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Summer Chicago Wedding at Cafe Brauer

Summer Chicago Wedding at Cafe Brauer. Torie and Alex had originally planned to get married in 2020. Of course, due to the pandemic their summer wedding plans were on hold for a year. Although it wasn’t what was planned, I had such a fun time getting to know both of them and I just couldn’t wait until their wedding day to arrive.

Getting Ready & The First Look

I started this morning with Torie getting ready at the Thompson Hotel. It had multiple floors and amazing views of the city, so I would definitely recommend checking them out! While I was with Torie, my second shooter/bf, Jake, was with Alex getting ready at their home. Torie and Alex’s home looked so cute and really gave off those Chicago city vibes. After slipping into their wedding attire, they both took some time to read the notes that they wrote each other. Naturally, it’s around this moment that everything starts to sink in and feel that much more real so happy tears are pretty normal by this point.

It was then time for Alex and Torie to meet up at the hotel to do their first look! Alex’s reaction was just priceless and these are seriously some of my favorite moments to catch on wedding days. Once the first look was over, we decided to stop at the bar inside the hotel to start taking some Chicago wedding photos! It gave such cool vibes and made it feel much more laid-back and casual than you being in the city. Sometimes it’s fun to switch it up and be creative which I loved about this moment!

After we made our way over to Olive Park to continue taking portraits! By this point since we were so close to their ceremony location, we made our way into Lincoln Park to get some more of those nature vibes before heading to the ceremony. As many of you may know, I love going to Lincoln Park to take portraits because you’re able to step away from city life and really enjoy some greenery and nature.

Summer Chicago Wedding at Cafe Brauer

Portraits were finally done and so we made our way over to Cafe Brauer so these two lovebirds could FINALLY get married! After exchanging vows, smiles, laughs and kisses these two were finally married and it was just a very real and cute moment to witness. Before leaving the ceremony, I made sure to snag a few shots of the two newlyweds by the stairs to really show off some of that greenery and floral decor.

Reception & Open Dance Floor

These two officially tied the knot and before you know it, we were on our way to the reception! The food was amazing, the decor was spectacular and the dance floor was poppin’! I always love when wedding guests really bring in all of their energy onto the dance floor. It lightens up the mood and just makes for a really good time, which of course I am always down for. I snuck Torie and Alex away for a little bit to do some night shots as well! Recently this is something that I have been loving incorporating on wedding days. It gives a cool and different vibe and we’re really able to play with shadows/lighting and get some amazing results! One of my favorite shots though throughout the whole night was the one of the whole wedding, which I thought was pretty cool!

If you loved this Summer Chicago Wedding at Cafe Brauer, then you’re going to love this Summer Chicago Wedding at Glessner House!