We met Mike & Kathy for a little overcast-day engagement shoot in Evanston not too long ago, and I love the beachy-ness of this session. I couldn’t shake the feeling of being in Northern California in Monterey or Carmel… are you Midwesterners sure this is a giant lake? It feels like the ocean to me! I love it! But more than that, I love looking over these shots of Mike & Kathy smiling, telling stories, and just being in love. :)

I rarely do posts with myself in them, but I couldn’t help but gush over the newest dress I bought this season! Wedding attire for photographers is a weird thing to figure out for me. You may be thinking, “throw on all black, that’s what all photographers do, right?” Well… kind of. I do have one black dress in my arsenal, but it isn’t my go-to. I know it’s considered the professional choice, but it’s just not my favorite. What I wear is so intrinsically connected to how I’m feeling and who I am at that very moment, I just can’t bring myself to wear black to every wedding!

So what do I do? For me, I like to still wear pieces that are really neutral, but with some cute details. I wear a ton of belted dresses in grays and blues with some texture, a necklace, some loafers or TOMS (whatever is comfortable really, if you’re on your feet for 9-12 hours carrying hefty equipment, fashion sometimes needs to take a backseat!), and my bright camera bag for a pop of color. I was feeling “meh” about my choices until this year when I ordered two custom-made dresses from the AMAZING Kasey of kay em kay. I’m sporting the most recent dress in these shots, and it is 100% chambray loveliness. The cut is so perfect! Love love love what she does. :)

Fast forward a bit to present-day, Elliott found an amazing fiance in Bethany, and we were so excited to finally meet her and take photos of these two lovebirds together. These two were MADE for each other, and not only did we get to take pictures all around Wheaton, but got to see their awesome love in action. The thing that makes this session so fantastic is that these two are absolutely themselves in front of the lens. So often I hear couples say “pose us how you want us” or “just tell us what to do!” and of course I’ll give some direction… but the absolute BEST sessions that you see on this blog are when couples aren’t afraid to be themselves and just go for it! Instead of just freezing in place, they kiss, hug, look here, then look there, get close, laugh, make a model face, cuddle, be goofy… and as you can see, Elliott and Bethany are total pros at that! They were so much fun to photograph, and even more fun to just hang out with. We are so excited for them!