Missy and Cris had a GORGEOUS Overture Center for the Arts wedding in Madison, WI on 09.25.09. The last time we were at this amazing venue was Emily + Drew's wedding in January '09, and we couldn't wait to get back! Plus, Missy and Cris could be straight out of a magazine in this place. It rained that day, but if ever there were a place to be "stuck inside" on a wedding day, it would be this place! So many amazing spots to shoot. Enjoy!

click here to view the rest of Missy + Cris's wedding highlights! )

:: Karen, Beyond The Well™ | WEDDINGS
 
 
Nick is my mom's cousin. Sort of crazy I know since he's only a year older than Nate! So that makes him my first cousin once-removed I think. Anyway, Nick married Trisha on 09.19.09 in the Chicago suburbs. Their church had the biggest wall of windows (not stained glass) I have ever seen-- holy backlight! It was cool though. The group was a fun bunch-- especially when they got dancing! Enjoy!

click here to view the rest of Trisha + Nick's wedding highlights! )

:: Karen, Beyond The Well™ | WEDDINGS
 
 
Better late than never! Abby and Brian had a gorgeous wedding at the Lehmann Mansion in Lake Villa, Illinois north of Chicago. What a perfect day!

click here to view the rest of Abby + Brian's wedding highlights! )

:: Karen, Beyond The Well™ | WEDDINGS
 
 
Sometimes I miss MKE, so I am so glad we get to go back a few times a year to shoot weddings!! Back in 2007, we had the honor of shooting Amy + David's gorgeous wedding at the Milwaukee Art Museum. I still remember how Amy said the art museum was like a blank canvas, and that's why she wanted it painted with color-- rich red, blue, green and purple. Pretty, pretty! Enjoy this little blast from the past!

click here to view the rest of Amy + David's wedding highlights! )

:: Karen, Beyond The Well™ | WEDDINGS
 
 
03 February 2010 @ 11:31 pm
In honor of my February committment to catch up on blogging (I've got weddings from Sept, Oct, Nov and Jan to show!!), I am making my first entry about WINTER + Beyond The Dress. If you're brave enough, a winter setting can lend itself to some amazing shots! Enjoy!

click here to view the rest of this winter Beyond The Dress! )

:: Karen, Beyond The Dress™
 
 
29 October 2009 @ 01:10 am
Diana and Alan got married in Evanston on Labor Day weekend. They had a lovely first look at the Cuneo Museum (where they filmed part of "My Best Friend's Wedding"!) They had a church ceremony and a Korean ceremony before the reception. Their friends and family sure love to dance!

click here to view the rest of Diana + Alan's wedding highlights! )

:: Karen, Beyond The Well™ | WEDDINGS
 
 
Amanda and Jefferson got married in Central Illinois on 09.05.09 on a rainy day that wasn't supposed to rain! Ceremony was at St. Patrick's of Urbana and reception at the Illinois Terminal. Our plans for outoor pics at UIllinois were changed due to the rain, but we found a nice spot in the library and still managed to get more outdoor pics in downtown Champaign later in the day! Check out the groom's cake from this wedding!

click here to view the rest of Amanda + Jefferson's wedding highlights! )

:: Karen, Beyond The Well™ | WEDDINGS
 
 
22 October 2009 @ 04:56 am
Spent a morning at Cantigny Park in Wheaton to grab some fun pics with Mike and Carol and their three energetic, beautiful girls!

click here to view the rest of the Klamecki family session highlights! )

:: Karen, Beyond The Well™ | LIFE
 
 
After several reschedules due to the crazy fall weather we've been having, we finally got to take pics of the cutie little Miss Trixie! We all had fun trying to get her to smile-- what a doll!

click here to view the rest of Trixie's session highlights! )

:: Karen, Beyond The Well™ | LIFE
 
 
22 October 2009 @ 03:43 am
We had the pleasure of shooting Susie + Bryan's e-sesison in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of downtown Chicago earlier this month. Here are some highlights from their awesome session-- these two are awesome! We're so glad we met them!

