every once in a while there comes along a wedding where absolutely everything falls right into place.  i will remember every little detail for the rest of my career, probably the rest of my life.  jon is in the air force and when i first met them, he was in florida and she was in milwaukee.  they were both originally from freeport, so that is where they returned for their traditional greek wedding.  and that was the only thing traditional about these two.

their pictures will tell the story of their day, but there are a few key things that i want to point out.  when athena told me that their wedding was vintage themed (including dresses, jewelry, shoes, cars), i thought about bringing some of my vintage cameras as props.  we even shot part of their wedding on 1950’s brownie 127 mm film camera.  we used richard photo lab for the unique size film developing.  i think they really enhanced the overall feel of athena & jon’s wedding.

athena & jon rode from the hotel to the church in seperate vintage cars.  athena’s dad broke out the 1938 ford tudor, and jon rode in his uncle mike’s red vintage cadillac.  we stopped at the masonic temple for their first look.  and then we headed to the union dairy for some ice cream & milk shakes.  delici-oso.  now we make it a point if we’re even in freeport to stop in for more tasty treats!

this was my first greek wedding and it was really neat to learn the traditions.  the wedding was in mid summer, and i’ll never forget how hot it was in the small greek church.  i’ll also remember getting stuck in the front of the church, sandwiched between her parents and the bridesmaids.  literally stuck for pretty much the entire ceremony.  but it was well worth it because from that vantage point i was able to grab some great slices of life.

we stopped at the freeport cemetery where athena & jon spent some time with relatives gone, but definitely not forgotten.  after pausing in the cemetery for some time of reflection & shots of ouzo, we got to spend some great moments with just the two of them.

during the reception, we snuck athena & jon onto the golf course for some more shots and followed that up with a little more fun with the ladies.  then we headed back inside for an evening of dancing.

we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves with athena & jon and greatly value their friendship to this day.  i know that we have made friends for life.  enjoy.

details:

ceremony: holy cross greek orthodox church

reception: freeport country club

wedding cake: feed your inter child

reception music: live to dance deejay sandy schwertfeger

floral arrangements: kusudama by bride

makeup and hair: diem angie nguyen chicago

host hotel: country inn & suites freeport

wedding ceremony gown: david’s bridal

wedding dancing gown: vintage chicas

bride’s ceremony shoes: the highest heel

bride’s dancing shoes: vintage bruno maglis

bridal jewelry: fit for a goddess

bridesmaids dresses: modcloth

and i wanted to add just one more picture, it was one that we took together at the end of the night.  i want to thank athena (and jon) for their continued support to white shutter, to us as individuals, and to our family.  athena & jon’s wedding has been featured on numerous blogs, several print magazines, and every new client of ours gets to see our copy of their wedding album.  and our little freya sleeps every night wrapped in an athena original thenacake hand made blanket that they sent to us right after she was born.  thank you again for having us as your photographers and friends.  we love you.