Christine+Andy // Wedding in Pittsburgh, PA

Repeat clients are a dream, and it’s even more awesome when you shoot multiple weddings for the same family. Three years ago we photographed the wedding of Allison+Blue in West Virginia and fell in love with their super fun family and were so excited to be asked to photograph the wedding of Allison’s younger sister Christine and her awesome husband Andy in Pittsburgh, PA! It was super great to see Christine’s family again and now to meet Andy’s family, all of whom were also fun (and there were a lot of them, so it was kind of all the fun. in the whole world. ever).

So we were excited to see the bride’s family, excited to meet Andy’s family, excited to be back in Pittsburgh, and then that’s when we found out about the 17 year cicadas and we were like HOLD. THE. PHONE. THIS IS TOO MUCH EXCITEMENT. Now I polled my family and other Pittsburgh friends and it seems like I may be literally the only person who was super excited about the 17 year cicadas, but every single year people are like, “This is the year! The cicadas are coming this year!” and I am always like, “What do you mean? The cicadas are here every year.” And people respond with, “But this year there are going to be so many!” And every year I’m like, “SWEET, MAYBE THIS IS THE YEAR! THE YEAR OF ALL THE CICADAS!” and then I look around, disappointed in my lack of cicada swarms and sigh a little bit to myself, wondering why everyone keeps promising something that never happens.

But it just so happens that they DO exist. And they DO swarm! And it’s like being in a giant cloud of super huge bugs and they kind of look like humming birds flying all around! Or bees maybe! And there were tons of them! And they’re SO FREAKING LOUD that you can hear them through your car window going 60mph with the air conditioner on full-blast while driving down the street and you may or may not have to plug your ears when walking past any trees in person because the noiiiise. And they landed on my camera! And my pants! And my head! And I was so thrilled!! BECAUSE FINALLY IT WAS TRUE! In south Pittsburgh this weekend, the cicadas fulfilled the promise everyone’s been talking to me about for 30 years. Apparently they moved the wedding from West Virginia up into Pittsburgh to avoid said cicadas, but the cicadas came further north than originally expected. Because someone somewhere was smiling down on me because YES, CICADAS!

  • Date: June 18, 2016
  • Ceremony Venue: Immaculate Conception Catholic Church // Washington, PA
  • Reception Venue: Shady Elms Farm // Hickory, PA
  • First Dance Song: “Living of Love” – The Avett Brothers
  • Christine’s Occupation: Quality Engineer at Boeing
  • Andy’s Occupation: Design Engineer at Boeing
  • How You Met: Engineering classes/Mountainair at West Virginia University
  • Interesting Fact: The last time the Pittsburgh Penguins were in the Stanley Cup was the year we met, now the year we are getting married the Penguins have returned to the Stanley Cup Finals.
  • Honeymoon: Grenada
  • Vendor Credits: Officiant – Father Mike Conway. DJ – MobileMIX Entertainment (David Kieba). Florist – Shady Elms Farm. Cake – Bethel Bakery. Caterer – PW Catering. Hair/Makeup – Hannah Conrad. Videographer – So Fresh! Films. Coordinator – Devoted to You (Kristen).

Chelsey+Eric // Pittsburgh Wedding

Welcome to Part Two of our three part series of weddings where it rained every weekend in a row. We thought we might be able to escape the wrath of Hurricane Joaquin which was going to dump even more water onto North Carolina (where it had already been raining for a solid week) by fleeing to our northern homeland of Pennsylvania. We had a wedding the previous weekend that let us a bit damp, and we were hoping for dryer land in Pittsburgh. But alas! Joaquin outsmarted us and ended up hanging around there too, and our forecast was not looking good (a quite literal 100% chance of rain for several hours). And rain it did, hard, for quite a long time. This left Geoff and I pretty nervous because we had a 22 person wedding party and nowhere dry to put them.

