When it comes to beautiful ceremonies, this one takes the cake!  This beautiful wedding began at Starved Rock State Park in Utica, IL.  The ceremony took place at the exquisite church Queen of the Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Church which is  located  LaSalle, IL.  Finally, the reception took place at Oak Ridge Golf Club in Seneca, IL.  As a Chicago wedding photographer I get the opportunity to travel to a lot of wonderful locations all over Illinois.  These are some of the best when it comes to rustic beauty!  See more Seneca Oak Ridge wedding photographer photo’s here, and Seneca Oak Ridge wedding photography here.

The natural light coming through the stained glass in this church was simply amazing.  It allowed me to shoot without a flash and capture all of the shadow and light detail.  What I love about this photograph is stunning shimmer of the gold wall.

Shooting from the organ/choir loft here gave me a different perspective and allowed me to capture more of the detail of this beautiful wall.

The shallow depth of field in this image draws your attention to the emotion in Audrey and Marks faces without losing the beauty of the background.

Here the architectural detail of the balcony adds to the drama of this high fashion group shot.

Getting down low and using the low sun to silhouette

Thank you guys for the wonderful time!  We had a great time taking the golf carts for a ride and freezing our butts off LOL.

-Corlis :: Contact Me

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Thanks again guys for being so fun to work with.  I can’t wait until the wedding!!!

-Corlis :: Contact Me!

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So being that they have more school loans than the U.S. deficit, but all the love in the world (literally).  God was smiling on them one day and led them to me.  I just so happen to do 3 pro bono weddings per year for couples in exactly their predicament.  After reading the most heart warming email from Abby, I decided to meet with them.

We met in a little coffee shop in Morris, IL called Brewed Awakenings.  From there we sat over a couple hot cups of joe and got to know each other.  The rest is history.

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Here is their engagement session shot at Starved Rock State Park in Utica, IL

Thank you Abby and Ben for the great time we had!

Your Friend,

Corlis – Contact me!

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It was about 11 am.  I started packing up my camera bag with all the essentials…you know…camera’s, lenses, flashes, cards.  I headed out for a quick brunch and ran some errands.

Sounds like a normal day as a photographer.  I headed out at about 2 to scout the area where I’d be shooting Tim and Madison’s engagement session.  Little did I know I’d be driving around for the next 2 hours back and forth past the very place I needed to be.  LOL.  Nobody’s perfect right?  Good thing I left 2 hours early.

Enter Gebhard Woods in Morris, IL.  A pleasant little treasure trove of green foliage and manicured lawns.  We had a great time hiking and getting a little dirty to get some great shots

See more Morris engagement photography here.

Thanks to Tim and Madison for the great time

-Corlis :: Contact me!

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What I like about this shot: The light was perfectly soft underneath the umbrella on this bistro table which allowed me to perfectly expose for their faces.  I thought it was great that I could get the name  Cafe Brauer into the shot to document the beautiful location we were at.

I added a little vignette to this image to focus our attention on the beautiful couple.  Notice how Laci has created a broken angle with her leg, adding more drama to this image.

This close up is just amazing!  There are some beautiful highlights in their eyes giving them a sparkle.  We were in some beautiful shade on this one which gave us really great and even skin tones.

I used a fairly shallow depth of field on this image to give it a more artistic look and to get rid of some of the distractions in the background.  I love the relaxed expressions on their faces, they were naturals!

This is a really fun and playful image.  The light breaking through the trees in the back ground adds drama, and since the couple were fully shaded the skin tones are beautiful.  The shallow depth of field draws the viewers attention directly to the subject.

I walked around for a while to find this spot.  It was pretty difficult being that it was downtown Chicago.  I love the contrast of nature meets urban landscape in this one.  It looks like they are spending the perfect afternoon downtown picnicking.

I cant say enough how much of a great time I really had with you guys.  I love any excuse to get to the city and just spend a day taking in the sights and I couldn’t think of two better people to do it with!

-Corlis :: Contact Me!

