chicago

Dharna & Samir are Featured Wedding of the Day on Wedding Channel!

Dharna & Samir were married on May 29, 2010 and today they are featured on The Wedding Channel! Congrats to you both for one year of marriage and for being a featured wedding, what a gorgeous day!!! <3 you both! Liesl Diesel Click here for Dharna's Preparation photos Click Here for Samir's Baraat Click here for Dharna & Samir's Ceremony Click here for Dharna & Samir's Portrait


Miss Caroline Prepares for The New Bean!

Miss Caroline is one busy girl! Thank goodness she is around to help her gorgeous mommy prepare for the New Bean! You can see Miss Caroline's last adventure on my blog at this link, and keep an eye out for future adventures! I hear the New Bean may sprout at any moment! See all my favorites from this family lifestyle portrait session →


Baby K Arrives with Smiles Galore!

Last week I photographed Ripa & Viral's new addition, who is now 3 months old! His smiles are contagious! View all my favorites on my Fan Page! I also photographed Shaan's Baby Shower this past October and delivered a custom album to his parents to commemorate the event. Congratulations to both of you, you are both doing a fantastic job with this wonderful →


Happy St. Valentine’s Day!

This past year has been a JAM PACKED year of non-stop love and I hope all of you are celebrating by expressing your love today! I want to thank all my clients from the past 12 months who hired me to record their love! St. Valentine was martyred for protesting a ban on marriage, and his stance on love and →


New Year’s Eve Wedding Party at Elmhurst Art Museum!

Rachel & Tyler party like it's (ALMOST) 2011! This New Year's Eve wedding reception at Elmhurst Art Museum was crazy fun! Check out my other posts from their preparation, ceremony, and portraits! Happy New Year and Congratulations! <3 Liesl Diesel


Elmhurst Art Museum Wedding Portraits – Rachel & Tyler

Below are some of my favorite portraits from Rachel & Tyler's wedding on New Year's Eve, 2010! Special thanks to the Elmhurst Art Museum for providing this delicious backdrop for the wedding portraits!


Rachel’s Bridal Portrait

I think these photos speak for themselves. Head shots taken at Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Wheaton, IL Full length shots taken at the Elmhurst Art Museum. Congratulations, Rachel! You are a truly beautiful person! <3 Liesl Diesel


Rachel & Tyler’s Ceremony

Rachel & Tyler said their vows on New Year's Eve in Wheaton, IL at the Aldersgate United Methodest Church. Rachel is the epitome of elegance, style, grace, calm and strength. So I was really thrilled when the fact that I had positioned myself between a pew corner and the wall (I was literally cornered there) paid off by giving me the perfect →


Rachel Prepares for her New Year!

Here is a preview of what I got to do on New Year's Eve! My last wedding of the year was on December 31, 2010 for Rachel & Tyler! I met them in person the first time at their engagement shoot this past summer in Millennium Park, Chicago! Check out the two blog posts from their portrait session! Rachel started preparing at →


Chicago Cultural Center Wedding

The final event! I had the crazy fun opportunity to work with Shahzeen & Prem for their engagement shoot, their Nikah and Nikah portrait session, the Mendi at Alhambra Palace Restaurant and finally the reception at the Chicago Cultural Center! Videography provided by Orange Wedding Films, JJ was great to work with and has uber skills with a camera! Make-up by Maliha Khan of →


Dazzling Preparation

DAZZLING preparation time for Prem & Shahzeen! I will post up more from their reception shortly! I know we go over this ALL THE TIME but I just have to remind all of you, once again, that I like sparkling things. Which is why I also love Shahzeen. Well, it's not the only reason I love her, but it certainly helps →


Chicago Mendi Ceremony

Shahzeen's Mendi was at the Alhambra Palace Restaurant in Chicago, IL.  I am posting up some of my favorite detail shots from the event, the food was delicious and the party was very high energy!  All of the women looked absolutely beautiful that night.  Shahzeen and her mother really know how to get down, the dancing was killer! Because many of them →


Baby Shower for Baby K!

