Jenna Cole Photography – Chicago, IL

Emily’s has Italian roots that stretch back to one of the most beautiful places in the world, Bagni di Lucca. I went last summer and the moment we left Italy I was making mental notes that I must return to this slice of paradise before I die. This connection between us helped jumpstart a day filled with laughter and touching moments and 14 hours after we first said hello I admit I was a little bit sad that it was all over. Emily got ready at the Four Seasons and then met Ethan for a first look. They drove up to the Chicago LDS Temple and were sealed, and then came back down to Spiaggia per un bellissimo reception.

Emily and Ethan, enjoy reliving your beautiful wedding day through this series of images. I’m going to keep the commentary to myself this time around so you have the chance to really drink it all in.

Con tanto affetto,
Jenna

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I was going to Benita’s wedding in San Diego no matter what. We lived together for close to 5 years in college, and she will forever be one of my favorite people in the world. When she asked me about the possibility of me shooting her wedding, I made it very clear that I only wanted her to hire me if she loved my work. I knew I would work harder than anyone else to give her something she would love for forever, but I wanted to know that she felt that way as well. Sometimes when friends work together with unrealistic expectations, the friendship doesn’t survive, and that would be too much for me to handle. I always need to have  a little bit o’ Benita in my life!

We worked all of the details out, I packed up my stuff, left my baby and husband behind, and headed out to California for a weekend with the girls(if you’re wondering, yes, I had several mix CDs in the rental car that included songs like Ocean Avenue). On Thursday night we threw Benita a mini-bachlorette party, which included tasks assigned to the bride-to-be (yelling out into the street “I’M GETTING MARRIED!” and such) as well as some cupcakes from Babycakes.

On Friday Benita went through the LDS Sand Diego temple for the first time.

That night we dined at Pizza Nova and heard some really touching speeches from Scott’s dad and step-dad (I cried, I loved them so much).

That weekend I was checking my phone constantly for weather updates. Before I flew out I had assured Benita that the forecast would improve, and that we wouldn’t have to worry about rain. But things weren’t looking better that morning, and I didn’t have a backup plan. I had gone out scouting on Thursday and Friday, and I knew the perfect spot for their first look and portraits, but it wasn’t going to work if the rain was pouring down. Were we going to have to take all of their pictures under a random awning somewhere? San Diego doesn’t see weather like that very often (multiple residents assured me that the weather that weekend was unique) and so there isn’t a lot of rain cover. The hotel rooms at the La Jolla Residence Inn Suites Hotel by Marriott were really dark and things weren’t looking good.

I told Benita that it was my job to worry about those things though. The night before at the rehearsal dinner I asked her to please let me worry about the rain and the pictures so she could enjoy herself and relax throughout the weekend. The next morning she was surrounded by friends, getting pampered, ready to take on the day!



Beni, you’re gorgeous.

As Scott and Benita finished getting dressed, I looked out and saw that it was still raining. I turned to Scott and said “I think we should try to do the First Look outside. I think that you will never, ever regret going to this location I scouted, even with the hiking and the mud.” He decided to trust me and go for it. I would never, ever make my clients do something they aren’t comfortable with, but so far I’ve found that people are willing to trust my vision, which always results in something powerful.

Thank you Scott for trusting me. I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to top these pictures! All of the portraits you’ll see below were done in the La Jolla Farms area. We did their first look on a path where surfers hike down to the water (I would have loved to go all the way down to the beach, but there was no way that was happening!)

Benita is absolutely crazy. She hiked down a moderately steep freshly muddy incline in her brand new heels (that she had never worn before that day), and then up a very steep portion to get to Scott. We were lucky that her mom came along and had paper towels in the car! I was dashing around taking pictures and of course fell down, covering my left leg in mud.

So worth it though. So, so worth it.

They wanted to have their wedding bands on for the portraits, so we did a quick little ring exchange.  read the rest of this entry …