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.”
Cuneo Mansion and Gardens Wedding | SAM & ADAM | Chicago Wedding Photographer
** Read this if you want to have your wedding here // The ownership of this property is in the process of being transferred to vernon hills from loyola by January 2026, so as a bride, I would wait until the new property ownership is settled before inquiring for your wedding day. the Vernon HIlls village board mentions that it should resolve by the closing on January 9th, 2026, and even then, waiting until they figure out how the management and staffing will be done after the ownership is established. They still plan on preserving the mansion for the community, so the building and gardens will still exist, it’s just waiting to see who to contact about renting this mansion for your wedding day in the future. Watch this Vernon HIlls Board Meeting to listen to the details of the ownership transfer, specifically from minutes 2-17. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WjDEB7O5NI and here are some emails on the vernon hills website for asking any questions on a timeline for when they think the mansion will be ready for any renting out for events in the future https://www.vernonhills.org/Directory.aspx?DID=7 **
CUNEO MANSION IS A historic wedding venue just north of Chicago.
Sam and Adam were married in the beautiful, historic cuneo mansion and gardens. This mansion in Vernon Hills is designed in a Mediterranean style and features a stunning formal dining room with paintings on the ceiling and ornate historic details and windows throughout, a grand central hall that feels like a castle and a quaint private chapel. The mansion interior is filled with a collection of antique furniture, Renaissance paintings, historic tapestries and a lot of silver and porcelain objects that have remained within the mansion since the early 1900’s. Cuneo mansion was built in 1914 and was designed by architect Benjamin Marshall of Marshall & Fox, an architectural firm based in Chicago. He also designed a handful of other iconic chicago buildings like The Drake Hotel downtown, and THe Blackstone Hotel on Michigan Avenue. Cuneo Mansion was also the location of my best friends wedding, and that is just a sweet film to have your wedding day shared with.
sam started her wedding day morning getting ready with her best friends and family members and then arrived early at the mansion to have a few solo bridal portraits in the historic halls before having a first look with adam, at the mansion entrance. They decided to have their family photos and bridal party portraits ahead of their wedding ceremony, so that afterwards they could just head to the cocktail hour to spend the full time with all of their loved ones. Thier wedding ceremony was outside in the cuneo mansion gardens. It is a lovely space, that includes a pool, historic pillars and beautiful florals.
CUNEO MANSION and Gardens would be the perfect wedding venue for you if you love historical homes, unique archiTeCture and artful interiors.
After the ceremony, with the lovely soft pink Cuneo Mansion in the background, they had their cocktail hour on the back terrace of the mansion with musicians, a champagne tower, plated hors d'oeuvres and lots of catching up with everyone. During this time are some of the loveliest moments captured of really excited emotions as everyone is hugging the bride and groom for the first time after saying I do.
After cocktail hour on the Cuneo Mansion Garden terrace, everyone headed into the grand dining room where there was one long table that was covered in candles for every wedding guest to sit around together. It was such a magical and romantic setting for their wedding dinner. After the dinner there was a live band in the central hall for endless dancing and a designer making permanent jewelry for all of the guests. Again, I always say how I’m not the best writer, but I truly feel like you’ll be able to feel how sweet the atmosphere was on this wedding day by perusing the images below. Cheers to communicating with images over words. X
