My last engagement session was another destination photo shoot in one of my favorite places in the US – the Windy City. Chicago was the choice location for Aanika and Caleb’s urban themed engagement shoot since they both live and work in the city, and it was as great as I and the couple had hoped it would be.
As in every engagement photography session, I got to know the bride and groom-to-be a little more closely. But backing up little bit, I’d love to share some history of how I came to be the couple’s wedding photographer. Aanika knew about my work since 2016 when one of her best friends was getting married in Amarillo. Aanika’s mom was involved in planning that wedding and was introduced to my work then. Seeing me during the wedding events and loving the wedding pictures afterwards, she was determined to seek me out when the time came for her daughter to find her own wedding photographer.
Fate also has it that there was yet another through line to my connection to Aanika. She was a close friend of Karima and Yasir’s, the couple from a recent blog I wrote where I highlighted the importance of word-of-mouth referrals in my business. As I had mentioned then, nothing matches the reward of organic growth built on person-to-person referrals of happy clients who believe in my work and reward me with rave reviews and a good word.
Back to my time with Aanika and Caleb, one of the things I learned about them was the story of how they met in the laundry room of their apartment in downtown Chicago while they were both in college studying for their degrees in Business. As they told their story, we all had a good laugh about how reminiscent it was of a couple episodes of “Friends”.
As a city that has always been so inspiring to me as a photographer, I was excited to hit some of my favorite spots for this urban themed engagement session. Cloud gate (the bean) in Millennium Park, Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool at Lincoln Park, Dusable Bridge river walk, Fullerton Beach and North Avenue Beach, and of course, the place that matters most – the couple’s neighborhood in Bucktown – all made for some wonderful backdrops to a wonderful set of romantic engagement pictures.
Aanika and Caleb will be getting married in Dallas this January and I can’t wait to capture their wedding.
#chicagoengagementsession #dallasweddingphotographer
