So excited to share this engagement session! These two are very near and dear to me. Monica, Mark and I all went to high school together. Monica and I ended up going to ISU and roomed together all 4 years. We somehow didn’t want to kill each other at the end which is probably why we’re still such good friends to this day. Mark was nearby at U of I with a whole bunch of other hometown friends and we all hung out quite a bit during the college years. It wasn’t til a few years after graduation that the two of them realized something more was there.

Monica and Mark have been together for 5 years? Maybe 6? Could be 7. I know it’s been a while because it’s hard for me to remember a time when they weren’t together. These two got engaged on New Year’s Eve last year. We were all meeting at Hub 51 that night and Mark proposed while they were getting ready at their condo. None of us had any idea he was going to propose and they didn’t even tell us when they got there. It took 6 of us about an hour to notice that Monica had some shiny new jewelry hanging out on her left finger. We all were beyond happy and excited cause, ya know, FINALLY! Just made that New Year’s Eve celebration even sweeter.

They are getting married in June 2013 but Monica has had the wedding planned since March of this year. She’s just organized like that. They were missing save the dates so that’s where I stepped in. We started this session on a beautiful September day at their shared condo in West Bucktown. We then took a little drive to Lincoln Park where Mark used to live and where they spent a lot of time when they first started dating. It was on Seminary Street where I got an idea to rip off Bob Dylan and ended up with one of my favorite engagement pictures to date. After that, we headed down to the museum campus to get some pictures with the skyline.

It was an honor to take your pictures and an even bigger one to be standing up in your wedding. June 2013 can’t come soon enough! Love you guys lots.