click here to view the rest of Susie + Bryan's e-session highlights! )

:: Karen, Beyond The Well™ | WEDDINGS
 
 
Been a little absent on the blog lately! I already posted these pics on Facebook, but wanted to add them here too. Look for a few more entries today too! So here are the highlights from Tracy and Mark's gorgeous wedding at Ewing Manor in Bloomington. We took nearly all of the portraits before the ceremony in and around the manor. This place is great for outdoor ceremonies! Then we also stopped downtwon after the ceremony for a few more portraits and then a few more at Cresticke. Love these guys and their pics! Tracy is awesome thrifty and crafty-- a little like me! She bought her designer dress off the rack about 10 sizes too big and had an awesome seamstress make it her size-- and made the bustle turn the dress into cocktail length which she wore with boots at the reception. Love the details. So take a look!

click here to view the rest of Tracy + Mark's wedding highlights )

:: Karen, Beyond The Well™ | WEDDINGS
 
 
I'm hosting a boudoir marathon this November in cooperation with a local boutique hotel in Central Illinois! This session is the perfect way to treat yourself and the special person in your life! Just in time for the holidays!! Email or call today to get more information and secure your session-- space is limited!

:: Karen, Beyond The Dress™
 
 
02 October 2009 @ 02:31 am
September was HUGE for us-- 6 weddings in 4 weeks! We've been a little bit of everywhere, and rarely home. Here are 5 previews from each of these fab weddings. Love being busy, but also can't wait until things slow down this November!

click here to view the rest of our September previews! )

:: Karen, Beyond The Well™ | WEDDINGS
 
 
Chrissy and I were suitemates our freshman year of college at UW-Milwaukee. We had a lot of great and hilarious times living together. I was thrilled when she and her boyfriend Justin agreed to be models for us while we played around with off-camera lighting in Milwaukee. Just for fun! They are so cute together, and Nate and I had a blast hanging out with old college buddies of mine! Good times! Now onto the sweet pics we took of them at the Lake at twilight and after dark. You'll even see a pic at the end with the whole gang! (Shout out to Meg and Skerdi too!)

click here to view the rest of Chrissy + Justin's pics! )

:: Karen, Beyond The Well™ | LIFE
 
 
On a little roll with engagement photos here. Elizabeth and Scott got engaged at Allerton Park, and we went back there to take their e-pics! This park is excellent for portrait sessions and also has stunning locations for outdoor weddings!

click here to view the rest of Liz + Scott's e-session highlights! )

:: Karen, Beyond The Well™ | WEDDINGS
 
 
02 October 2009 @ 01:11 am
Spent an evening in downtown Peoria with Kourtney and Nick for their engagement photos. Can't wait until their wedding this October!

click here to view the rest of Kourtney + Nick's e-session highlights! )

:: Karen, Beyond The Well™ | WEDDINGS
 
 
Anne and Jason got married at St. Agnes in Chicago Heights with the reception at Idlewild in Homewood. I almost forgot looking at the photos that it was a VERY hot and humid day--good thing a stop at the local Dairy Queen was arranged! They had some cool details including royal blue shoes (and her ring was sapphire!) and a sweet mixtape CD as a favor at the reception. Take a look...

click here to view the rest of Anne + Jason's wedding highlights! )

:: Karen, Beyond The Well™ | WEDDINGS
 
 
14 September 2009 @ 04:00 pm
Just a quick entry to highlight Nate's achievement in the Wedding Photojournalist Association (WPJA) Quarter 1 contest. He received a 2nd place finish in the "Kids (Being Kids)" category with this image taken at Sara and John's wedding this past April.

Here's what the judges had to say about his image: Excellent use of light, a clean spacious composition and tender moment. Always nice to see a photographer step back sometimes and take in the whole scene. The reflection on the floor is perfectly placed to highlight the boy's form. Nicely done!

As a slightly humorous side note-- I'm actually in this photo, standing at the table chatting with the wedding coordinator-- the highly recommened Stacey Porter of Savvy Expressions.

