I can thank my Dad for instilling in his boys the constant pursuit for the perfect knot. Thirty plus years of suits and ties and the man never settled for less than perfection. Three tips he gave us:

1. The length
   1. The end of your tie should touch the middle of your belt. Yes you can have a giant knot and still have your tie the right length.
2. The knot
   1. Consider the width of your collar when deciding on the knot size. Wide collars need a larger knot.
3. The dimple
   1. Take your time. Make it look good. This is a little detail most overlook.

Jeff Mix at Tom James shared these graphics on how to tie a tie. He is a great resource if you’re looking for a new suit for your rehearsal dinner, a new shirt and tie for your wedding day, or even a custom tux.

Celina and Beau’s wedding morning was gorgeous. When we pulled up to Holy Name it was 75 and sunny without a cloud in the sky. 45 minutes later there was a wall of those black green tornado looking clouds. As luck would have it Celina and Beau are probably the most easy going people I have ever met. They knew I had a plan and really showed no signs of concern. I like to create an A list and  B list of locations to shoot. One for ideal locations if it’s sunny and one as a backup in case we need to retreat indoors. The beauty of it is with a little planning you can bounce between A list and B list locations. We set out for our first location but the rain was coming down in sheets, so we took a little detour. The guys were starving so I figured detour number one should involve food. We pulled up to Corner Bakery and dropped the guys off. As luck would have it we found a break in the rain. 5 quick minutes of shooting with the girls and 15 not-so-quick minutes of eating and we were off to our next location.

Of course the rain came back and we retreated to the Westin River North. My favorite rain day location. It has gorgeous light, a great view of Chicago, and it is covered from the rain. There are some big trees down by the river that really work well to keep everyone dry.

It was really important to Celina to get a picture by Buckingham Fountain. Watching the radar and the sky, since the two don’t always reflect the same thing, I guessed and it happened to be a perfect time to shoot there. We only had 10 minutes before the downpour ensued. We missed the rain and headed back to the hotel. The last shot is one of my favorites from the day. I think it will show even if you have to resort to using your hotel room for pictures there’s always something fun that will come out of it.

In case you still don’t believe you can have great pictures when it rains on your wedding day I included a little video at the end to show just how much rain we were working in. Don’t worry, no groomsmen were harmed or soaking wet in the making of this video. They were under a tree. And yes your photographer should do more than shoot pictures on your wedding day. I will do anything to make the day run more smoothly. In this case I am the umbrella man.

I returned to The Elysian on Saturday to photograph the wedding. As I walked up, the doorman said, “You’re back. It’s nice to see you again. How did your shoot go yesterday?” I then strolled through the revolving door and one of the staff also remembered me from the day before and and offered to take my camera bag until I was ready to shoot. I can’t imagine how many people walk in and out of The Elysian a day, especially on a wedding weekend. I was blown away that any of the staff remembered me, let alone two of them. The best part of all this, I didn’t even have a room there. I was simply at the hotel to photograph my clients. A big thank you to The Elysian for setting a new level of excellence and attention to detail.

These are a few of my favorite images of Sharon and Michael from their wedding day at the Elysian. I will of course have another blog post up next week with the details of the ceremony and reception rooms at the hotel.