Hotel Arista Naperville Wedding Photographer, An Elegant and Chic Spring Wedding!

 As a Hotel Arista Naperville wedding photographer, Hotel Arista is one of my favorite Chicago suburban venues. It is modern, clean and bright a perfect space to make your event everything you had ever dreamed of. The staff is also amazing!  I had the privilege to work with the catering manager Katie at this wedding, who just happened to be the sister of a past couple, such a small world!! The day began with getting ready at the Hotel Arista in Naperville, I photographed the bride and my second photographer captured the groom. Before we headed off to St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church for the ceremony, we did the first look outside of Hotel Arista. It was simply perfect!! Then it was time for Amy and Jim to get married!! The ceremony was beautiful, with some comic moments during the reading and a really fun bubble exit afterward with all their nearest and dearest surrounding them in celebration of this wonderful moment. After a few family formals, done outside of church since it was such a gorgeous day, we headed back to Hotel Arista to do the wedding portraits. I had found a fabulous area with beautiful light and greenery, you would never guess where we were for these portraits. Photography is all about the light, and we were blessed with amazing sunshine for this wedding day. Well deserved beautiful day for a sweet couple. Amy and Jim wanted to attend their cocktail hour, which is something I encourage every couple to do. The wedding day goes by fast, you should try to plan it so that there is a lot of time to do the things you want and enjoy the every minute of the day. When the party started it was time to loosen the ties and put on dancing shoes, time to celebrate!!! Jason from Sounds Abound Entertainment provide the perfect tunes to get this party started, it was SO MUCH FUN!! I can not wait until I can return to Hotel Arista Naperville as a Wedding Photographer for another fabulous couple. Congratulation Amy and Jim!! I wish you nothing but LOVE and LAUGHTER as you begin your happily ever after! <3

As a Hotel Arista Naperville Wedding Photographer, I had asked the bride and groom for a little feedback on their special day that I could share with other couples. Amy and Jim said that they were both so glad that they did the first look as it was indeed a very special moment.  “It was pretty much the only time we had alone together the entire day.  You spend so much time getting ready so it was nice we were able to notice every detail that went into it.  ‘His perfectly knotted tie and perfectly place boutonniere.’ ‘Her beautiful dress and perfect hair.’  It took the nerve off for the ceremony too. From then on, everything just felt very natural like we were prepared for anything that came at us.”

I asked Amy and Jim about their most favorite moments from the wedding day. Amy says: “My favorite part of the day was saying our vows.  In that moment, I was so happy that I was past the point of crying (which is weird for me as I’m a definite crier!)   I felt it was more than just the vows or the words–Jim and I were connected at a whole other level.”

There are NO RULES on your wedding day, it is important to do what you love. Amy and Jim believed this and one of the many unique things that they did was allowing each bridesmaid to pick whatever dresses they wanted to wear and went for an eclectic look.  “I gave my bridesmaids paint swatches from the hardware store and let them pick a short dress in the style/shape/price that suited them best.  At the end of the day, all my bridesmaids were comfortable and happy with the dress they chose.  I saw each of their personalities shine in their choices.” I love this idea!! Look how great everyone looks together!!

Foryourparty.com made my wedding favors a breeze, as this favors are quickly becoming a dated tradition.  Cute and practical match boxes were made available to guests at a reasonable price so I could focus our finances on things that were more important to us like food and flowers.

Jim’s favorite moment was the choreographed first dance. “Our first dance was my favorite part of the wedding because we had been working so hard on it.  It went so perfectly, and it was actually fun to do because it finally came naturally. I can not wait to see what Joel from Wedding Films captured in moving pictures!!”

Here is Amy and Jim’s Highlight Video from the amazing Wedding Films!! Joel is my favorite, I got tears in my eyes watching this.

http://www.weddingfilms.com/amyandjim/

I had asked Amy and Jim if they had any advice for couples planning for their big day, and they had some great advice!!

Choose what YOU want for YOUR wedding.  We used unique decorations like globe ceiling balloons from Balloons by Tommy and whimsical tree centerpieces from Andrew’s Garden.  I received so many compliments even though it was a little out of the box.  I couldn’t have been more happy with the results.

Wear comfortable shoes… it’s not worth it to buy the most gorgeous pair of 4-inch stilettos on the face of the planet and suffer through the day.  I chose a very conservative pair of light brown suede wedges by Audrey Brooke, and was so happy with my decision as I could skip down the aisle and run to catch my ride back to the hotel.

Mistakes can happen, but don’t let them ruin your day.  Our party bus broke down, and the wedding party had to be driven in a cargo van, and a relative committed a major party foul by wearing an all white lace dress.  It is what it is, and you can’t change it.  Take a minute (or five) to simmer down, and get on with your amazing day!

At the end of the day, make sure you take the time to enjoy it all.  Jim and I set goals about what we wanted out of the day–we really wanted to be able to attend our cocktail hour and eat our dinner uninterrupted.  We were so glad we were able to design a timeline that allowed for that with our vendors. Remember, it’s your day so make sure you do it the way you want.

If you enjoyed this article, please leave us a comment. If you would like more information you can learn more about us, our photography or to contact us regarding wedding photography or contact us regarding portrait photography and we would be happy to send you more information about our services. Thanks so much for reading and we hope to hear from you soon!!