chicago wedding photographers in illinois. nate mathai photography

Raina + Libu : modern weddings {teaser}

2010-09-04T23:14:21Z

There’s nothing more fun than a happy bride. Seriously.

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Copyright © September 6, 2010
All content and images are property of Nate Mathai of Nate Mathai Photography. Please don't steal my stuff...it's not nice. :) Follow the link to view my stance on image sharing.

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Raina + Libu : modern portraits {chicago, illinois}

2010-08-30T01:35:37Z

You know its a good day when you’re starting off a session with smiles like this-

I captured Libu’s proposal to Raina earlier last year, and we were finally able to schedule there e-session in downtown Chicago this month. Even though I do tons of shoots in the city, it never gets old because every couple is so unique and bring their own flare to the day. These two were no exception, either, and I had a blast wandering the streets with them.

I mean…seriously!?

By far one of my favorites of the year- i might even make a canvas of this for my office :)

And what better way to end off the session then a last dance-

Can’t wait for the wedding next week!

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Copyright © August 30, 2010
All content and images are property of Nate Mathai of Nate Mathai Photography. Please don't steal my stuff...it's not nice. :) Follow the link to view my stance on image sharing.

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Ann + Greg : modern weddings {chicago, illinois}

2010-08-28T14:12:51Z

Ann and Greg were a blast of a couple to work with- the type of couple who are all smiles from the moment they were getting ready to the time to clear the dance floor. And who would want anything else?

I started off with Ann as she started her day at the DoubleTree in Arlington Heights, Illinois. I love the tools of a make-up artist- they truly are ‘artists’.

Greg’s brother hand-delivered a letter to Ann to start off her day- she’s so happy ;)

Greg’s room was a bit more relaxed. In the traditional Indian Christian ceremonies, the groom pretty much has 1 thing to do- tie the minnu correctly (7 strands of threads rolled into a necklace tied around the bride’s neck). There’s a special way to tie this knot, so its important to get some practice in beforehand-

One of the big moments that make it “real” for the bride: putting on the dress-

Stunning

The Orthodox Christian ceremony was held at Holy Resurrection in Chicago, Illinois.

Practice makes perfect :)

We had a few minutes before the reception where I got to steal the bridal party for a few images-

Then we were off to the reception, which was held at the Meadows Club in Arlington Heights, and the party started right away!

The new Mr. & Mrs. :)

LOVE this image while they were watching their slideshow

BEAUTIFUL.

During the reception, the MCs set up a “how-well-do-you-know-your-spouse” game…from couples married for a couple years to decades.

The MCs were not going easy on the questions, as you can probably tell from these reactions from the husbands :)

And as with all Indian gatherings, a wonderful dance broke out!

Even Greg joined in on the fun :)

Then the dance floor was opened for everyone, but it quickly filled up- these guys definitely love to party!

Ann and Greg, it was an honor to serve you guys on your special day, and I wish you guys all the best!

be sure to visit the contact page if you’re looking for a chicago wedding photographer, available nationwide.

Copyright © August 28, 2010
All content and images are property of Nate Mathai of Nate Mathai Photography. Please don't steal my stuff...it's not nice. :) Follow the link to view my stance on image sharing.

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Ann + Jim : modern weddings {teaser}

2010-08-23T12:59:28Z

Bubbles just have a way of making everyone happier.

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Copyright © August 23, 2010
All content and images are property of Nate Mathai of Nate Mathai Photography. Please don't steal my stuff...it's not nice. :) Follow the link to view my stance on image sharing.

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Ann + Jim : modern portraits [chicago, illinois]

2010-08-13T14:09:49Z

Sometimes it just clicks. And when you start to get birthday e-mails from a client you haven’t met yet, you know it’s one of those times. With Ann being from New York, her time pre-wedding in Chicago were few and far between, so I never had a chance to personally meet her prior to our session in late July. But for Ann and Jim, it didn’t matter. I could have been a random stranger who walked up to them and asked to take their picture, and they would have killed it. Because it wasn’t about how comfortable they were with me- it was how comfortable they were with each.

