Caitlin and Ben’s Story

Long before the big day at Salvage One arrived, we rewind to get a bit of backstory. Caitlin and Ben have a not-so-typical love story in that they were rarely in the same city. For our meetings, all three of us would be dialing in from some remote location in the country. But distance alone was no match for these two.

What’s the reason for all of this separation? School and work of course! Caitlin and Ben decided to have their wedding in Chicago partly because it’s a great central location at which to gather. The day began at the Renaissance Hotel in Chicago. Most of the plans for the day, (including the first look) revolved around being out on Wacker Drive and the riverwalk. But the rain had other plans in store for us. Fortunately, the hotel offers a variety of amazing backdrops and was the perfect backup plan. One of the signature works you’ll find in the hotel is a taxi mural partly made from pencils. From there we were off to a venue that’s near and dear to me…Salvage One.

Salvage One

Since the rain, nixed our plans to walk around the loop area, we instead headed straight to the venue. As I’ve stated before, Salvage One is my top wedding venue choice in the Chicago area. I have no agreements, kickbacks or side deals with the venue itself, it simply checks all the boxes of what I love about a venue. Convenient location, unique look and feel, plenty of space to spread out and plenty of space outside.

Once we arrived at Salvage One, I noticed a new piece added to the showroom floor…a rickshaw. This had to be in the photos and while I wanted to ask for forgiveness instead of permission before using it, we went ahead and asked first anyway. Most of the portraits that you’ll see are on the first floor near the entrance. The massive bridal suite and dining/dance floor are located upstairs. For the ceremony, you have two options between inside and out, but so far all my shoots have been inside. Of course the night would not have been complete without capturing a goodbye shot with the iconic ‘Chicago’ sign.