Chapel in the Pines, Sycamore, IL Wedding Photographer | Lawerence & Lana

Chapel in the Pines, Sycamore, IL Wedding

I photographed Lawerence and Lana’s wedding back in July, and what a sweet day it was! Most people wouldn’t want to go through with an outdoor wedding with a chance of rain, but Lawerence and Lana had their hearts set on an outdoor ceremony and had already told me in advance that the backup rain plan was umbrellas as long as it wasn’t storming. As fate would have it, it ended up raining briefly during their ceremony and I LOVE that they had already planned to go with the flow!

This post is full of some of my favorite moments from their day, as well as some words from Lana so be sure to scroll all the way through!

Engagement Photos

Hair: Hair Styling by Koty
Makeup: Kali Rose Beauty
Florist: Wild Orchid
Wedding Dress: Da Vinci purchased from Wedding Design Studio
Ceremony & Reception: Chapel in the Pines
Cake: Sweet Dream Desserts & Catering
DJ: Boulder Terrace Sound

The Venue:
We were looking for a venue that would accommodate for small and intimate weddings, and Chapel in the Pines felt like the perfect place for the type and size of wedding we wanted! The bride had really wanted an outdoor ceremony and we were in love with the views/floral arrangements they had. We felt it was the perfect venue to take some really beautiful outdoor pictures.

The Dress:
I looked at two different shops for my wedding dress. After trying on my davinci dress, I knew it was the one because it was simple yet elegant at the same time. I didn’t want anything too detailed and A-line was my go to style. It had the perfect amount of floral decor/sparkles on the skirt and I loved the details/lace on the back! My absolute favorite part of the dress is the back details with the buttons and lace/floral decor. On my wedding day I felt so beautiful and confident in my dress. I felt the train also made my dress really stand out in the pictures.

How They Met:
We first met as locker neighbors in high school and slowly started dating after a few weeks of getting to know each other. My husband proposed to me on his 21st birthday!

The Ceremony:
Our ceremony was very intimate and personal. We planned it to be outdoors because we love an outdoor ceremony look/view. We also planned to make our views personalized as we had agreed it would make our wedding feel more special and personal to us. Something unexpected that happened was the drizzling that occurred right in the middle of our ceremony but we had felt it made our wedding more unique and made the moment even more special for us.

The Reception Décor:
We had a lot of DIY decor. For our centerpieces, my husband had made them himself inserting beads and led lights we had ordered online with the three glass jars on each table. Something special about the center pieces, is that the log bottoms of our centerpieces were used at every wedding on my husbands side of the family. The wedding sign was also DIY, we created it using hobby lobby flowers and leaves and hot glued them to make the sign.

The Photographer:
I looked up wedding photographers near the area and your name popped up! I read your reviews and all of them were very positive comments and had looked at your work through your socials! I was impressed by how natural the photos seemed and really liked your work!

The Party:
It was great! Everyone had told us about how much fun they had and felt it was one of the best weddings they went to. Our dj had also expressed how much fun he had with our wedding guests!

The Honeymoon:
We will be going to Tennessee for honeymoon in August!

Anything you would have done different?
No

Advice for couples currently planning their wedding:
Try not to stress too much about it. It goes by so fast and everything will turn out perfect!