These two have some serious history! I met Dina around the time I moved to Chicago 11 years ago (isn’t she gorgeous??!!), she has modeled for me on many occasions and is a natural in front of the camera. She introduced me to Jim at a friend’s wedding and of course I snapped a few photos of them snuggling in one of the booths. Fast forward a couple of years… after seeing her post a pic of the ring (Facebook is the best for stalking people!) I sat anxiously awaiting a text or email. I was beyond excited when I heard the familiar ding alerting me to a new message a few days later- it was Dina!
They met at one of Chicago’s best small music venues, she was singing and dancing on stage and he was the house drummer. It was all too fitting to spend some time revisiting Schubas for their engagement photos (HUGE thanks to the staff for being so generous and lovely!), we had so much fun exploring the main hall, bar area and photo booth, and even the basement green room. We added a stop at their house (to start things off with their fur babies) and finished our photos at Belmont Harbor as the sun was setting. Thanks you two for letting me tell your story!
In Dina’s own words:
“Jim and I met at Schuba’s bar in the back room. Jim was the house drummer for the event that night and I was singing back up vocals for my friend Joey’s drag show “Shelby” where we sang a mash up of Bootylicious and Smells Like Teen Spirit (It was awesome). I remember seeing Jim sitting in a chair watching our sound track (he was not the drummer for our song) and thinking he was cute and cool looking. Later, when we were changing into costume for the show, we officially met in the basement/green room of Schuba’s. At the end of the gig, he came up to me at the bar where I was sitting with my boyfriend and handed me a flyer for his next gig. BF was not a fan of that! We went on our merry way.
Flash forward a few months later. BF and I had broken up, George W. had just “won” his second term, and some girlfriends and I needed a drink and some dancing. We headed to Martyrs for the monthly Big C show. A band called the Honeybees were playing the song “Hip Shakin’ Baby”. Right after I noticed someone walking towards me. It was Jim. I remembered him immediately. He came over, called me “Diana”, I corrected him, we chatted… Then that Tuesday he came to the Beat Kitchen where I worked to chat some more. He walked me home. That’s when he asked for my number and asked me how I spell my name. I learned later that he actually hadn’t heard me when I corrected my name to him at Martyr’s so he didn’t actually know my name and that was his sneaky way of finding out.
Our first few dates involved live music, Kama Sutra the Musical, and yoga. I knew he was for me 🙂
Our 3 shoot locations were the place we met (Schuba’s), the city we live, love, and work in (Lakefront Chicago) and our neighborhood and home where we started building the rest of our lives together.”
(Stand in the street where you live)
If they ever form a band, here’s the first album cover.
They even turned on the stage lights for us!
We learned afterwards that you shouldn’t look too closely at the posters in the green room…
They were very popular with the Canadian Geese!
Congrats Dina and Jim!