Viral & Ripa recently hired me to photograph the shower for their first baby! They were referred to me by Dharna & Samir, two positively delightful people I got to photograph this past May! Baby K's first big party was held at the Elk Grove Belvedere Banquet Hall Ripa paid great attention to detail for this fun event! I loved the Ty Beanie →


Graffiti Love in Downtown Chicago!

Many of you are quite familiar with Shahzeen and Prem by now! I photographed their engagement session at the Chicago Botanic Gardens, their Nikah ceremony at the Downtown Islamic Center, traipsed around Chicago with them shooting some fun portrait sessions, and then later shot their reception, which you will see SOON! promise! To end our portrait session the day of their →


Miss Caroline & The Silver Bean

I recently had a fun adventure with little Miss Caroline at The Silver Bean in Millennium Park downtown Chicago! Less than a week after this session, I found out Amber is pregnant! Can't wait to photograph the new addition! Congratulations to all of you, hope to see you soon! <3 Liesl Diesel


Nikkah Wedding Portraits Part Deux!

After Artist's Cafe and The Vermillion, Shahzeen, Prem and I stopped by the Chicago beach for some scenic shots! After a day of rain and clouds then sun beamed through and it was blue skies all around!  We had such a perfect day for their Nikah, I can't wait for more celebrations this weekend with them! See you both soon! <3 Liesl Diesel


Say Less and Do More

Prem and Shahzeen were married on September 11 in the Downtown Islamic Center in Chicago, IL.  Afterwards we went around the city to some locations that were meaningful to them in order to get some fun and playful portraits to commemmorate their Nikkah before the big celebration this coming weekend!  Our fist stop was the Artists Cafe and then we →


Kristine & Jonathan Engaged!

I met up with Kristine and Jonathan at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, IL for their engagement session, and of course the weather man was completely on my side that evening! We started out with a view of the skyline.  They will have their wedding reception at the Mid America Club, so they wanted some shots with that building in the →


Nikah Ceremony

Shahzeen & Prem had their Muslim Nikah wedding ceremony this past weekend, followed by a fun portrait shoot all around the city! I wanted to put up a preview of the Nikah, and will post up some portraits soon! The ceremony took place at the Downtown Islamic Center in Chicago, IL Keep an eye on my Fan Page for more updates! <3 Liesl Diesel


Triumph Motorcyles; Like Wind, Ice, and Freedom.

I recently was asked to photograph Jeff and Michael on their Triumph Mortorcyles.  Light was falling fast so in order to get some sky we sped up to the rooftop of a Whole Foods in Chicago for the shoot. If you are a fan of Triumph bikes, check out Triumph Motorcycles on Facebook And if you are a fan of me making ridiculous →


Rachel & Tyler at Millennium Park, Chicago

I always ask my clients what type of shots they want from their sessions, and when Rachel & Tyler picked Millennium Park, Chicago, I knew we could get a good variety of images in one location.  She told me she likes architecture, so I had fun taking a lot of city scene shots during their shoot! You can see some of my other favorites →


Reflections on Portraits

This is part of a set that I shot for Rachel & Tyler's engagement session. As I was editing I realized I had taken a lot of reflection images, which of course let me to reflect :) I am constantly photographing people I have never even met and make great effort to understand who they are so that I can →


Justine & Michael ~ Romantics!

I met Justine & Michael a few weeks ago at their engagement session at Montrose Harbor and knew instantly that their wedding would be a lovely mixture of romanticism and playfulness! They prepared for the wedding at Bishop's Hall, a spacious bed and breakfast in Oak Park with beautiful manicured gardens.  Then they had a traditional Greek promenade through the town →


Shahzeen & Prem at Chicago Botanic Garden

Shahzeen & Prem chose The Chicago Botanic Garden for their engagement session location, the grounds were beautiful with a lot of variety! We had so much fun walking around and finding spots to shoot, and I quickly learned that not only are they both super sweet people, but they have a great sense of humor!  I cannot wait to photograph their →