Category: Couples

Pittsburgh Engagement Photographer: Ginny+Carson

Another Pittsburgh session! This time in the cit-ay itself and of one of my oldest friends, Ginny. :) *Note: Ginny’s real name is Angela for the record, but I haven’t called her that since the 8th grade, so I think it’s fair to say that it’s Ginny for this blog post. We met at some point in elementary school, I don’t even really remember when or how, and have been causing problems for all of our teachers ever since. :) She was one of my wonderful bridesmaids for my wedding and I will be one of hers in the spring! I was super excited to help her pick out a fantastic photographer in Pittsburgh for her wedding, but even more excited to photographer her engagement pictures while I was home, yaaay!

I met Carson a few years ago and the first thing that struck me was that he is exactly. like. Ginny. It’s pretty much if you put Ginny into a guy’s body and had him walk around and say the same things Ginny would. It’s hilarious. Unfortunately for Carson, I have been giving him a hard time since I met him since I basically feel like I’m talking to Ginny. So Carson got to skip all of the formal stuff and went straight into verbal harassment from me. Sorry, Carson. ;) They both live and work in D.C. now but are planning on moving back to the ‘Burgh eventually. Their wedding is taking place at a church in New Ken with their reception at Soldiers and Sailors in Oakland. For their engagement photographs, they wanted pictures taken in the Northside in the Mexican War Streets (Geoff and I’s old apartment was there!!) and on the North Shore near PNC Park and Heinz Field (Go Steelers!). They wanted them very Pittsburgh-centric… and I think it accomplished just that. :)

For those of you who’ve ever parked in Pittsburgh, this photo needs no explanation. For those of you who haven’t, putting random chairs in the middle of the street in order to hold your parking spot is a Pittsburgh thing. ;) We found these and used the opportunity.

Outside the fence behind our old apartment! Meeemmorrriieeesss….

Quick wardrobe change in the car and a jaunt downtown! :) I’m pretty sure Ginny and I spent at least 50% of our elementary school field trips at the Carnegie Science Center. Oh yeah!

The Gateway Clipper’s Majestic rode on past and the people on board screamed at Carson to kiss Ginny… and cheering promptly erupted. Kinda wish I had a video.

The photo below was a series of…”Car!”….”Game on!”… “Car!”…. “Game on!”

Taken right before I literally fell into the bushes I was laying on. :)

The picture to the right is probably the oldest documented photograph of Ginny and I (special props to Nick Tutolo and Justin Silich) at the history museum during a field trip in… 4th grade maybe?

The below left is a picture in possibly 7th grade taken outside Notre Dame on a marching band field trip. Check out my outfit. This was back in the day where I fancied a lot of ska music. Ginny’s outfit eerily resembles the one she wore in last week’s reenactment. It’s a shame we forgot which side we were standing on in this picture, but oh well. ;) Photo credit goes to Carson!

Love you, Ginny and Carson! I can’t wait for your wedding where I can actually dance!! And I’m totally going to pretend I’m single so I can catch the bouquet!

Pittsburgh Portrait Photographer: Sarah+Nate

Horray for western Pennsylvania!!

Geoff and I traveled to a wedding in West Virginia this past weekend, but I flew home about a week before it to do a few photoshoots in our hometown of Pittsburgh. :) And it was awesome! The weather was about 75 degrees with low humidity, and I could actually sleep with the windows open. Unheard of! We do a lot of engagement sessions and weddings in Pittsburgh because a lot of our family and friends still reside there and I just love it.

But anyway, I was SOoo so so excited when one of my very good friends from college contacted me a while back to see if I could do a shoot with her and her new husband, Nate. Sarah and Nate were married but did not have a wedding, so they were looking to get photographs taken of them happily married and all that jazz. And I was stoked!! Sarah and I go back to 2004 when we both attended the University of Pittsburgh in Johnstown, PA. I was there for a semester before I realized I couldn’t handle the one Walmart and field full of cows and opted to transfer to Point Park which was in downtown Pittsburgh. But while I was in Johnstown, Sarah and I were super close and had a ton of really ridiculous times together. A couple semesters later, she too transferred to Point Park from the field of cows and graduated with a degree in Journalism. I made fun of her a lot for living in Pittsburgh but being from Philly, and she took it like a champ. ;)

Years later, we’re not dressing like zombies anymore** (see below) and are all married and grown up and stuff, and here I am taking pictures of her and her wonderful husband Nate whom I had the absolute pleasure of meeting for the first time… along with their adorable son/dog Bennett. SO freaking cute. We had the best time. These were taken at Northmoreland Park near New Kensington, PA (about 45 minutes outside of the ‘Burgh). I used to go fishing there with my dad when I was little. :) So neat to be shooting back there as an adult.

