Chicago Wedding Photographer | Elske Restaurant Wedding in the West Loop of Chicago | Kelly + Sam | Downtown Chicago Wedding Photographer
Chicago Wedding Photographer | Elske Restaurant Wedding in the West Loop of Chicago | Kelly + Sam | Downtown Chicago Wedding Photographer
I truly love photographing Wedding Days in Chicago. Kelly and Sam had the perfect blend of that downtown chicago and west loop wedding vibe for their wedding day. They started by getting ready separately at The Emily Hotel in The West Loop and then had a first look in a private room together on one of the top floors of the hotel. We then headed straight for the Chicago River for Bridal portraits, as it’s the center of all of the skyscrapers and beautiful architectural views within the city. On a side note, if you’ve never done a boat architecture tour in downtown chicago, I would highly recommend it whenever you’re in town. I’ve done it multiple times, and you see new things and hear new facts every single time. it’s such a beautiful way to see the city.
Also, a little love note to Kelly’s wedding dress, which I was absolutely in love with. her top was a bespoke corset designed by Ma Corsetière. And if you haven’t seen her custom work, I would highly encourage you to go and view her website. Not only are her corsets stunning, but she has options for ready to wear as well as being capable of designing your dream vision of a corset for your wedding day, rehearsal dinner or welcome party look.
So back to the wedding day, we strolled in and out of the streets and alleyways of downtown Chicago. And thankfully kelly and sam are so similar to me with appreciating light, textures and downtown architecture, so I was able to freely search for pockets of light to have them interact with each other in. Truly, whenever a couple has complete trust in you for portraits, the whole day is so relaxed and enjoyable for everyone. This day was exactly that, just so much joy in strolling and chatting with these two downtown before we headed off to Elske.
Now if you aren’t sure what Elske is, it’s one of the loveliest restaurants in the west loop neighborhood of Chicago. It not only is a one star michelin fine dining danish restuarant with lovely interiors, but it also has a stunning courtyard garden that is perfect for quaint ceremonies and a lovely private space upstairs for guests to relax in a lounge setting. If you’re planning an intimate wedding day in Chicago, I would highly recommend putting Elske on your list of venues to visit as an option for your ceremony and legitimately delicious full course menu for your wedding guests.
When we arrived to Elske, we took a few portraits upstairs and then in the courtyard garden before their family arrived for family portraits. And just before the ceremony, the couple hung out at the private lounge upstairs whilst the rest of the wedding guests arrived in the courtyard. They were greeted with champagne by the elske staff and the couple even had a toast with everyone in the middle of their wedding ceremony, which are the details I love on intimate wedding days. And of course, one of the best chicago wedding florist designers, Bottle and Branch, did a beautiful job of decorated the floral installation for the wedding ceremony backdrop, as well as kelly’s beautiful draping bouquet (which you can see in her bridal portraits we took in downtown Chicago below) and the mini floral designed arrangements on the reception tables.
And on a side note, just because your wedding day is intimate, doesn’t mean you want any less experiences. IT could be intimate literally for the size of wedding guests, which means that you go more “all out” on guest experiences with your closest loved ones around you that you choose to celebrate with. For this reason, it was so lovely to see everyone enjoy one of my favorite plated custom dishes from the Elske Menu while they all were able to enjoy dinner together.
There were sweet speeches, lots of film cameras passed around by loved ones, sweet chats between Kelly and her grandma, and of course lots of love filled this chicago wedding day. And as always, I’m always honored to be there to photograph naturally such meaningful and memorable moments from these once in a lifetime wedding days in Chicago. I adore you both, Kelly and sam, and cheers to a beautiful life spent together! x
“An intimate chicago Wedding day is always a favorite of mine to photograph. I love documenting weddings in the most
natural of ways for every couple.”
Chicago Wedding Venue - Elske Restaurant // Chicago West Loop hotel - The Emily hotel // Chicago Wedding photographer - Melody Joy CO. // Bespoke Bridal Corset - Ma Corsetière // Chicago Florist - Bottle and Branch //
The Wellsley Chicago Wedding | Waldorf Astoria | Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral | Chicago Wedding Photographer
The Wellsley Chicago Wedding | Waldorf Astoria | Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral | Chicago Wedding Photographer
Stefanie and Michael were not only wed in the most lovely wedding cathedral and had a beautiful wedding reception with all of their loved one in one of the loveliest venues in downtown chicago, The Wellsley, but they are truly the sweetest couple. and while I don’t have the whole timeline, I learned enough from our zoom chats and the father’s speeches where I can give a nice overview of their sweet love story!
