Chicago Cultural Center Engagement

One of my personal favorite gems to head to is the Chicago Cultural Center for shoots. And really you can capture images of just about anything there including the venue itself, high fashion portraits or even some quirky fun photos turn out great! Ashley and Kyle currently reside in St. Louis and one of the things that they wanted to make sure we did was to get a bit of Chicago in their engagement photos because we won’t have the opportunity to head into the city on their wedding day.

Now their personality is actually more on the fun and quirky side. Ashley even has the ability to communicate her mood or comfort with a pose or photo through her smile alone! But we wanted to take part of their engagement photos to a slightly more serious and fashion forward side for them to try something new. Before we knew it, the Chicago Cultural Center was closing and kicking us out. I worked the photo charm and the security allowed us to capture just one or two more photos before finally forcing us to pack it in. Once we were outside we went a bit more fun, flirty and casual. My belief is that Kyle has some sort of relation to Michael Jordan as he kept popping his tongue out in various photos from time to time. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, just ask any Bulls fan from the 90’s and they will fill you in.

As a side note, their session is a great example of why doing an engagement session with your wedding photographer is a good idea. Engagement photography is actually relatively new. In the film days they were done but much more rarely. Now that there’s no extra cost of having to develop film they are much more common. So why is it a good idea? Digital photography has allowed for a whole new world of stylized and unique imagery. Because of this there are many styles that your photographer can capture. When you do your engagement session and proof your images with your photographer, that’s the time when your photographer will be listening for your feedback on what you thought of the images. Did you like the funny ones more or the serious ones? More high fashion posing or more on the candid side? With this information your photographer then has a much better idea of what you like and what they will focus on during the actual wedding day.