Pittsburgh Wedding, Boudoir, Senior Photographer

Kate and Cory | Engagement Session

Stepping into Kate and Cory’s apartment, I am dazzled by the beautiful and eclectic décor, and am immediately greeted by one of the cutest pups I have ever met- a sweet rescue named Ryder! I instantly understand why this beautiful couple wanted to have some of their engagement photos taken in their charming and welcoming home.

Kate and Cory are equally as charming and welcoming- I instantly fell in love with how relaxed and in love they are with each other. It is evident that they would try to jump to the next continent if the other asked them to do it. I am so lucky to have been referred to these two by another client (thanks, Kelly!) Fun fact about Cory and Kate- they work in really unique fields! Cory plays the double bass in an orchestra, and Kate is in the TV industry!

Their engagement session landed on the warmest day in January, so after their apartment pictures, we strolled around at their local park and took advantage of the warm winter sun! Take a look at some of Kate and Cory’s engagement pictures, and scroll down to learn a little more about this couple!

Pittsburgh Engagement, Wedding, and Boudoir Photography

Q: Tell us how you met!
A: OkCupid! – Turns out online dating isn’t so bad and it’s free!

Q: What was the date of your first date? Details, please!
A: May 28, 2014. We met up for Adventure Bingo at Union Pig and Chicken (upstairs). The theme was 80’s Video Games. The host there is awesome and his crazy off the wall sense of humor really helped to break the ice. After bingo was over we stuck around the bar area and kept talking and talking and talking until we realized what time it was. A hug and some butterflies followed. Then texting and talking and soon another date!

Q: How did you know he/she was the one?
A: Shortly after we started dating Cory was asked to play some gigs down south. One of them turned out to be close to Graceland. Cory thought we should make a big road trip of it since it’s somewhere I’ve ALWAYS wanted to go. Not only did we not kill each other in the many confined hours of the car, but we made tons of memories along the way stopping in Beckley, Nashville and Jackson, culminating in our visit to Memphis to see the King!! It was a blast. We are travel buddies for life now.

Q: When was the proposal? Tell us more about it!
A: October 15, 2015. We were on a family vacation with Cory’s family and it was my first time to Disney World. The first day we all split up in the Magic Kingdom to do our own thing. It was sometime after lunch and Cory and I had just ridden Space Mountain and were flattening pennies when I spotted a photo booth. We love photo booths so I asked him if we could do it. He said sure, in his normal happy, calm demeanor. As soon as the timer started counting down he pulled out all this Kleenex and I was like , “Why the heck are you blowing your nose NOW?? Look at the camera!” That’s when I saw a ring and he asked me and the photos captured the moment pretty perfectly. Shock, disbelief, excitement and pure joy. Disney World really is the happiest place on Earth!

Q: What do you like most about your fiancé?
Kate: He loves me exactly how I am. He accepts and loves my crazy little dog. He has the patience of a saint and a real passion for what he does. Watching him teach little kids piano is pretty adorable too.
Cory: I love her sense of humor, passion, and how creative she is. Everything that she does whether it’s writing, drawing, cross stitch, or whatever has a lot of personality in it.

Wedding Date: November 6, 2016
Ceremony and Reception Location: Hermitage Hotel in Nashville, TN

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, friends! We hope that you all enjoyed the holidays and had time to relax with friends and family. I write this blog post coming out of a slight hiatus over the holidays- after celebrating three Christmases, two birthdays, and New Years, we needed time to rest at the beginning of January!

The rest didn’t last long, though, because on January 4^th, I drove with some of my photography friends to Washington D.C. to attend The Event, a phenomenal workshop put together by the tremendous wedding photographers Justin and Mary. I even made it on their The Event blog post (twice!) To see these pictures, click on this link: http://justinandmaryblog.com/justin-mary-present-the-event-the-recap/

Then we hit the ground running with the first photo session of the year, an engagement session, on 1/7. There is no “Off Season” here, because over the next few weeks we are photographing a wedding, three boudoir sessions, and another engagement session!

I am writing today to thank you for the support you have given us over the past few years. This support helped to propel us through the busiest year we had yet- 2015. Below are just a few of our accomplishments last year, and we have YOU to thank for the business and referrals that propelled our growth!

In 2015 we photographed…

1.) TWENTY weddings

2.) FIFTEEN boudoir sessions

3.) TWENTY ONE family portrait sessions

4.) SEVEN engagement sessions

When you add all of those up, you get 63 sessions, which translates to photographing a session every single week, and on some weeks, two.

