Amanda+Sean Have a Wedding at Stonebridge Farm Nursery in Pittsburgh, PA

We have been loving our outdoor weddings lately even with this incredible heat. Amanda and Sean’s wedding, while not quite 112 degrees like our wedding in North Carolina the weekend before, was about as equally hot given the fact that it was in the low 100’s but all outdoors. Geoff and I brought a cooler full of Gatorade and stashed it away near the edge of the woods. :) Thankfully, the groomsmen weren’t wearing jackets and Amanda’s dress was light, so everyone partied away in the super unprecedented Pennsylvania heat.

Weddings that take place all in one venue are awesome, but they’re even more awesome when they’re at a farm or a greenhouse or a nursery or a venue that (dun dun dunnnn!) combines all of that together into one venue of wedding goodness. We had been looking forward to this wedding since Amanda and Sean contacted us last year. We’d been looking forward to working with them again (they’re both so super sweet and ridiculously cute). We’d been looking forward to meeting their dog named Goose (first dog that we’ve ever known named Goose). We’d been looking forward to shooting at Stonebridge (bring on the 20 different awesomely tempting places to take ring shots). We’d even been looking forward to the salt stains that we knew would be terribly apparent on both of us when we saw the forecast was in the hundreds (well, not really, but we were still excited). And their wedding didn’t disappoint. There was Amanda looking gorgeous and Sean looking handsome. There was Goose not wanting to get his picture taken but looking cute anyway. There were ring shots on tomatoes. There were even sunglasses as favors (best favors ever for an outdoor wedding in the sun). There were little kids piling said sunglasses on top of their heads, butterflies, wonderfully kind wedding guests, centerpieces with paper signs proclaiming the names of important streets in Amanda and Sean’s relationship, and yes… lots of sweating. And we loved it.

First Dance Song: ”Steady As We Go” – Dave Matthews Band

Amanda’s Occupation: Benefits Analyst/Real Estate Agent

Sean’s Occupation: Engineer

How You Met: Knew each other from high school, but started dating while in college after a St. Patrick’s Day celebration in Pittsburgh (and a little help from old school AIM (AOL’s Instant Messenger))

Interesting Fact About Amanda: Has a strange liking for even numbers and named her dog Goose… who doesn’t love Top Gun?

Interesting Fact About Sean: Can sing like Axl Rose and is obsessed with Tommy Barrasso

Honeymoon Destination: Montego Bay, Jamaica

Date: July 7, 2012

Ceremony and Reception Venue: Stonebridge Farm Nursery // Pittsburgh, PA

DJ: Zip and Pat Jankowski

Florist: Stacey Powers

Cake: Cakes by Tammy

Caterer: Catering by Gregory

Hair/Makeup: Hair by Shag Hair Salon // Makeup by Julia Norton and Katy Kenny

Officiant: Sandra Monahan

Brandy+Andrew Get Married in Pittsburgh, PA

**Editing Note: After threatening to start doing this several months ago but never actually doing it, I am finally scaling down my post sizes. They reached a ridiculous 100-150+ pictures per wedding post a few weddings back, and I finally came to the painful realization that I have a culling problem. So starting now, I am attempting between 40-50 pictures per wedding post, and about 15 pictures per everything else. Basically, I want to put my very, very favorites of the wedding in the post instead of including everything little tiny thing so the rest of the world doesn’t start spacing out about halfway through the post. :) Don’t worry – this doesn’t involve cutting the number of actual pictures the client receives. Okay! End editing note.**

The sailors say, “Brandy! You’re a fine girl! (Such a fiiiiiine girl!) What a good wife you would be! (Such a fiiiiiine girl!)”

Brandy, our fine fine girl, now gets a chance to live up to everything the sailors apparently told her. But Andrew isn’t a sailor, so I think it’s going to work out just fine. :)

This was a very emotional wedding with the highest percentage of family crying pictures we’ve ever taken. They cried at the rehearsal. They cried at the rehearsal dinner. And continued crying all day (not pictured in this blog post: like, a bajillion more pictures of people crying). And I, as someone who does not cry at weddings, found myself tearing up on several occasions and thinking, “What are these people doing to me?” I think it might be contagious. Both of these families have a crazy, crazy love for each other that is just the sweetest thing, and they way they all came together for Brandy and Andrew was amazing. And what was even more amazing was that Brandy and Andrew hated each other when they first met… and it took a few months of hating, but slowly turned into that super embarrassing realization that you just may have a crush on that person you’re still trying to hate (although you don’t remember why). Thankfully they both realized that they came to that conclusion at the same time and everything ended up fine and now they’re married and it’s all good. Andrew can now pretend to like Harry Potter for Brandy’s sake, and Brandy has enthusiastically accepted all of Andrew’s crazy buddies.

We were so thrilled to shoot this wedding for them, and we’ve loved getting to know Andrew. Brandy and I were friends in high school and went through show choir and drama together for 3 years (she was a grade below me) and I was very honored to be asked to be her photographer and incredibly excited to meet Andrew, who is everything that I thought he would be (Brandy is perhaps the sweetest and nicest person ever, and she has found her equally sweet and nice counterpart with the exception of the disagreement on Harry Potter). Geoff and I are also super pumped to be reunited with Brandy, Andrew, and one half of these incredible families in September for Andrew’s sister Christina’s wedding (you may recognize her and Steven in a few of the shots). I’ll bring tissue holster for my belt this time.

 

First Dance Song: “Unchained Melody” – The Righteous Brothers

Bride’s Occupation: Faculty Services Representative for Person Publishing

Groom’s Occupation: Interior Engineer for Honda Research and Design Americas

How You Met: Working at a restaurant, Johnny Rockets

Interesting Bride Fact: Has a Harry Potter tattoo

Interesting Groom Fact: Played the trumpet as a kid

Honeymoon Destination: Cruise to Jamaica, Haiti, and Cozumel

Date: June 16, 2012 (happy birthday, Carolyn’s dad!)

Ceremony Venue: St. Joseph’s Parish // O’Hara Township, PA

Reception Venue: Syria Mosque // Cheswick, PA

Officiant: Father Thom Miller

DJ: Martin Morgan

Florist: Bridal Blooms

Cake: Moio’s Bakery

Caterer: Stratwood Catering

Hair: Chris Murdock

Videographer: Willow Productions