Well hot damn, i'm excited you're here. I'm Emily - you can call me em.
welcome to the blog!
I love taking adventures all over the world, photographing weddings. seniors, boudoir, and helping other photographers perfect their craft. When I have my shit together, I blog about them using way too many exclamation points. What can I say, I love my job! Grab a coffee and stay a while!
December 21, 2016
December 17th, 2016 This story began years ago at Newman Center on the campus of the University of Illinois. Kaitlyn and Tom met while living in the dorms when they started college. Little did they know then that this story would last a lifetime. They began dating and pushed each other to strive for perfection […]
December 17, 2016
Youuuu know Brittany. You may not know what she looks like, but I know you know of her. Brittany is a makeup goddess. No. Seriously. Any time I need a fresh face for a special event, she’s my girl. She’s also a good high school friend of mine and I have loved to see how she’s […]
November 29, 2016
November 26th, 2016 Oh this day. Hannah + Tyler’s wedding day was full of tears and laughter and everything in between. The morning with the girls was filled with excitement as they all got ready for the day. I loved seeing Hannah’s dress for the first time. The lace sleeves and silk skirt were a […]
November 26, 2016
Did you know today is National Cake Day? Yep. You heard that right. Its a day dedicated to cake, and it’s awesome, because who doesn’t like CAKE?! Although I have to confess, I like the cake, but I’m not a fan of frosting. It’s a family thing. You’ll see the majority of us scraping off […]
November 24, 2016
November 19th, 2016 This wedding was one of the coldest and windiest weddings I have photographed to date. This proved to be a challenge on Laura + Billy’s big day, but it was a challenge that I gladly accepted. Laura + Billy both got ready in the Concorde Room, which is the house that is […]
November 14, 2016
Fall is the busiest time of year for any photographer, hands down, and for good reason. Fall is gorgeous. So planning around three separate photographers’ fall schedules is tough! Sam + Kaula are the co-owners of Magnolia Rayne, a portrait and lifestyle photography business that captures families, babies, seniors, and more!Last summer, I had the pleasure […]
November 8, 2016
When Amy came to me asking to be her wedding photographer, I was so honored. As a primary wedding photographer, it’s not often that I get to work with clients multiple times, but Amy was an exception. You see, every year I get the pleasure of working with the new Ford County Fair Queen, and […]
October 26, 2016
Pear Tree Estates, Champaign, Illinois Happy wedding Wednesday, y’all! Since I’ve had a couple weeks wedding free, I wanted to share Abby + Stephen’s gorgeous Pear Tree Estate wedding I second shot this summer with the ever awesome Holly with Holly Birch Photography. I met up with Holly that morning just in time for the […]
October 4, 2016
Prairie Glass House, Champaign, IL A few weeks ago, news spread all over my Facebook feed about the newest upcoming wedding venue to the Champaign area. Prairie Glass House is the home of Mary Kalantzis and Bill Cope who have now decided to turn their property into a venue for both small intimate events or larger wedding […]
September 28, 2016
St. John’s Lutheran Church, Buckley, IL + Hilton Garden Inn, Champaign, IL Brittany + Bradley have one of the cutest relationships I can think of. Their big day was absolutely perfect, and even though the forecast called for storms all day, we did not see one drop of rain! I started the day at Brittany’s […]
September 21, 2016
Choosing what to wear can be one of the hardest parts about your engagement session. Well no worries, I’m here to help. I love assisting each of my brides with any part of their wedding planning process, and often will help them find the perfect look. I wanted to put together my top tips in […]
September 20, 2016
If you follow me on my personal Instagram or Snapchat you know that Sage is our good family friend and also our nanny. She’s constantly doing my makeup for things and has decided to turn her love for cosmetics into a business! She’ll be offering makeup for special events and weddings. She wanted to put […]
September 15, 2016
St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Beaverville + Quality Inn & Suites, Bradley, IL Stephanie + Jake’s big day was one that their friends and family had been waiting on for a while. Both the bride and groom were friends of mine from high school (Jake MAY or may not have gotten me kicked off the school […]
September 9, 2016
Green Acres Sportsmans Club, Roberts, IL I cannot believe I haven’t blogged this engagement session from last winter! As one of my more challenging (I’ll explain in a bit) sessions, it turned out to be one of my favorites. Stephanie and Jake are both high school friends of mine from up north, and I was […]
September 8, 2016