In addition to the booking growth we experienced last year, we also grew professionally by attending two photography workshops- the Mystic Seminars in Portland, Oregon, and a workshop with the world-renowned wedding photographer Jerry Ghionis, in New York City.

2016 brings an exciting year with weddings, engagement sessions, and boudoir already in full swing! In hopes to shift our lives to more of a work-life balance, we are striving to limit the amount of sessions we take on each month. We absolutely love doing what we do, and are blessed to photograph the sweetest people in such beautiful and happy times in their lives! Which makes it hard for us to set limits! But we find that stretching ourselves thin is not a benefit to anyone because it prevents us from bringing our A game to every email, interaction, and session with our clients. So, in 2016, we are attempting to take on slightly fewer bookings in every genre so we can make sure to give 100% to what we do. Full family portrait sessions will change to mini session days twice a year- spring/summer and fall/winter- to make sure we have availability for all of our portrait session clients during the prime photo-taking seasons. If you have interest in learning more about these mini session days, make sure to email me so I can provide you with more information (leigh@lavenderleighphotography.com.)

We hope that this New Year finds you happy and healthy! We look forward to seeing you in 2016!

XOXO,

Leigh, Barry, (and Benny!)

Lauren and Nick | Cioppino Wedding

December 12^th was one of those days that made you feel like it was a different season. It was a bright day with blue skies, the birds were chirping, and the 65 degree weather felt so hot that I had to take off my suit jacket as we photographed outside. Many of you reading this blog post experienced the exact same beautiful weather. And this beautiful spurt of weather just so happened to occur on Lauren and Nick’s wedding day!

Lauren and Nick were married at St. Stanislaus, the big and stoic church at the end of the Strip District. It was a beautifully unique wedding because they not only had one but TWO receptions! The first reception was a cocktail reception held at the lovely upscale Italian restaurant and cigar bar Cioppino, just a stone’s throw away from St. Stanislaus. The second reception was a dinner party, held at Lauren’s father’s house in Murrysville.

Hand in hand with this grand day were some phenomenally grand details, such as Lauren’s two wedding dresses, two pairs of Christian Louboutin shoes, two sets of invitations (one for each reception), two cakes (well three, actually), and two guest favors. And that’s just to name a few.

One of my favorite moments during Lauren and Nick’s day was watching Lauren glow with excitement as she showed me each of the amazing details she had coordinated for the day. From her earrings to the guest favors, her elation about it all coming together was contagious. I also loved watching Nick soak in his radiant bride that day. Watching the still little moments between the two was pretty endearing; a quick glance of excitement, a smile of anticipation, a tight hug in between picture taking. Sweet moments between a sweet couple.

Take a look to see what I mean…

Two dresses:

Because Christian Louboutin shoes need a dedicated spread of their own…

Two guest favors…

I love the unique calligraphy on these invitations!

And to top it all off, a sweet Kate Spade purse…

I took Lauren to one of my favorite spots to photograph at, and she was incredibly excited about the gritty urban scene. I’ve photographed in this spot on a few separate occasions, and can’t get enough of the beautiful juxtaposition of urban and nature.

She’s like an ethereal Snow White! So. Gorgeous.

Shout out to Pure Beauty Makeup Artistry for Lauren’s amazing look!

One of my favorite moments is right after the processional when the bride and groom step up to the alter… the groom always takes it all in as he looks at his bride. Like so…

Some of the fun pictures we took while scooting around the cocktail hour…

And on to the second reception…

Cake at Cocktail Reception: Cioppino Pastry Chef Meghann Walsh
Cakes at Dinner Party: Prantl’s Bakery
Ceremony Venue: St. Stanislaus
Ceremony and Cocktail Reception Flowers: Carrie Anne Powell Floral Designs
Cocktail Reception Location: Cioppino Restaurant and Cigar Bar
Dinner Party Caterer: Jaden’s Catering
Hair Artistry: MCN Salon
Makeup Artistry: Pure Beauty Makeup Artistry
Photographer: Lavender Leigh

Risa and Andy | Mellon Park Engagement Session

Risa and Andy are one of the most down-to-earth and friendly couples I’ve had the pleasure of photographing. They just have this happy and genuine aura that was completely apparent upon the first hello we spoke! We photographed their session in Mellon Park, and Luna, their sweet black pup, made a cameo in some of the pictures. Risa and Andy have known each other for quite some time- since high school! But I’ll let them tell you the whole story themself in the Q&A section below.

