River West Wedding at The Dawson – Ben + Morgan

Morgan and Ben arranged for their wedding day to revolve entirely around their River West neighborhood. I’m always delighted when couples try to stay within one area of Chicago for all of their wedding preparations and celebrations, especially when it means incorporating their neighborhood and their usual hangouts into their pictures to make them more personal and meaningful! Not only does this make the day go by smoother and easier with less traveling, but it also gives the photographs such a fun local feel. The morning began at Morgan’s hair salon, right off Milwaukee. Afterwards, we were able to capture the first look and some of the wedding photos right in front of the Chicago mural on Ohio Street, which made for wonderfully colorful portraits. Both the bride and all of her bridesmaids were gorgeously outfitted in tulle skirts and dresses. Morgan actually works for a wedding dress company, Rosa Clara, so her dress came directly from there! She also adored her wedding shoes, which had cute little bows on the backs, so we made sure to incorporate them in the ring photos. Since we had plenty of time after the Ohio Street photos, we took several Ubers over to Fulton Market, another great neighborhood full of fun colors and signs. Some of the groomsmen got there first and decided to make good use of their time by going into Glazed & Infused to purchase donuts. (Seriously, have you been to this small, Chicago chain before? DELICIOUS.) The shop happily joined into the festivities by giving the party a whole bunch of bright orange balloons, which obviously made it into some of the portraits! That evening, the ceremony and reception took place at The Dawson, a cozy event venue, bar and restaurant.