Both of their parents attend ANnunication Greek Orthodox Cathedral in downtown Chicago, and knew of each other’s children. For one of the church events, stefanie was volunteering and met Michael. Their families hit it off really well with each other, as the father of the groom mentioned in his speech how he invited the bride’s family to his families village on an island when they were all originally vacationing sepArately in greece, and the families grew a lot closer then, especially for the start of stefanie and michael’s relationship. I iust love how close these two are with their families and how their families really bonded during their entire relationship and became one big greek happy family! ANd I adore them all as well, it’s really great to see how loving the families were of each other.
So fast forward to stefanie and michael’s wedding day, Stefanie got ready at the beautiful waldorf astoria. Her gown was by the beautiful wedding dress designer, ines di santo, and her shoes were none other than the iconic and red soled Christian Louboutin. Then they of course, were married at ANnunication Greek Orthodox Cathedral surrounded by all of the favorite people. The interiors of this cathedral were truly another level. I always love cathedrals, but maybe because this was a greek orthodox church, it was a lot more unique in it’s design, architectural features and of course the lovely greek orthodox traditions were so beautiful to witness.
After the confetti exit at the church, the couple had some alone time in the limo and upstairs in a private bar at The Wellsley, so they could have a bit of time to themselves while eating some appetizers and enjoying their first glasses of champagne together. After they took the wellsley’s vibrant red hotel downstairs, they made a low key entrance into their cocktail hour and started dancing on the dance floor. There are two bars on the main floor at the wellsley for all of the guests to enjoy drinks, and The decor at The wellsley is just stunning. Again, I’m not a great writer, but if you just glance at the wedding decor images below of the dining room, you’ll see just how beautiful and timeless this wedding was. A lot of it was already the beauty of the interiors of the wellsley, so thankfully you wouldn’t have to do that much to make it beautiful, besides adding your custom menu’s florals and any other pieces that you’d like to make your wedding day unique. They had lovely matchboxes in bowls at the bar for their guests to take away as memorable and practical wedding favors.
The speeches were so sweet, the food catered by Boka Catering was another level, with the chef coming out and flambéing the desserts in front of everyone before handing them to everyone freshly fired up and piping hot. After the multiple dinner courses were finished, the bars were opened back up again, the live band, The Carol Sarlas Band, started playing and the bride and groom led the way to the center of the dance floor to dance the night away. The traditions didn’t stop at the dance floor though, with everyone throwing money at the bride and groom, and of course the flower girl running around picking it all up! What an eventful and memorable day all around! x
“The Wellsley Chicago is one of the best wedding venue’s in downtown chicago for a modern and chic wedding venue.”
The unplanned moments, like the above, are some of my favorite to document. These
sweet men knew both the bride and groom from them attending the church and were genuinely so happy for them as they exited to head to their wedding reception!
Downtown Chicago Reception Venue - The Wellsley Chicago // Downtown Chicago Wedding Hotel - Waldorf Astoria Chicago // Wedding Planning + Design - Amanda Paige Events // Florist Company Name - Steve's Flower Market // Make-up Artist + Hair - Rare Birds Beauty + Salon Buzz // Bride's wedding Dress Designer - Ines Di Santo // wedding shoes - Christian Dior // Groom's Tux - Custum // Groom's Wedding Shoes - Christian Louboutin // Bride + Groom Rings - family jeweler // downtown chicago Ceremony venue - Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Chicago // Cocktail Hour + Reception Dinner and desserts Caterer - Boka Catering // Chicago Wedding Reception - Live Band - The Carol Sarlas Band
Chicago Cultural Center Wedding | Rachel and Joe | Downtown Chicago Wedding Photographer
Chicago Cultural Center Wedding | Rachel and Joe | Downtown Chicago Wedding Photographer
Rachel and Joe had their wedding ceremony and wedding reception at the historic Chicago Cultural Center in Downtown Chicago. The couple met at The University of CHicago, so it only made sense that they were married in such a special place to them both. I absolutely loved documenting this wedding day on both 35mm film and digital formats.