For a November day, the sun couldn’t have given us better light! It was warm and golden, and in a few of these pictures, I had fun playing with sun flare. Take a look at some of my faves from their session!

Q: Tell us how you met!
Risa: We met our sophomore year of high school (2003) when I started at Shadyside Academy. We spent a good bit of our free periods sitting at “the windows” playing cards. I remember telling my mom about him. I definitely had a crush.

Q: When was your first date? Details, please!
A: Sometime in June 2007, summer of our freshman year of college. I found out that his parents were moving to Ligonier where I grew up. I was excited and called to talk to him. Turned out he was still in the middle of his finals but he called me to meet up when he got home. For our first date, I think we were hiking around Cucumber Falls in Ohio Pyle.

Q: How did you know that he was the one?
A: I couldn’t be without him! Everything I did, I wished he could be a part of because I knew that sharing it with him would make every experience exponentially better.

Q: When was the proposal? Tell us about it!
A: June 29, 2014. We took a weekend trip to Deep Creek together to canoe, hike and hang out at the Honi Honi. On the drive back we stopped in Ohio Pyle to get ice cream and take a walk. We were sitting on the cliff overlooking the valley, where we had gone on one of our first dates, that’s when he proposed.

Q: What do you like most about your fiancé?
Risa: I don’t think I could choose between his personality and his heart. He is so smart and funny and he is the most caring, kind and generous person I know. We always keep each other laughing and I love that!
Andy: Her goofiness and how much we complement each other. No matter what the situation or where we are were having fun and comfortable on any adventure.

Stay Tuned!
Wedding Date: August 20, 2016
Ceremony and Reception Location: Seven Springs Mountain Resort

Paige and Nate | City Engagement Session

When I first met Paige and Nate, we were sipping on some coffee and talking about the venues they were scoping out that weekend for their wedding day. The Grand Concourse being one of them, which ended up being the winner, and I was thrilled because this is one of my favorite restaurants in the city! What I loved even more was how genuine and fun-loving Paige and Nate are, it was evident within minutes of meeting them. Theirs will be a beautiful day!

For Paige and Nate’s engagement session, we hopped around the city. I grabbed pictures of them at some of my favorite spots, and just had fun getting to know them! Pittsburgh was a windy city that day, which actually adds a beautifully dramatic touch to these pictures! Take a look at some of their engagement photos, and keep scrolling to learn a little bit more about this couple!

Q: Tell us how you met!
A: We met at Duquesne University, while Nate was working on his Master’s Degree and coaching for the football team and I was working on my undergraduate degree and playing soccer.

Q: When was your first date? Details, please!
A: March 2012. Our first date was the classic dinner and a movie! We went to the cute little restaurant, 17^th Street Café followed by watching The Other Guys.

Q: How did you know that he/she was the one?
Nate: I knew she was the one based on how comfortable I am being with her and the fact that we can be silly together
Paige: I knew he was the one when he came to Cleveland to spend Christmas with my family and me and he became as competitive as the rest of us at Pictionary!

Q: What was the date of the proposal? Tell us about it!
A: Nate proposed on September 6, 2015! We had planned an afternoon of kayaking. We had a rough start because Nate’s kayak tipped and went into the river as soon as he got into his kayak. Once he got himself back into the kayak, we had a mellow trip down the river. After about 2 hours we stopped to get out and stretch our legs. I was taking my good ‘ole time getting out of my kayak while Nate was patiently waiting. When I finally got to where he was standing, he got down on one knee and pulled the ring out of his pocket (thankfully it hadn’t fell out of his pocket when he took his dip in the river) and asked me to marry him!

Q: What is your favorite part about your fiancé?
Paige: My favorite part about Nate is his laugh, especially the way he giggles when he finds something REALLY funny.
Nate: Paige’s goofy sense of humor, which often results in random chest bumps any chance she gets!

Wedding Date: 9/4/2016
Ceremony Location: West End Overlook
Reception Location: The Grand Concourse

Kate and Cory | Engagement Session

Happy New Year!

Lauren and Nick | Cioppino Wedding

Risa and Andy | Mellon Park Engagement Session

Paige and Nate | City Engagement Session

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leigh@lavenderleigh.com