Today, I’m happy to show off this joyous session with Hannah and Max from their wedding at Chicago City Hall on Saturday, January 20. I met Hannah photographing A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Midsommer Flight in 2022, in which she played Cobweb and Snug (who gave a hilarious performance as the lion in Pyramus and Thisbe). Since then, we’ve moved among circles of friends in the Chicago theatre and even run into one another at parties. After I photographed Megan and Jay’s wedding at the courthouse last October, Hannah reached out to see about photographing hers.
Cold and Cathedrals
Our initial idea was to take to the streets for outdoor portraits, but as it happened, the wedding took place during Chicago’s deep freeze—a cold so bitter it snapped off the handle to our door and burst pipes in our building, leaving us without water for two days prior to Hannah and Max’s wedding. Suffice it to say, with temperatures close to zero degrees Fahrenheit, we opted to stay inside the courthouse building.
We were in good company, since several other photographers moved through the building photographing newlyweds and their families. Constructed in 1911, the building was designed in neoclassical style and features colossal Corinthian columns on the exterior. Beautiful polished Botticino marble and vaulted ceilings in the interior lobby make the building look like a cathedral in places, which served our interior photography very well. I had been rereading (or rather listening to) Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth on the train ride down and back, so I was inspired by the architecture. Here’s some detailed information about that building’s construction.
We didn’t let the cold completely cancel our plans to shoot outdoors, however. After our time in the lobby, we got a few cold weather shots in front of the building and at the famous Picasso sculpture across the street. The sun had come out then, and the wind had calmed down such that fifteen degrees felt almost warm!
Between Kissing and Clowning
I’m a fantastical portrait and performance photographer first and foremost, but the small weddings I’ve shot for friends have always been absolutely lovely. In those weddings, I find the most fun making pictures of the newlyweds as they alternate between kissing and clowning around. That was what I most loved spending time with Hannah and Max, witnessing their love for one another come out in their playfulness and the fun they had together. It was thus an honor to have been there, basking in the warmth of their love on that cold January day as these two celebrated their union. I am grateful to them for inviting me and wish them the greatest of happiness.
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