The day after the “Chicago Flood of 2010“, we headed out to Navy Pier in downtown Chicago, for a day that was a lot hotter and a lot busier than we expected, but it didn’t slow us down.

Seriously?! Love It.

Behind Navy Pier, we found this awesome red garage- having the privacy Jim started to do some posing that was NSFW, but I was able to get a clean one out of him :)

One thing I LOVE (that sometimes my couples aren’t so fond of) is the attention they get when we go shooting! Either people think they are some sort of movie star that we’re shooting, or they realize we’re doing pre-wedding images and are very encouraging to my couples. I wonder what this girl’s thinking…

I still can’t put my finger on why, but I love this shot (probably the way Ann adoringly gazes at Jim)-

We then headed over to the beach for some fun in the sand/water-

This is the look of a girl who questions whether her fiancée’s vow to love and protect only comes after the wedding day ;)

Can’t wait for the wedding in next week!

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Copyright © August 13, 2010
All content and images are property of Nate Mathai of Nate Mathai Photography. Please don't steal my stuff...it's not nice. :) Follow the link to view my stance on image sharing.

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MTC Praise Night 2010

2010-08-11T04:09:32Z

In the early 2000′s, my home church started a “Praise Night”, first a collection of talent from within the community to bring our community closer together, that later transformed more into an outreach program being more gospel-centric. In 2007 after I returned from college, and started serving on the leadership team there. One of my main focuses that year was that I felt the the core leadership team needed to take a step back from running admin on tons of events and giving more attention on the spiritual health of the community, and doing few things really well. At one of the monthly meetings, I announced to our youth group that unless other people are going to step up in bearing the leadership burden then we would postpone Praise Night for that year. My good friend Binil Samuel and a few others stepped up and said they’d take on the responsibility.

Shortly thereafter, on August 6, 2007, Binil was involved in a hit-and-run accident with a drunk driver and passed away. His passing shook our community greatly, and after some discussion it was decided to cancel Praise Night for that year, as many were not emotionally ready to go on with the event.

3 years later, it was finally decided to start it up again, and it was such a blessing. It was decided that all proceeds from the event would go to the Binil Samuel Memorial Fund, which helps the children in the NavJeevan Centre in Mumbai, India. Though it was the first Praise Night where I wasn’t involved in the planning or acts themselves, I was blessed enough to serve as the photographer for the event. It was great for me to just see everything for the “first time” and be entertained with the rest of the community. Here’s a little glimpse into the night, with more pictures on my personal facebook page (feel free to friend me if you can’t see them or comment! :))

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Copyright © August 11, 2010
All content and images are property of Nate Mathai of Nate Mathai Photography. Please don't steal my stuff...it's not nice. :) Follow the link to view my stance on image sharing.

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Tracey + Jojee : modern weddings {teaser}

2010-08-08T16:42:40Z

Blessed.

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Copyright © August 9, 2010
All content and images are property of Nate Mathai of Nate Mathai Photography. Please don't steal my stuff...it's not nice. :) Follow the link to view my stance on image sharing.

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Raina + Libu : modern portraits {teaser}

2010-08-02T05:45:50Z

These two broke all the rules.

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Copyright © August 2, 2010
All content and images are property of Nate Mathai of Nate Mathai Photography. Please don't steal my stuff...it's not nice. :) Follow the link to view my stance on image sharing.

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double teaser! : Ann + Jim [modern portraits] // Ann + Greg [modern wedding]

2010-08-02T05:43:05Z

On Saturday, I headed downtown with Ann & Jim for their e-session- while most of their session is NSFW (not-safe-for-work) because of Jim, I was able to find a safe one ;)

Then Ann & Greg tied the knot on Sunday- and I’ll tease that one with one of the more timeless moments of the wedding day: the father-daughter dance. Enjoy!

be sure to visit the contact page if you’re looking for a chicago wedding photographer, available nationwide.