**…not all the time, anyway.

Okay, everyone! Time to breathe a collective, “AWWWWWWWWWWW” over Bennett, world’s most ridiculously cute dog.

Hey hey, western PA vistas! You’re not too bad yourself.

Sarah’s always had the greatest ice blue eyes and has been rocking the Zoolander “Blue Steel” since I’ve known her.

How cute are they? :) So cute. It’s such a lovely idea to do married pictures. Everyone stops taking pictures between the wedding and their kids… but I find it incredibly endearing to take some pictures of yourselves once in a while. You’ll love them later (and now!).

Now for a good walk down memory lane. The latest pictures with Sarah in the purple and myself in the yellow are photo credit of Nate (you rock, Nate!). The zombie picture is credit of… possibly Laurie Bolewitz, but I don’t remember at this point. There were a lot of zombies there that night. Photo credit in bottom left hand corner was totally copyright of Sarah’s mom while we were visiting in Philly. Clearly, our style of dress has matured (love that I had that studded belt… and also, who dresses like a prom zombie anymore? Regular zombie sure. But 80s prom zombie? That was so 2005ish). But we’re still able to rock the karate moves. Love you, Miss Sarah!! Please bring yourself and your lovely man down to visit us in the south sometime!

Raleigh Engagement Photographer: Annalisa+Michael

Annalisa (aka Annie) and Michael are my very own Jersey couple! :D Both hailing from New Jersey, they are currently living in North Carolina where they both attended NC State. They are high school sweethearts of 8 years! :)  Annie is a paralegal and Michael works for Wells Fargo, but they were both aspiring to become teachers when they first met (Michael – history, Annie – French). Michael opted out of the teaching career and Annie is still an aspiring French teacher, but they are comfortably doing their own thing in the south at the moment. :)

I met these two when they weren’t sure whether or not they were going to have their wedding in NC or NJ. They ultimately decided on New Jersey for May 2012, but decided to take Geoff and I with them (wooooo!!!), so we’re super stoked to be heading up to The Jersey next year with these guys! Annie is ridiculously prepared for their wedding and has everything bought, planned, and under control with the exception of the limo, which can’t be booked until next year, hahaha. Seriously – it’s pretty amusing. She showed up to our consultation with a binder bigger than mine and several 4×6 photographs of their wedding venue saying, “Keep them, I have a bunch.” Hahaha. I knew this girl meant business.

I’ve since had the privilege of photographing Sabrina, Annie’s dog, and Pookie, Michael’s cat. And now finally their engagement! :D We had an awesome time with them photographing on the NC State campus talking movies and TV and, of course, Annie’s love of the Doors and Michael’s love of the Beatles, but more on that later! Let’s start!

We started off in the free expression tunnel at NC State. There were several spray painters there while we were there, and I’m pretty sure all of us left the tunnel with a mild headache, but it made for good pictures. However, I will say that if you photograph there, you’ll just have to choose the place with the least amount of obscenities… since there’s no escaping them. Luckily this couple is rad, and a few vulgar doodles don’t scare them. ;)

Where’s Annie and Michael? :) Can you see them? :)

Annie – you have the best eyes!!! Ow owwww.

How cute are these two? Annie’s obsessed with the Doors, and Michael’s obsessed with the Beatles. Together they’re an adorable couple who belong in the 1960s wearing flower headbands and hanging out. They each brought their favorite record and matching reading material for the shoot. :) CUTE.

We closed the session in the stacks at NC State with a quick band wardrobe change!

Annie and Michael – you are too wonderful! We are honored to be photographing what is sure to be an AWESOME wedding up in Jersey with you two! We had a great time, lots of laughs, and think these are adorable. :) Hope you love them!