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Audrey and Mark are some of the sweetest people I’ve ever met.  They are truly genuine and kind spirited people.  I really enjoyed this shoot because they were just so playful! They had no problem gettin’ a little dirty AND WET.  It was just like going hiking with two good friends I’d known for years.  The engagement photography was done at Starved Rock State Park in Utica, IL.  (It sure does seem like I’m there an awful lot doesn’t it? Maybe I should just move out there and become the “Starved Rock Photographer” LOL.)  See more Starved Rock engagement photography here, by Starved Rock engagement photographer Corlis Gray, and Starved Rock engagement photo’s here.

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I just love doing this shot.  People are always so much more relaxed when the pose isn’t really a pose.  The greatest expressions always come when a couple is simply interacting naturally.

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This shot is so great!  I told Mark and Audrey to play and have some fun and that is exactly what they did.  All of my clients and friends know I like to get a little dirty when I’m shooting, so I’m glad they joined in the fun.

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This shot is great because Mark was being such a gentleman.  He volunteered to carry his lovely fiance’ out of the water.  Plus the contrast of the rock behind them was just beautiful.

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I love this depth of field photograph.  It really draws the attention to the flip flops in the sand and gives you the impression they’re in some cove in the tropics or something.  Even though their just at Starved Rock.

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Genuine Smiles!  They always come after the fake one people give for the photographer.  LOL.  This is one of those special moments I look for when people think I’m not shooting.

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Audrey has some beautiful eyes and I wanted to capture that.  I love how they are dead center and your eye is drawn there immediately.

Thank you guys for such a fun time.  You know how I like to get dirty and roll around on the ground and you had NO problem with that.

-Corlis :: Contact Me!

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When it comes to happy smiling people, these two take the cake!  Chris and Jeanette have no trouble finding something to smile about.  We had a wonderful time exploring the Chicago Botanic Gardens.  I especially love the fact they didn’t have a problem getting a little dirty and going off the beaten path.  Although the day began a bit wet with ominous clouds overhead, God saw fit to open up the sky just for us, and we had a beautiful shoot.  Here’s a little peek   You can see more Chicago Botanic Gardens engagement photography here, by Chicago Botanic Gardens engagement photographer Corlis Gray Photography.

Thanks Chris and Jeanette for the really great time and all the laughs!

-Corlis

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This fabulous engagement session took place in historic Downtown Naperville, near the Riverwalk.  Just 30 minutes south of Chicago.  What an extremely fun and beautiful couple!  What started out as a one hour session turned into three hours of just hanging out getting to know each other.  We found a cute little wine cellar (Petersons wine cellar)where we tasted some wine while Mike and Corey told me how they met.  It was truly one of my most memorable sessions!  Here’s a sneak peak.   See more Naperville engagement photography here, and Naperville engagement photographer here.

This picture is where we crashed a little party at the American Saloon Black Finn.  It’s always nice to cause a little trouble while capturing that perfect moment

Thanks Mike and Corey for such a great night of getting to know each other!

-Corlis

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Julia and Shane are a super cute couple.  We had a really great time exploring the Chicago Botanical Gardens.  I absolutely fell in love with the Japanese garden!  I had no idea you could create Bonzai Trees that big!  LOL.  Although the heat was a bit intense we pushed through and were rewarded with some beautiful light at sunset   The sweetest part was that this was were their first date took place 4 years ago.  Awwww   You can see more Chicago Botanic Gardens engagement photography here, by Chicago Botanic Gardens photographer Corlis Gray Photography.

Special thanks to Shane for the great tour of the gardens.

-Corlis

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Yet another beautiful day at the Downtown Naperville River Walk!  I have to admit, it was a bit hot, but Anthony & Kristin were troopers!  Amidst the hustle and bustle of what seemed to be an entire town congregated in one location, we captured some truly beautiful moments of two wonderful people in love.  Even though we were surrounded by groups of people cheering on these two love birds, it looks as though no one else even existed at the moments they got lost  in each others eyes.  See more Naperville engagement photography here, and Naperville engagement photographer here.

Michelle and I had a wonderful time  hanging out with you guys, just walking and stopping for the occasional Corona

-Corlis

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