Danada House Wedding | Shannon and Alex

 

Shannon and Alex’s entire wedding day took place at the gorgeous Danada House in Wheaton, Illinois. It’s a great venue with tons of beautiful places to photograph, from the bridal suite with vintage damask wallpaper to the lovely gardens and ceremony space outdoors. I would definitely recommend it to anyone planning their wedding in the Chicago area!

 

I used an ultra-wide angle 14mm lens for this photo of Shannon’s dress which allowed me to transform the small nook where it was hanging into a vast space and capture plenty of detail in the floral wallpaper which complemented the pattern of the dress.

 

Shannon and the girls busted out the selfie stick for a fun shot in the bathtub.

 

Meanwhile Alex was getting ready just down the hall in another room.  It’s nice when brides and grooms get ready at the same location, whether it’s a ceremony venue like this, a private residence, or just two rooms at the same hotel. Having the ability to jump back and forth with no travel time is great and allows me to spend more of my time capturing moments and creating awesome images and less time driving.

 

Alex’s dad helps his brother with the bowtie while his mom and Shannon’s dad look on.

 

I love to do moody, black and white, film noir-inspired portraits like this with my grooms. There was really nothing special about the location in the photo, it’s just a wall, but the lighting really makes the image.

 

Alex and Shannon prayed together while holding hands before the ceremony, without ever seeing each other.

 

Danada House has a beautiful outdoor ceremony area.

 

Alex was very emotional seeing Shannon for the first time as her father walked her down the aisle.

 

For this shot I used a special lens to isolate the couple while blurring out the guests and wedding party on either side of the frame.

 

These newlyweds couldn’t contain their excitement and came skipping down the aisle, with the wedding party following their lead.

 

Can’t go wrong with a dinosaur cake!

 

We stepped out for a few minutes at sunset for some more photos of Alex and Shannon together. The light was beautiful and there was a wonderful orange sky as the sun sank below the horizon. Scheduling 15 minutes or so for sunset portraits is a great idea that I encourage all of my couples to do.

 

After making the most of the sunset we headed back to the part for the Alex and Shannon’s first dance and the father-daughter dance.

 

At the end of the night when the reception was winding down and Shannon and Alex were getting ready to leave, I set up my lighting for this shot and had them step in for a minute to take the photo. I knew this would be a great image to end the night and a perfect last page for their wedding album!