Anna+Morgan // Wedding at Jumonville and Klay Winery in Pennsylvania

This wedding was awesome. There were fantastic views, honey jar wedding favors, sparkly bridesmaids shoes, foxes and deer, and… wait for it… two wedding vendors named Carolyn. But most awesome of all were Anna and Morgan. They were calm, cool, and relaxed. Although “cool” may not be entirely accurate as it was in the 90s (very toasty for southwestern PA). They braved the heat, the sun, and an abundance of wedding gnats that attacked anytime we went into the shade. They went through the pre-wedding jitters, through the vows, on top of a mountain, down a mountain, into a reception, and up on top of another mountain while offloading in my parents’ Subaru Forester (ohh yeah). You’d think there might be a tad bit of “I’m tired” or “I’m hot” or “Why do these gnats keep attacking us?” but instead, about every hour, one of them would come up to us and ask if we were okay, if everyone was being nice to us, and if we needed anything. And that pretty much embodies Anna and Morgan for me. Just good, nice people who spend their time thinking about others instead of themselves. And everyone at their wedding was the same way. In a crazy, Twilight-zone twist that happens to me all too often, a girl I went to high school with who was also ridiculously nice and sweet and good was at the wedding… proving, once again, that Anna and Morgan have good taste in people. :) And so this wedding was awesome, relaxed, and went off without a hitch. Both the ceremony and the reception were held in some of the most beautiful spots we’ve had privilege to see thus far at weddings… and we were kind of shocked that such quiet, gorgeous views existed in our home state without us realizing it (granted – our parents are about 1.5 hours away so I can kind of understand why they wouldn’t take a bunch of screaming children to a winery when we were little, but still).

We were honored to be summoned in from out of state for the past two weddings and a session and enjoyed our time in Pennsylvania thoroughly. :) We returned to a blazingly hot North Carolina summer and have shot here since, only to return to PA for our next wedding again, and then I’ll be taking a brief sojourn in Chicago. So be patience, friends! Blogging will resume shortly, but I’ll leave you with this gorgeous wedding to stare at for the next week or so until I get return to NC for a good few months before we take off again. ;)

First Dance Song: “When I Say I Do” – Matthew West

Bride’s Occupation: Sales

Groom’s Occupation: Sales

How You Met: Seton Hill University

Honeymoon Destination: St. Lucia

Date: June 23, 2012

Ceremony Venue: Whyel Chapel, Jumonville // Hopwood, PA

Reception Venue: Christian W. Klay Winery // Chalk Hill, PA

Officiant: Pastor Kevin Labby

DJ: Dave Sanchez // DJ 7UP

Florist: Curly Willow Floral

Cake: Prantl’s Bakery

Caterer: Caileigh’s

Hair/Makeup: Artisan Colour Spa

Videographer: Post Script Productions

Jen+Matt’s Couple Session in Pittsburgh Because They Like Each Other

This was a really fun session for me to shoot. Very close to my hometown and on the riverfront, two adorable dogs, two adorable people, an awesome sunset, and a boat. Not sure it can get much better than that. :)

Jen and Matt are my first ever… rowers. Well, kinda. Matt’s a rower and Jen is a coxswain (It’s the official title of the person who steers the boat and yells the commands and stroke rate to the rowers). They both are members of the Steel City Rowing Club in Verona where they met (all the teams practice at the same dock). Then they went to the same rowing camp in South Carolina where they became really close and have been dating ever since Matt threw Jen in the river (about 2 years – Jen gave him this portrait session as a gift for their anniversary). Matt’s a junior at Oklahoma City University (they have a really good rowing team), and Jen is starting her first year at the University of Pittsburgh as an art history major in the fall. They have two dogs, Matt’s dog Shadow (black) and Jen’s dog Emma (white), who accompanied us for some of the pictures. :)

What’s kind of hilarious for me to see is the way people interact with each other on shoots. 99.9% percent of the time, people tell me that they’re going to be awkward. Or they’re afraid they’ll be awkward. Or they’re worried their significant other will be awkward. Then after that it breaks into two categories: those who are actually awkward, and those who aren’t awkward at all. Jen and Matt, slightly concerned about being unnatural, were some of the most natural people I had ever photographed. It was one of those things where they’d start talking and goofing around and I’d literally have to be like, “Hey. Hey. Hey. Uh, guys? Hey. Ummm?” if I wanted them to move somewhere else or do something. It was awesome. Seriously – ignoring that I’m standing there with a giant camera in your face can’t be easy, but some people manage to do it, and I’m really impressed that these guys did… given that it was their first photoshoot and there were dogs and a shaky dock that was practically in the water and they got completely wet. I like these two and their ridiculously adorable pups a lot. :)

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