This win put Nate in 12th place of all the WPJA photographers in the world. His image has also been featured prominently on the WPJA website. See the screen shot below. His image is used in a set of random rotating images for the top three images on the site as well as the placeholder for the "Kids (Being Kids)" Category for the contest results. Cool!



I am a proud wifey!!

:: Karen, Beyond The Well™ | WEDDINGS
 
 
10 September 2009 @ 01:11 am
We traveled to gorgeous Door County, WI this August for an e-session with fellow UW-Milwaukee grads (of mine-- Karen), Angie and Josh. We were blessed with perfect weather-- love DC in August! Love these guys-- we even went out for pizza and beer afterwards. If that wasn't cool enough, they sent us two bottles of New Glarus Spotted Cow in the mail as a thank you!! Looking forward to their Green Bay wedding next June!

click here to view the rest of Angie + Josh's e-session highlights! )

:: Karen, Beyond The Well™ | WEDDINGS
 
 
Amanda and Jeff got married 08.01.09 at the Lakeside Country Club in Bloomington. Hopefully you can tell from the photos-- they had a TON of fun and are SOOOOO in love with each other! We hardly have to give them any direction for portraits. They're naturals!

click here to view the rest of Amanda + Jeff's wedding highlights! )

:: Karen, Beyond The Well™ | WEDDINGS
 
 
We traveled all the way to Midland, MI to photograph Lisa and Geoff's wedding. (Although they traveled much farther themselves as they came from California!) We love that a lot of our couples are like these guys-- artsy, down-to-earth, a little non-traditional, and all with impeccable taste. (Sort of like us-- I mean, I can be pretty granola sometimes for sure! But I never let function completely trump fashion!) I love that 99% of the details at Lisa + Geoff's wedding were handmade. Her mom designed and handmade her dress-- I mean, WOW!!! So to all you DIY brides out there-- this is some great inspiration. So enough chit chat-- on with the highlights! (And a little plug for Lisa as she's a FAB makeup artist so if you're a California bride looking for a makeup artist, check her out! Lisa Z, MakeUp Artist)

click to view the rest of Lisa + Geoff's wedding highlights! )

:: Karen, Beyond The Well™ | WEDDINGS
 
 
I confess that the posting of these images is long overdue (sorry Annette!) Here are the highlights from a sweet family session we did this summer at the Mississippi Palisades State Park in Savanna, IL. This family is full of energy-- only natural with 3 teen boys!

click here to view the rest of the session highlights! )


:: Karen, Beyond The Well™ | LIFE
 
 
This was a really unique wedding! The above photo is of Jaime and Josh's "rings"-- their tattoos! Nothing was traditional about this wedding. They had no bridal party (just a pre-ceremony toast with about 40 of their closest friends), no stuffy tux (Chuck Taylors and a french cuff shirt), no white dress (champagne tea length dress from Anthropologie), no rings (tattoos), no "husband and wife" (life partners), no flowers (just locally grown wildflower centerpieces), and no electricity! You'll even notice a petition to President Obama for marriage equality that guests were able to sign-- awesome-- really touching! Pics under the cut...

click here to view the rest of Jaime and Josh's wedding highlights! )

:: Karen, Beyond The Well™ | WEDDINGS
 
 
Lauren and Ashley are recent grads-- a lilttle late for senior pics, but better late than never! We did a combo senior and sister session for them this summer. They are such beautiful girls! (and twins!) If you're interested in our high school senior photography, email us for more info!

click here to view the rest of Lauren and Ashley's senior session highlights! )

:: Karen, Beyond The Well™ | LIFE
 
 
26 August 2009 @ 03:56 am
On a roll for Bloomington engagement sessions, here are some highlights from Megan and Josh's session I did at the end of July. These guys BOTH have amazing green eyes! Megan is a fabulous hairdresser and you should give her a call at Who Does Your Hair? in Bloomington for your next 'do! Looking forward to their wedding this October-- I'll blog their guestbook in a couple weeks!

click here to view the rest of Megan and Josh's engagement session highlights! )

:: Karen, Beyond The Well™ | WEDDINGS