Amanda & Jake’s Elopement Wedding in Chicago City Hall last Saturday was so intimate and beautiful! Elopement weddings are so personal and all about the couple and that’s why I treasure these weddings so much. Elopement weddings are such a low-stress way to do it, and so much fun. Amanda & Jake were able to focus on their love for each other, instead of a party. They got to be spontaneous, and do exactly what they wanted. It was an entire day of adventuring, and it was entirely wonderful. With their families by their side, Amanda & Jake said I do on a beautiful spring morning. Afterward, we explored some of their favorite areas in Chicago and ended our session at Millenium Park‘s BEAN! Even with 100 people surrounding them, all they could see was each other. Amanda first met Jake when she was interning for The Loop and Q101 radio stations in the summer of 2011. Jake was working there part-time and they ended up working together a ton. They stayed in touch after Amanda went to college in the fall and started officially dating the day after her 21st birthday the following spring!

When I first read Amanda’s email asking me to photograph their Elopement, I was so touched with their proposal story that I just had to share it on their blog. Amanda & Jake got engaged on December 8, 2017. In their neighborhood, there is a massive outdoor Christmas tree with decorations on the properties front patio every year. Amanda loves to walk near there every season for the decorations are just so beautiful. Jake had asked Amanda a few days after they put the tree up if she had wanted to go for a walk after she got home from work to see the tree, and afterward they were planning to ride the CTA holiday train. (Amanda has a childlike joy for anything Christmas-related! Something we both have in common) They walked over to the tree, and as Amanda was looking at it and gushing about how much she loved that outdoor Christmas tree she noticed that Jake was fiddling in his pocket. She thought he was just taking his phone out to send a text message or something, but all of a sudden he was on the ground. She thought he had fallen at first, but then he pulled out the ring box and she couldn’t believe her eyes!  Amanda just kept shaking his shoulders out of excitement and asking him if this was real life! I just loved that story. I hope you can see how much Amanda & Jake truly love one another and how happy this beautiful couple will be in their marriage.

XoXo,

Winterlyn