Copyright © July 26, 2010
All content and images are property of Nate Mathai of Nate Mathai Photography. Please don't steal my stuff...it's not nice. :) Follow the link to view my stance on image sharing.

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26 and counting…

2010-07-21T04:02:49Z

For some reason, life has gotten extremely hectic all of a Sunday, and I realize that I’ve not shown my face on the blog in quite awhile, so here’s a post for you! [For those looking simply for my wedding and portrait work, oh get ready- the blog will be EXPLODING over the next month or so ;)]

So this past weekend I hit another milestone: 26 years of life. Can you believe it?! I guess most people can, because I generally get assumptions that I’m at least 2-3 years older than that. Not sure why it is…I’ve convinced myself it’s my maturity and wisdom, and not my receding hairline. :) And even though it’s not a “big” number in any sense of it, it was a great birthday nonetheless. I feel like over the past year my life has taken quite a bit of twists of turns of which I’m so thankful for, which makes me even more excited to start this new year off. Obviously, the biggest change was that I got married last August (goodness…it’s almost been 1 year!), and my wonderful wife decided to gift me a great birthday weekend!

It started on Friday, July 16th, the day before my actual birthday. I woke up with a note on my phone (the first thing I grab when I wake up) wishing me a Happy Birthday. And that morning my wife revealed my first gift:

Now, I LOVE video games. And I’ve been talking about getting a PS3 since before we got married, but kept putting it off because I could not justify the purchase (to her or myself). She took all the hints though, and got it for me! This is really a big deal for me, because…well…I went from this:

To this:

To all of you who are freaking out right now…don’t worry. I’m keeping the original NES. It’s sitting nicely right next to my PS3. :)

That night my wife and I helped babysit my nieces, as my sister and brother-in-law took a trip to celebrate their anniversary. And generally, babysitting a 5-year-old and a 2-year-old can be quite a handful. But this time, it was a breeze! Mainly because everything surrounded my birthday so I didn’t have to do anything. They spent the night making me birthday cards, meaning I could not be in the room with them as it was a surprise. Then in the morning, they were ‘surprising’ me with breakfast, so I had to avoid the kitchen at all costs. Much love to my wonderful wife for truly watching the two little ones the whole time :)

We then hit a bit of a snag on birthday weekend- we went to a dealership to possibly purchase a new car. The bad news: within the week, they had sold the car we looking at! Can’t fault them, but it put a little bit of a downer on the day, now that we’re back on the search.

In the evening on Saturday came the 2nd celebration, where a few of my close friends got together at Dave & Buster’s for some good food, fun games, and good times.

\

They had a rather big birthday ice-cream-cookie thing…I barely made a dent in it.

We started out with some bball…

then did some racing…

…and a little bit of shooting…

At the end of the night, we used our winnings to get some candy for everyone, and I came away with a few prizes of my own:

I think the green care-bear will be my new mascot- you think I can pull it off?

Then came Sunday- CUBS GAME! For 3 of the past 4 years, my wife and I have gone to the Cubs game for my birthday, and this was the best one yet. We had great seats and it was my first night game. Truly beautiful!

We started out with some poor looking swings…

I told the wife that I wanted to try to capture a HR swing (preferably by Lee, but I would take anyone at that moment). And then Soriano came up and this happened…

It was a great night- a bonus because we broke our curse of going to games and having the Cubs lose :)

All in all, I had a great birthday weekend. I’m officially 26 years old and counting…counting my blessings for all the goodness, grace and mercy that God has shown me. He’s been faithful when I chose not to be, and has continued to be an anchor in the every changing storm of life. And because of that, I’m so excited for what’s to come. Because it’s truly not about anything I’m going to do, but what He’s going to do with me and through me- and what’s more exciting than that?!

be sure to visit the contact page if you’re looking for a chicago wedding photographer, available nationwide.

Copyright © July 20, 2010
All content and images are property of Nate Mathai of Nate Mathai Photography. Please don't steal my stuff...it's not nice. :) Follow the link to view my stance on image sharing.

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