What do you get when you mix a photography mentor session, an adorable engaged couple, a freezing Chicago winter day, and two pints of Guinness? Maddie and Seamus’s skyline Chicago engagement session that’s what! 

I recently launched my photography mentor session program, and it has been SO fun to teach newer photographers what I’ve learned over the past five years of running my photography business. I have three options to choose from (a PDF guide, a Zoom call or meeting, and a hands-on couples session or wedding shoot) based on how in-depth they want to go. My mentee for this session, Sneha, was the first to book an in-person shoot, so I posted a model call to my Instagram story looking for a couple that we could photograph together while I taught her how I run a couples session—enter Maddie and Seamus! 

The four of us had so much fun braving a frigid Chicago evening at North Avenue Beach (Maddie even rocked a dress! A queen!) and we were the only ones along the lakefront path for almost the whole session which is always a treat. They finished their session off in front of the skyline with two pints of Guinness in hand (because when you’re getting married in Ireland, that’s what you do). To quote Seamus: “I’ve done dumber things for worse beer.” Scroll on down to see all my favorites from their session, as well as the sweetest review Seamus left on my Facebook page the day after their session.

“We had a great experience with Marissa and her mentee taking our engagement photos. We would recommend her to anyone looking for a photographer in the Chicago area. She was funny, professional, and it was very apparent she loved her job. Not to mention the photos turned out great! Her attitude even made even a sub-freezing degree photo shoot fun. The only challenge now is narrowing down which photos to use on our save the dates, because there were so many gems!”