Michelle & Josh ::: Engagement

Two weeks ago while I was in Chicago I shot Michelle and Josh's engagement pics! I hadn't been downtown Chicago in almost a year and I had missed it soooo much...I didn't even realize!! We met at Grant Park by the HUGE fountain and walked around finding crazy tunnels and beautiful piers to shoot at! I was sooo glad to get to know these two, which is why I swear so much by doing these engagement/get to know you shoots because having this time to hang out before the wedding is SO much fun!! I can't wait to shoot their wedding in August! Should be a blast! Check out their pics below or ***CLICK HERE*** for the slideshow!!






Definitely "favoritist" photo of the day...haha! With halos and all!

Victoria Bennett ::: Senior

Vickie and I have been planning this shoot for as long as I can remember! Which means we have been looking forward to this for forever and ever! Vickie was my intern last year as well as in my small group in the Young Womens ministry that I lead back home...and is soooo amazing! I'm so glad I have gotten to know her so well in the past year as she is one of a kind. She has some of the best style I've ever seen packed into one person. As well an awesome gift in photography. And the cherry on top is that she is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet! Her heart is huge! I'm really excited where she is headed in her life with getting her business up and running during her last year of highschool and now with graduating really being able to take off with it! I'm sure she'll go far! :) Vickie, I love you!!
Here are her gorgeous pics and a **SLIDESHOW** of all the favorites!

Haroula Kouklakis ::: Senior

Two weeks ago while I was in Chicago I headed out to Indiana to shoot Haroula's senior pics! From our emails it sounded like the place that she wanted to shoot at was incredible! Well it was worth the drive when we arrived at this gorgeous huge park! She knew what she was talking about!
Haroula was SO much fun to shoot, I finally just had to tell myself to stop shooting cause I was getting SO many shots...almost as many as a wedding! ha! She had such amazing style and was up for anything even shooting on top of a trash heap! ha!
Here are her pics!
Also check out here ***SLIDESHOW HERE***

Karen & Brian ::: Wedding

This past weekend I headed back to Chicago to shoot Karen and Brian's wedding! I booked this wedding about 2 years ago and ever since I did I was so looking forward to it...after them explaining how everything was going to go! They had the wedding at Our Mother of Good Counsel Church right near where Karen grew up her whole life, which made it extra special! We then we headed downtown Naperville for a couple hours to get some fun shots of the group! It turned out to be more than a perfect day for it too! Thank God! Afterwards we all headed over to one of my favorite places ever: Maggiano's. ::sidenote::they have THE best service ever...that I've ever seen at any venue ever...and I've been to quite a few! You can tell they are amazing when they even treat the vendors like royalty, asking if I needed anything whenever they passed by! Awesome.::end-sidenote::
Karen and Brian's love for each other made me almost cry at some points! It was amazing.... My assistant Vickie and I kept commenting on it the entire night. Definitely set the bar high for me someday!
They also had a choreographed first dance which was out of this world! You'll see it in the pics!
Karen and Brian you both are beautiful! Congratulations!

***CLICK HERE*** for the slideshow or scroll down for some of the pics!

Abby Newell!

I met Abby about 4 years ago exactly, when I was graduating highschool she was graduating 8th grade. Abby, her sister Bethany, and their mom came to drop off my cap and gown for the homeschool graduation ceremony that I was a part of. We hadn't ever met before, yet they sat on our porch and we all talked for 2 straight hours! Destined to be friends I tell you! :) Well, since then I've shot her sisters, Sarah and Bethany's senior pics...now Abby's turn! Abby is soooo wonderful and has one of the most amazing hearts I've ever seen! She is a phenomenal worship artist and and planning on heading down to Kansas City this fall to be a part of IHOP (International House of Prayer) worship school. I'm so proud of her and can't wait to see where she goes in life!! Here are her amazing pics! I LOVE her style!







Here is her slideshow too...***CLICK HERE***

Megan & Joe ::: Wedding

This past weekend I headed out to Chicago for Megan and Joe's GORGEOUS wedding! They held it at St. Michaels Church in Wheaton and Cantigny which is a war memorial museum and a giant mansion with incredible gardens! I could shoot there forever...and I pretty much will as I have another wedding there in two weeks! These two are in the wedding industry as well as film so they KNEW what they were going for! Which I love...and set aside a nice two hours for pictures! Sooo freeing!! I love it! Everything about this wedding turned out perfect...even down to our request for big billowy clouds and the sun peeking through now and then. Perfect.









***CLICK HERE*** For the slideshow!!

PS...CRAZY story...So I was on the plane heading to Chicago and I looked over to a guy on the phone across the aisle from me.. he looked strangely familiar and thought that he might be my second cousin, my mom's cousin...or however that goes. I couldn't really figure it out plus I didn't remember his name so I thought it was a hopeless cause. About halfway through the flight he leans over and says "Jamie!" I remembered that one of the brothers in the family that he is in has a wife named Jamie... Finally I was like is your last name Rechter?? He spells it out and was like yeah! I'm like I'm Sarah Barlow! You're my mom's cousin! I asked why they were headed to Chicago and they said for a wedding that was 30 miles west of Chicago...I'm like ME TOO! They pass over the invitation and to my CRAZY surprise it ended up to be the SAME wedding! I guess my 2nd cousin is the father of the brides boss! How crazy is that???...the fact that we ended up sitting right next to each other on the same flight headed to the same wedding. Weird. But it was fun to reconnect with my family! :)