Cantigny Wedding Photography, Wheaton, IL | James & Andi

Cantigny Wedding Photography, Wheaton, IL.

James and Andi are the epitome of my ideal couple: they are insanely in love with each other, they value their relationships with family and friends, and they were able to roll with whatever came their way on the day of their wedding.

Things happen at almost every single wedding I photograph that have the potential to "ruin" things (I use that term loosely and truly for lack of a better description because I'm of the very strong opinion that as long as the couple gets married, nothing is ruined no matter what goes wrong). Sometimes hair and makeup runs late (and by sometimes I mean 90% of the time), sometimes a bus is an hour and a half late (true story), and sometimes the zipper of a wedding dress breaks 4 seconds before it's time to head out for the First Look and it takes many hands and safety pins and minutes to make things presentable...which is what happened to sweet Andi. She was great through the whole thing, her girls were amazing and calm as we tried to trouble-shoot the situation, and we got that sucker pinned together and then headed out for the First Look and wedding party pictures. There was even time before the ceremony for Andi's mom to quick sew the zipper back into place. Bam!

Faulty zipper notwithstanding, James and Andi's wedding day was a beautiful one. The Cantigny grounds are gorgeous and were the perfect backdrop for them to exchange their vows. I typically cry at some point during the wedding day (the father-daughter dance gets me every dang time!), but Andi's dad got me real good during his toast when he brought up the scene from Father of the Bride when George Banks saw his grown daughter as a little girl sitting across the table from him telling him she was engaged. GAH! There were many more heartfelt and genuine moments during their day and was an honor to capture their first few hours as husband and wife.

Wedding Dress: David's Bridal

Ceremony & Reception: Cantigny Park

Cake: The Sugar Path

DJ: Jordan Chapman

Second Shooter: Brittany Meeker

What's your favorite wedding day memory?

Our favorite memory was definitely doing our first look. In the midst of all the pre-wedding chaos, it was so nice to have a moment to ourselves to breathe and share all those wedding day emotions together before our ceremony started. Not to mention, once the ceremony did start we both had such a calm peace wash over us. Best choice we made all day!

Is there anything you would have done differently?

Andi: As the bride, I would've done a better job making a timeline for myself to get as many little details (favors, program ideas, centerpeices, table numbers, etc) done as soon as possible!

Best piece of advice for brides and grooms?

James: for the grooms - do what you need to do to support your bride as she plans the wedding she wants. When the day comes you'll be able to enjoy all her hard work. And take the time to just adore her throughout the day.

Andi: delegate as much as possible! Figure out what is most important to you and take care of that first. Then find where you can cut costs and when people offer to help, take them up on it! You won't regret having extra hands!!

Honeymoon?

We took two weeks for our honeymoon (AWESOME idea as we had a very long engagement), and spent some time the first week relaxing at home and exploring some fun spots nearby (1-2 hours away from home) and then on to Hilton Head island for a week to relax, refresh and escape a little just the two of us!

Final Thoughts:

Have confidence in the wedding you plan...no matter how much stress and anxiety may be going into the planning - it will be a GREAT day. Our wedding day turned out to be a PERFECT day. In every way. And having an awesome photographer like Chrissy to capture it was the best! She is such a calming presence and makes you feel so comfortable - not to mention she takes the best pictures! We are SO excited to see how our wedding day pictures will turn out!