Laila + Solomon | Mt. Hawley Country Club | Peoria, Illinois

Happy Birthday, Laila! I love that I timed this blog post juuuuust right for you! 🙂

Ryan and I drove up to Peoria, Illinois (Laila’s hometown) to be a part of this special day! I just have to take a moment to talk about my assistant. 🙂 He is going to hate me for this, but I also want him to know how wonderful he is! Ryan (my hubby) helped assist with this wedding. As an assistant, they have the job of carrying all my bags, extra cameras and basically keeping me sane and organized the day of a wedding. If they can shoot – even better – but I don’t expect images from my assistants. We started the day in the afternoon and had the morning to explore the cute little town, try a new coffee shop (thirty-thirty Coffee Company – awesome!) and relax before we started. Ryan, who is an avid runner + cyclist, wanted to be able to get a ride in for the weekend. Long story short, he ended up crashing his bike and was pretty bang’d up, but worked his butt off all day. He is such a trooper! Needless to say, he captured some great images and helped me with all the usual things. Still in a lot of pain, three weeks after the accident he decided to see a specialist – the x-ray revealed that he had broken his radius! Ouch! Thanks for always being the perfect assistant!

Okay, now on to this aaaadorable couple! Nestled on the golf course of Mt. Hawley’s Country Club, Laila and Solomon were able to have the most perfectly intimate tent wedding in the back yard of her childhood home. Guests could enjoy the crisp Spring weather + beautiful golf course view. Then, after the ceremony, the guests were able to walk over to the club for the reception. Laila certainly wins a prize for being my most giddiest bride! 🙂 She was all smiles and SO excited to be marrying her sweet Solomon. As she should be, they are perfect for one another. When a couple shares a first look, I like to later steal them away from the reception to capture a few more photos as a married couple. Lucky me, Laila opted for a sari. Fun and so beautiful! 🙂

We are also super excited about photographing Laila’s sister’s wedding this September!

Enjoy the prettiness!

xox

HSR