The Chicago Cultural Center is truly such a beautiful historic landmark in the heart of downtown chicago. It was opened in the 1800’s and located just across the street from Millennium park and off of Michigan avenue. The Chicago Cultural center not only holds many exhibits, with free admission, but they also have many spaces that are perfect for wedding days. The two main spaces for wedding ceremonies or receptions there are in the G.A.R. Hall and Rotunda or the Preston Bradley Hall’s Tiffany dome. And of course, endless corridors and stairwells of beautiful tiling, stained glass windows and ornate details throughout the entire building, which are a perfect backrdrop for bridal or wedding portraits.
Rachel started her wedding day getting ready with friends and close family at The Pendry Hotel, which is just a few blocks north of The Chicago Cultural Center on Michigan avenue. Rachel’s wedding dress and veil were from the incredibly talented dress designer, Danielle Frankel. Her wedding shoes were vintage from American duchess and had a beautiful nod to the historic time period of the building they were married in. Rachel also had some of the best wedding Hair and wedding Makeup artists in Chicago do her hair and makeup, Shannon O’Brien and Megan Schnell. Joe also had a custom suit made from Bode, an incredible designer based in New York City.
They had a first look at the hotel and then joined all of their friends in the lobby of the hotel to walk down Michigan avenue towards the wedding venue. Once The couple arrived at The Chicago Cultural Center, I photographed the bridal party on the entrance staircase both outside and inside the lobby by the welcome center. After thee bridal party headed up to the bridal room, where everyone was tucked away before the ceremony began, I strolled through the Chicago Cultural Center with Rachel and Joe for their wedding portraits.
For the entire ceremony and reception decor setup, Cygnet Events and Design executed all of the wedding planning and design work, with the guidance of Rachel’s impeccable taste through her mood boards. The Cremony was draped with deep red cloths, vivid red roses and lots of candles and dark ribbons to create a romantic backdrop. Rachel actually came up with the theme that was called “Gloopy Bacchanal”, which focused on surrealism, whimsy and romance. Rachel, as she is an architect, was able to fully design the lace pattern of their custom chuppah that they were married under and said their vows under during their wedding ceremony. Rachel also had her rabbi from her childhood hometown, who her family is close to and she has known her whole life, travel up from Georgia to marry them in chicago.
After the ceremony, they had a stunning cocktail hour overlooking chicago. I love when all of the family and bridal portraits are taken before the cocktail hour, so the bride and groom can fully enjoy their guests and just let everyone hug them and congratulate them and be fully present with their wedding guests with a drink in hand. While the Cygnet Events team, The florists from bottles and Bouquets, along with the caterers at paramount events and the rentals team at arcana vintage rentals turned the grand upstairs hall into the wedding reception and dance floor space, the guests were slowly escorted back into the hall for dinner.
Rachel and Joe had their cake cutting in the middle of the dance floor, followed by their first dance and speeches while the dinner courses started coming to all of the tables. For their dessert table, They had an epic display of multiple wedding cakes of all shapes and sizes and different designs, that matched their romantic theme of ribbons, florals and vintage icing designs. All of the cakes were designed and baked by Sugar Fixe in CHicago. To end the wedding day, rachel and joe danced to the tunes of one of chicago’s best DJ’s, Matt ROan, with all of their closest friends and family members in the middle of one of the most beautiful historic buildings in all of downtown chicago. This wedding day was so beautiful and I’m so honored to have been able to photograph all of the lovely memories from their wedding day for these two lovely and creative soulmates.
“The Chicago Cultural Center, located in the heart of Downtown Chicago, is a beautiful wedding venue and event space to enjoy an epic party surrounded by historic architecture”
Photographer Melody Joy Co. | Planning Cygnet Events & Design | Florals Bottles and Bouquets | Ceremony & Reception Location Chicago Cultural Center | Wedding Hotel The PEndry Hotel | Officiant Rabbi Ron Segal | rentals Arcana Vintage Rentals | Makeup Artist Shannon O’Brien | Hair Megan Schnell | Catering & Beverages Paramount Events | Cake Sugar Fixe | Stationery Steracle Press | Entertainment Matt Roan | Lighting Atmosphere Events Group | Wedding Dress & Veil Danielle Frankel from Belle Bridal Atelier in Chicago | Custom Suit Bode | Engagement Ring Frank Darling | Shoes American Duchess | Earrings Sophie Billie Brahe | Wedding Party Attire Immoral London