But! Probably because we had literally no other options except putting 22 people under 22 umbrellas and hoping for the best, and because Mother Nature felt a bit badly for us, it miraculously cleared up about 10 minutes before photos started and our sanity was spared. And I’d like to thank Chelsey and Eric for being ridiculously good sports about the whole thing, and I’d also like to publicly give high praise and all the hugs to the best, most-listening, wonderful, controlled and well-behaved group of 20 wedding party members ever. It probably helped that you couldn’t drink for an early Catholic mass wedding, but we feel strongly that you had more self control than most groups of partying friends, and made what could’ve been very difficult very easy for us. We love you, 20 friends of Chelsey and Eric. Let it be known.

So here’s to our wonderful new wedding party friends, and to our “old” but trusted and lovely clients, Chelsey and Eric. Thank you for making things so easy on us.  And sorry again about making Chelsey wear the honey Burt’s Bees lip balm, Eric.

  • Date: October 3, 2015
  • Ceremony Venue: St. Vincent College // Pittsburgh, PA
  • Reception Venue: Hilton Garden Inn // Pittsburgh, PA
  • First Dance Song: “Then” – Brad Paisley
  • Chelsey’s Occupation: Marketing Manager
  • Eric’s Occupation: Middle School Math Teacher + Athletic Director
  • How You Met: While attending St. Vincent College.
  • Interesting Fact: As if he wasn’t nervous enough, Eric actually ripped the crotch of his khakis during the proposal.
  • Honeymoon: Caribbean over Thanksgiving
  • Vendor Credits: Officiant – Father Tom Curry | DJ – DJ Yelenix | Florist – Taunia’s Flowers by Design | Cake – Signature Desserts | Caterer – Hilton Garden Inn | Hair – Lori Dedola | Makeup – Mackenzie McDowell | Coordinator – Alex Jordan of Hilton Garden Inn | Linens: Party Reflections

Lindsay+Jonathon’s Wedding in Pittsburgh, PA

It was so great to be back in Pittsburgh, PA to photograph Lindsay and Jon’s wedding! I went to high school with the two of them back in the day (Lindsay I specifically knew through show choir and drama club), so it was pretty awesome to see a bunch of people I hadn’t seen in a long time all together in one place. :) And, following in the tradition of us acquiring awesome wedding venues in Pittsburgh, the wedding was held at the Pittsburgh Athletic Association building across from the Cathedral of Learning at Pitt, and super close to the Mellon Institute of Carnegie Mellon… and also super close to Phipps Conservatory… and super close to an adorable carousel. And lucky for us, we had a limo driver to take us to all of the cool super photogenic places, so it was kind of a “best of” tour of Oakland. ;)

Aside from being really, really ridiculously good looking, both Lindsay and Jon are also ridiculously kind people and head over heels for each other. Jon did a great job of not only helping carry Lindsay’s dress across treacherous terrain, but also comforting her when we all got incredibly nauseous from driving around. ;) Their friends (some of whom we knew from high school) are all pretty ridiculous and also super sweet and accommodating after we toted them around Oakland for a while. :) We cannot thank everyone enough for being cooperative and helpful and generally fantastic at this wedding! I am going to miss all the Burrell friends I was briefly reunited with, but it was a great reunion. :)

Date: June 14, 2014

Ceremony and Reception Venue: Pittsburgh Athletic Association // Pittsburgh, PA

First Dance Song: “My Love” – Paul McCartney

Lindsay’s Occupation: Merchandise Analyst for Dick’s Sporting Goods

Jon’s Occupation: Construction Technician for Galway Bay

How You Met: High School

Interesting Fact about Lindsay: Lindsay used to make mystery movies with her cousins when she was little, and to this day her family calls her Lindsay Drew.

Interesting Fact about Jon: Jon has traveled to more than 13 different countries, almost all in the past 4 years.

Honeymoon Destination: Maui, HI

Vendor Credits: Officiant – Pastor Lee Kricher (Jon’s uncle) | DJ – Sam Crawford of Party Time Productions | Florist – Mocha Rose Floral | Cake – Oakmont Bakery | Caterer – Pittsbugh Athletic Association | Hair/Makeu – Salon Vivace | Videographer – Just Hitched Wedding Films | Coordinator – Mike McChesney of the Pittsburgh Athletic Association | Transportation – Shamrock Limousine