Paxton Evangelical Covenant Church, Paxton + Hilton Garden Inn Stone Conference Center, Kankakee, IL Meghan has always been one of the happiest people I know. When she called me to photograph her wedding, (and told me she HAD. TO. have me) I was really excited! She is a joy to be around, and her husband, […]
September 7, 2016
Urban Civic Center, Urbana, IL Oh boy. This wedding. This day. Let me tell you, it was a roller coaster of emotions for sooo many reasons. First off, Adrian was my girl crush back in high school, but you already know this since I’m sure you’ve read their blog post from Adrian and Taylor’s engagement […]
September 4, 2016
Downtown Champaign, Illinois Senior season is in full swing! With sessions filling up almost every day of my calendar these last few weeks, rain has not been welcome. Luckily for Grace, there was not a bad spot in the sky the day of her session. We started with makeup in Paxton by the ever magnificent […]
September 1, 2016
Lake of the Woods Botanical Gardens, Mahomet, IL Each year, I get the distinct honor of meeting each new Fair Queen for their outdoor summer session. I love doing this for each girl so that they have photos to remember their year with and, well, what fair queen wouldn’t like glamming up for a photo […]
August 22, 2016
Whew! What a busy summer it’s been! With a wedding every weekend since May, it’s put a lot of things on the back burner. Last week though, I met with 2017 Senior Spokesmodel Kelsey for her senior session. Kelsey and her mom met with Brittany of Brittany Koryanis Makeup Artistry to glam up prior to […]
August 15, 2016
St. Matthew Catholic Church + Champaign Country Club, Champaign, IL Oh this day. My my my, how I loved every detail Abbey and Kale worked out. From the mint bridesmaids dresses to the light pink and gold accents throughout the day, we couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day. Abbey and I had met […]
July 28, 2016
Paxton Countryside, IL So we’ve talked multiple times about how behind the blogging game I am… you guys. This session is from LAST YEAR. Seriously. I suck. But it’s one of my all time favorites, so I can’t not share it. So last year, Jessica + Mike were house hunting along with the help from […]
July 27, 2016
Pear Tree Estate, Champaign, IL Taylor + Dustin had been planning for their Friday wedding for many months, and it finally came to vision at the start of this month. And let me tell you, Taylor exceeded my expectations by a long shot! The day was filled with Harry Potter inspired details that made my […]
July 20, 2016
Elks Country Club, St Anne, IL Stepheny and Eric were married on a warm summer day right on the Kankakee River, and it was absolutely gorgeous! I am always a bit nervous before attending outdoor weddings for the fact of weather, but Stepheny and Eric planned for their ceremony in a little patch of shade […]
July 14, 2016
Spruce Street Studios, Shelbyville, IL I’ve been terrible about blogging, as you know, so today’s #throwbackthursday post is going to cover Ramey + Codey’s Shelbyville wedding! I told you all about how Ramey and I go wayyy back when I blogged their engagement session, and I was anxious to photograph their wedding day! It was […]
July 13, 2016
St John’s Lutheran Church – Ash Grove, Onarga, IL The Linden, Rantoul, IL Holy cow you guys. I seriously just want to make this the worlds longest blog post ever and show you every single image from Kassandra + Jordan’s wedding. From the colors, to the dresses, to the party animals that came out right […]
July 5, 2016
Paxton Church of Christ Ceremony + Kruse Center, Gibson City, IL JJ + Michael got married on one of the hottest days in June, but even the heat couldn’t keep them from staying on schedule! JJ started her day with her girls at the Leading Edge, and was ahead of schedule by the time I […]
June 29, 2016
An American Lutheran Ceremony followed by a Laborer’s Hall Reception | Urbana, IL There was an 80% chance of severe thunderstorms for almost the entire day that Brittany + Trey planned to be married on. I left my house that morning thinking “Plan B” style, packed all of my rain gear, and even made a […]
May 8, 2016
When I was younger, I loved playing with my baby dolls and was fascinated by other babies. When I got a bit older, I began to imagine what the rest of my life would be like, and it included having kids. But then, the fascination and dreaming of children was starting to become a realization, and […]
April 27, 2016
Rustic Family Farm, Kempton, IL Hannah + Tyler chose to schedule their engagement session early spring, just before Tyler had to head out to the fields. What we didn’t know, is that the day we met would happen to land us on one of the windiest, coldest days this spring! Due to busy schedules, we […]
April 13, 2016
Turtle Run Banquet Center Wedding | Danville, IL | January 2nd, 2016 Laura and Robert’s big day was full of fun, laughter, and GORGEOUS details! I had so much fun second shooting for Melissa of M Failla Photography once again! You may have seen my other posts about Kimberly + Tyler or Megan + Jacob‘s wedding […]
