms, so folks could enjoy the dancefloor/ cocktail hour/ bar room, the dining room with ample seating, or the large back room with the Photobooth, desserts/ coffee station, disco ball, other seating, and more-!
At the end of the night we captured the final 3 Family Group Photos between the dance floor and the dining room! We almost always do these immediately post-ceremony, but Lizzy & David opted to have us capture these at the end of our night with them so that they could enjoy a post-ceremony moment together with only the 2 of them in another room.
Amidst the reception (during Cocktail Hour and also during Open Dance) we also captured some final portraits of Lizzy & David there at the venue.
There were so many unique spots at their venue that we had fun with these-!
Congratulations again, Lizzy & David, on your long-awaited big wedding celebration! We know that you two were legally wed a year & a half ago, but we’re SO glad that you two were finally able to celebrate your BIG wedding day at your original venue with all of your family & friends to enjoy the entire day with-!! Thanks so much for still having us capture your big day, we loved getting to finally meet your friends & family in person (including your doggo Brody), and we’re so excited to see you again to capture some exciting Family Portraits of you this winter-!