Yang and Rongbo Wedding

We have been shooting together in Chicago for over five years and yet we have never been to city hall – for a wedding or otherwise. Often when people think about a courthouse wedding they think of elopement. For Yang and Rongbo – it’s not like that. These two wonderful people will have their large traditional wedding; but it won’t be here. Next month they will head to their hometown in China for the big traditional Chinese-style reception. Jamie and I cannot say enough nice things about this couple and we are so happy we could be a part of their special day. Some jobs are more fun than others – and this shoot wasn’t work at all. We met the two at 10am at the Chicago courthouse where we queued up in the surprisingly long line of couples set to be married that morning. Seeing all the couples made me love being a photographer even more. So many stories and I was so glad we got to tell one of them.

After moving quickly through the herd of people the intimate ceremony took only minutes. Rongbo and Yang had a couple close friends to take in the moment with them. As soon as they were declared married I could see the stress lift off their shoulders. Wedding planning is stressful; don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. At that point, getting the two to stop smiling was our biggest challenge. The afternoon went by quickly in an engagement-like session ushering about the city. We shot our way down to Millennium Park, the Bean, to Michigan Ave, Trump Tower plaza, and then had a wardrobe change. After that, we headed north to, duh, North Ave. Beach for some skyline pictures and then moved to Lincoln Park at the Caldwell Lilly Pond to finish. Post-pictures, Yang and Rongbo graciously invited us to be their guests for a late lunch in China Town to which we more than happily obliged. By the end of the day we were thanking them for allowing us to share in their special day.