I met Lani pretty soon after she and Justin moved to Chicago last year. She gets so excited at every opportunity to talk about her upcoming wedding, and I can’t help but ask her about it! Their destination wedding plans have been in the works for some time now, and it’s all finally coming together. When she asked me to take their engagement photos in their new city, I was thrilled!

We started in their neighborhood of Logan Square, and hit some stops that were meaningful to them. It was a cold (very cold) January afternoon, so our plan was to stay indoors. I met Justin & Lani at Bric-A-Brac Records, one of my favorite spots in the city. So much music, and nostalgia galore (So. Many. Toys). Lani even left with a California Raisin figurine! Plus, there is always an awesome graffiti mural on the side of the building. Mural pictured is by local artist Sick Fisher.

We headed down the street to grab a cocktail at Reno, where Justin and Lani had their first Chicago date. Two whiskeys later, we decided to play tourist and went to the top of 360 Chicago (formerly the John Hancock Observatory) for some killer sunset views of the city and frozen lake! I even got to play around with double exposures – thanks for the inspiration, Lani 🙂 I had a blast playing tourist for a change!

Finally, we made a quick decision to brave the 16-degree weather and stop at North Avenue Beach for some icy beach images at dusk. Lani’s dream was to recreate the feel of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Honestly, these may be my favorite images from our entire session. Were we freezing? Yes. Was it worth it? Completely.

Justin, Lani: thank you so much for having me tag along on this adventure! There is no doubt you two share something special and unique, and I’m so excited for you to make it official later this year.