Monte Bello Estate Wedding Photography, Lemont, IL | Tim & Marisa
Monte Bello Estate Wedding Photography, Lemont, IL
Sooooooooooo SO excited to share this wedding with you all!!! Fair warning, though, at about 230 images, it’s the most images I’ve ever shared for a wedding post (insert gritting teeth emoji here). In my defense, there were so many beautiful moments from Tim & Marisa’s wedding day that I really couldn’t narrow it down and still do justice to their story. So for those of you who hate long blog posts, I’m sorry (BUT NOT REALLY). 😉
I photographed Tim & Marisa’s engagement session in Washington DC back in May, and I knew then that their wedding at Monte Bello Estate was going to be something special. Most of their relationship had been long-distance, and I’ve found that weddings of long-distance couples are more often some of the more emotional ones. That was certainly the case for these two. Well, three if you count me because I think I cried almost as much as the two of them over the course of their day. One of my favorite moments of their day was their first look when teary-eyed Tim kept saying “Oh my gosh!” over and over. It was the sweetest thing.
Fun fact about Monte Bello before moving on to the images: it used to be called Narnia, so there are lots of fun little details from books throughout the estate (my favorite being the front door!). NOW IT’S PICTURE TIME.
How they met:
Tim and I met in Florida through a mutual friend at school. We started spending time together unintentionally, due to the fact that we both played the same instrument (which my school only had one of at the time). We'd see each other in the practice room almost daily to pass off the instrument. As the days and weeks passed, our conversations became longer and longer. We played music for and critiqued one another. It was just so fun. Eventually, I was going there when I didn't even feel like practicing, just to see if I'd run into Tim. I had a feeling he was doing the same thing, because he was always there too. :-) Fast forward, and he proposed to me on the same campus in Florida while playing one of the solos he played for me in the practice rooms years before. It completely caught me off guard and it was so special!
The Venue:
We wanted a venue where we could get ready, have the ceremony/cocktail hour, and reception all at the same place. That was really the only thing I had in mind when I began looking. Monte Bello was one of the first places I looked. Every place I looked after that was now being compared to MB, and nothing was matching up.
The Dress:
I never had a "dream dress" in mind. I must have tried on 50 dresses, A) because it was kind of fun and B) nothing "clicked." I liked a ton of them, but it wasn't until I tried on my final dress that I *knew* that was it. I think I said something like "I never knew I had a dream dress until I found this one." Now that the wedding is over, sometimes I open it in the bag and just look at it (lol)! My bridesmaids wore beautiful dresses through an online company, actually! My biggest advice to a bride is to try to be respectful of your bridesmaid's wallets, too. They're already spending a ton of money on the shower, bachelorette party, gifts, traveling to/from all the events, hair/makeup, etc. There are PLENTY of online stores that make beautiful, quality dresses for your girls for less than what you'd find at a bridal shop. The name of the site I used was bridalglee and I thought my girls looked amazing!
The Reception Decor:
I wanted to keep the reception decor minimal because the venue basically WAS the decor. We (especially my mom, dad and my Aunt Cathy) did almost everything ourselves. The flowers were done at Jewel and they did a fabulous job. Jewel put all the center pieces in the vases and my Aunt Cathy volunteered to set them up at the venue. The signs and any other displays were purchased in pieces online and I put a lot of it together myself. It was fun and it was an easy way to save some cash!
The Reception:
One of my favorite parts of the ceremony was the speeches. I'm so happy we have them on video because I look forward to showing them to my kids one day. Initially, we didn't plan on doing the bouquet/garter toss, but I'm glad we did because it was so fun! Something funny that happened is that I lost my phone at some point after the ceremony, but my friend Brian found it and gave it to my brother, Aaron. Aaron took it around to all the tables at the reception and had everyone greet Tim and I. It ended up being a 10 minute video of really previous memories. I laughed through the whole video! Aaron even photo-bombed our first dance at the end of the video. It's hilarious and I will always keep it!
The Photography:
My sister is the first person who introduced me to Chrissy. They went to college together and (I think) they attended the same church group. Chrissy took my high school senior photos and we had such a great time together. It was so long ago, but I still cherish those pictures! My dog was in them, too, so I thought it was nice she photographed my pup. :-) Years later, Chrissy was one of the first people who came to mind when considering a wedding photographer. My husband, Tim, agreed that she was the only one for us. We were so honored to have Chrissy photograph our day. She was so confident and efficient, which really calmed my nerves the day of the wedding.
The Party:
SO great! Some of my favorite memories are of my nieces and nephew on the dance floor. They got moves!
The Honeymoon:
We went to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic! It was amazing!
Anything you would have changed?
Well, I had the cutest wedding cake topper and I forgot to put it on the cake. I'm so sad about that! We ended up putting it on the piece of cake we took home to eat a week later!
Advice for couples planning their wedding:
Enjoy the process, and don't stress about the small details! Book a venue that will be sort of "all-inclusive" if you can (tables/chairs/event coordinator/food/drinks, etc., all provided in one package), because that really helps the day of the wedding. When planning gets stressful, you should say to yourself "at the end of the day, I'm going to be married and that's what's important."
Hair: Susan Powell
Makeup: Kylee Przsucha
Florist: Jewel Osco
Wedding Dress: Essence of Australia from White Satin Bridal
Shoes: Steve Madden
Bridesmaid's Dresses: Bridal Glee
Invitations: Shutterfly
Getting ready space, Ceremony, & Reception: Monte Bello Estate
DJ: Karl Knutson
Second Photographer: Nicki Difilippis