Pittsburgh Wedding, Boudoir, Senior Photographer

Our New Client Meeting Room!

We live in an old house (circa 1910) and each year, we like to take on at least one home renovation project. This helps us check off one of the million updates old houses need to keep up with the times. Last year, we decided to strip the paint off of our hardwood floors to get them back to their original state. Little did we know, there were at least 5 stubborn layers of paint on these floors, and at least one of them contained lead. So, what started as a project to restore the hardwood floors, ended up with new hardwood being laid over top of the old, and the creation of our Client Meeting Room.

We don’t have a decent “before” picture of this room (it was really too ugly to get a picture of) but imagine a small rectangular room with tan painted hardwood floors, paint peeling off of the floor, robin’s egg blue walls, and shabby wood paneling on one side wall.

Initially, we had no idea what we were going to do with this room, but that was the fun part… we could make it whatever we wanted! With the help of our fathers, Barry finished laying the hardwood. I became inspired with the direction of the room once I saw what the floors looked like. Using furniture that we already had, and pieces from Etsy and Pier One, we decided to create an elegant and chic meeting room- a comfortable and fun space to meet with and get to know our wedding clients.

Voilà! Below are pictures of the finished room, which also couples as a storage space for my LLP marketing materials…

And, if anyone knows where we can find espresso colored stain, please let us know! We still need to stain the window encasements, and have already tried Sherwin-Williams, Lowe’s, and Home Depot. None of these locations could give us a brown stain darker than walnut.

Finishing off with a little chandelier bling… just because I love sparkles…

Workshops, Waterfalls, and Wineries: Our Trip to Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon. A city known for its phenomenal coffee, craft beer, food carts, and bridges. A city surrounded by picturesque waterfalls, rivers, and the rolling hills of wine country. So naturally, when I learned that the Mystic Seminars 2015 were going to be held in this amazing city, I had multiple exciting reasons to visit!

While I don’t have a ton of pictures of my time spent during the Mystic Seminars, (I was too busy taking notes and chugging coffee), pictures wouldn’t have captured my wonderful experience at this conference. Flying across the country solo without knowing a sole person that was attending the seminars, I was able to network with people from across the globe and hear amazing speakers such as Susan Stripling, Sergio, and Dan O’Day, to name a few. Each of the three days was spent at full steam, starting at 8:30AM and ending at 9:30PM. And, if we still had energy, we could attend social activities such as bowling and karaoke until the wee hours of the morning. Special thanks to Walter van Dusen for creating and organizing The Mystic Seminars!

Just a few of the speakers in action…

The Mystic Seminars 2015 | Wedding Photography Workshop | Pittsburgh Wedding Photographers | Lavender Leigh Photography | Blog

After three full days of note taking and networking, I met up with Barry, who flew out to Portland so we could explore the city and surrounding wine country together.

A few touristy pictures: me in front of the downtown Portland food carts and Barry eating his first Voodoo Doughnut!

We visited a few craft breweries: Deschutes, Rogue, and Burnside. While we loved all of them, the Sweet Heat apricot/jalapeño beer at Burnside was our favorite of the trip.

Based on a local’s recommendation, we traveled to EaT Oyster Bar. This restaurant has a lot of character, and the oysters were second to none! Totally worth the drive across the river.

Our oysters being shucked…

A random vintage Land Rover right in downtown Portland… he was so excited to get a picture with it!

A spur-of-the-moment trip to Multnomah Falls. And yes, clad in my suede boots, sweater tights, and skirt, I hiked a 1.5 mile trail with 11 switch backs to the top!
Multnomah Falls| Portland Oregon | Wedding Photography Workshop | Pittsburgh Wedding Photographers | Lavender Leigh Photography | Blog

I’m not a fan of heights, but made it to the top of the falls and clutched my camera for dear life as I bent over the side railing to take pictures to show the height of the falls. It was a beautiful view, though!
Multnomah Falls| Portland Oregon | Wedding Photography Workshop | Pittsburgh Wedding Photographers | Lavender Leigh Photography | Blog

On to the Willamette Valley wineries! We stayed at Youngberg Hill Bed and Breakfast, a lovely B&B that sat atop the hills of their vineyard. The views from their hilltop were absolutely stunning. We received a special Welcome wine tasting and immediately following, we fed the local residents of the B&B.

A few parting shots as we wine tasted and ate our way around the Willamette Valley. Pictures below are at Thistle, a restaurant in McMinnville (amazing pre-prohibition drinks, and a menu themed to match.)

We visited a lot of wineries, but some of our favorites were Youngberg Hill, Saffron Fields, WillaKenzie, Elk Cove, and Colene Clemens– all of which are pictured below.

2014: Our Accomplishments

I’m not quite sure where 2014 went- last year was a whirlwind for LLP, and it amazes me how much we accomplished during that time! Here are some of our biggest goals that we checked off of our list last year, and we couldn’t have done it without our amazing client base, which continues to grow rapidly in 2015!

