INDEPENDENCE GROVE LIBERTYVILLE WEDDING: CHICAGO WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER: MELISSA MARIE PHOTOGRAPHY: JAKE + MEGAN

"How do you want to look/feel on your wedding day?" Is one of the most important questions I ask. It's the rudder question to how I help navigate your wedding day. When you look back at your photos, of course "beautiful" is something you'd hopefully be saying. But the magic is when you get to teleport back to how you wanted to feel. Megan said: "I want to look like the happiest girl in the world for marrying Jake." She was! The happiness of her heart shown through her beaming smile all day long. As a parent...There's nothing we want more for our kids than for them to find the person who makes them that happy. As much as we want that, I'm tellin' ya, until you're a parent yourself, the depth of love for our kids is more than they could ever know. I have a video of my then 2 year old first-born slow dancing with me to a traditional wedding song. I made him promise he'd do the same on his wedding day some day. Oof... I was a puddle and he was 2! So when the bride's dad was overcome with emotion seeing her in her gown.... And when he passed off his speech to mom, knowing full well he wouldn't be able to get out the words (and instead sat with his arms around his daughter)....Those of us with kids, we knew what that took. They'll have a choir of all of us parents sobbing on their wedding video. (:

You may or may not remember a lot of the details of your wedding day. (Though their dessert was unforgettable!

If you haven't had a brulee'd flaming donut a la mode, you haven't lived your best life yet. Legit one of the best desserts I've ever had!) So you'd for sure remember that, but for real, there's lots of moments that may seem vivid now, but as the years pass through the details become a bit hazy. One thing I think we long remember are people, and how they made us feel. Megan, it was evident, you were truly the happiest girl in the world to be marrying Jake that day. Congratulations you guys!