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As featured in print and online with Chicago Style Weddings, Ali and Ian’s gorgeous green wedding at the Ritz Carlton Chicago with LOLA Event Productions is one of my favorite weddings of all time. Not because of the pretty details (though you’ll see there are lots of those) but because of all of the emotion of the day. From happy tears to heads thrown back in laughter, this is a day I would love to relive over and over. Congratulations for the millionth time Ali and Ian!

Every time I work with Stephanie from The Creative Planners, I know we’re going to have a beautiful day. This was the first wedding I’ve had the pleasure of photographing at the beautiful new event space Morgan Manufacturing. I hope you enjoy this little preview of the day as much as I enjoyed photographing it. Planning and coordination: The Creative Planners, Stephanie Cook | Venue: Morgan Manufacturing | Getting ready location: Public Hotel | Gown: Oscar de la Renta | Floral and Decor: Anthony Gowder | Lighting: Frost | Band: Velocity | Catering: Blue Plate | Photography: Emilia Jane Photography

We met as teenagers on a trip to South Africa, and we built our relationship exploring the world together – on that first trip, while trekking the Inca Trail, exploring the streets of Istanbul, watching the sunset in the Greek Islands, touring the canals of Amsterdam, snorkeling in Belize, and supporting each others’ individual adventures as well. We were engaged when Joe organized a private tea tasting atop Lion’s Head in Cape Town, and we immediately knew that we wanted to incorporate our love of travel into our wedding. We invited our nearest and dearest – our nuclear families and bridal parties – for a few days of fun, including coffee tasting, volcano hiking, trips to the flower market, and terraced dinners overlooking volcanoes, before an intimate ceremony and dinner party held in Capuchinas convent. Since the group was small, we asked most of the people present to participate in marrying us, and then spoke Pablo Neruda’s Sonnet XVII as our vows in both English and Spanish.

For the past several years I’ve mostly read business books or frivolous fiction on a whim, but haven’t really been serious about reading in too long. Quick update 1/15/17: I read as many books in the first ten days of 2017 as I read in all of 2016. I’m spending less time on my phone, less time on social media, less time watching TV, and am so much happier. The second book I read was The Color Purple which I read on my iPhone’s Kindle app while I waited for my next batch of books to come in.