2014 Accomplishments

1.) Rebranding
This project was a huge (HUGE) undertaking for us. It started with a new logo and website layout, and included the itty-bitty details such as finding the precise color scheme and fonts that best represent us. Do you believe that it took about 6 months for us to find a logo?! These rebranding details are a very important part of our business because they determine how we position ourselves in the market, and what we want to say to our clients, as examples.
Pittsburgh Wedding Photographers | Lavender Leigh Photography | Blog

2.) Growing Our Client Base
Our bookings in 2014 doubled in count since 2013. That’s right, DOUBLED! Thank you, thank you, thank you to our clients for helping us to accomplish this goal!
Pittsburgh Wedding Photographers | Lavender Leigh Photography | Blog

3.) Wedding Albums
Our wedding clients asked, and we answered! In 2014, we added high-end albums to our portfolio of wedding collection inclusions. These albums feature images that are printed on premium archival pages, and include a lay-flat design, which seamlessly showcases images (especially panoramic views!)
Wedding Photography Album | Pittsburgh Wedding Photographers | Lavender Leigh Photography | Blog

4.) Published Work
We were fortunate to have THREE published works! The first was Jenna and Justin’s wedding, featured on the website Beauty and Lifestyle Bride, another was Maura and Matt’s wedding, featured in The Perfect Wedding Guide magazine, and the last was our inspirational styled Rustic Wedding, featured on the website Fab You Bliss!
Published Work | Pittsburgh Wedding Photographers | Lavender Leigh Photography | Blog

5.) Create Marketing Materials
We love to send our clients pretty things! In 2014, we included Welcome Kits and Thank You Packages for our wedding clients, mini accordion and 5”x7” albums for our boudoir clients, and premium DVD packaging for our engagement/family/children’s portrait sessions.
Wedding Photography Welcome Kits| Thank You Packaging| Pittsburgh Wedding Photographers | Lavender Leigh Photography | Blog

6.) Learn Directly From Top Industry Professionals
In March 2014, we flew to Las Vegas to attend WPPI’s Wedding and Portrait Photographer’s Trade Show. We listened to a multitude of the world’s best photographers speaking at this event, and saw the latest and greatest products offered by top-notch photography vendors such as album and camera equipment companies, to name a few.

Later in March, we attended a phenomenal wedding photography workshop right here in Pittsburgh, hosted by Leavell Photography. The speakers were the amazing husband and wife team, Ted and Rachel, of Linczak Photography. Ted and Rachel’s work is simply stunning, and they have won multiple awards for their creative and vibrant imagery.

As if that wasn’t enough, in May, we also drove out to the Philadelphia area to attend Cliff Mautner’s Lighting Boot Camp! Cliff is recognized as one of the world’s most talented wedding photographers. He has an acute sense for creating stunning images in the toughest of lighting scenarios. Studying under Cliff’s wing was an honor, and the relationships I created with the other talented photographers are invaluable. I still keep in touch with the friends I met at this boot camp!
Cliff Mautner Lighting Bootcamp| Pittsburgh Wedding Photographers | Lavender Leigh Photography | Blog

7.) Increase Boudoir Bookings
We began photographing boudoir sessions in 2012, and just love how much these sessions empower women and make them feel confident and beautiful! Boudoir sessions are a wonderful treat for a girls’ day, a wedding party event, or a gift for that special someone. You will see us blogging more in 2015 about our boudoir sessions!
Boudoir Photography | Boudoir Experience| | Pittsburgh Wedding Photographers | Lavender Leigh Photography | Blog

8.) Create a Beautiful Space to Meet Our Clients
We like to get to know our clients, and make it a point to try and meet every one of our wedding clients in person right off the bat, to ensure we’re a good fit! A great portion of this year was dedicated to creating a Client Meeting Room in the comfort of our own house. I plan to blog about this room in more detail down the road, but here’s a sneak peek picture of this room! And yes, Benny makes a cameo in the below image. He got curious and wandered into the Client Room as I was taking pictures!
Pittsburgh Wedding Photographers | Lavender Leigh Photography | Blog

9.) Blog More!
We love to talk to our fans, which is why in 2014, we committed to blogging more! Not just about the sessions we photographed, but also about the behind-the-scenes action, Giveaways, and published works, to name a few. We’d love to hear more about what YOU want us to talk about- so please leave any feedback in the blog comments below!
Pittsburgh Wedding Photographers | Lavender Leigh Photography | Blog

10.) Continue to Provide Excellent Service to Our Clients
Yes, we love to provide our Clients with images that make their hearts sing, but it is also about the day-to-day customer service, like making sure their questions are answered, helping them feel comfortable with their outfit selection, recommending a wedding day photography timeline to ensure they receive all the pictures they want. Our job extends beyond how to operate a camera. We like being there for our clients.
Reviews| Pittsburgh Wedding Photographers | Lavender Leigh Photography | Blog

Warm Holiday Wishes to Our Amazing Clients

A simple thank you just doesn’t reflect the gratitude that we feel for having the most amazing clients this year! Not only have they trusted us to capture their most important moments in life, but we’ve also gotten to know these wonderful people, and feel like our lives are fuller in result. Our clients have propelled our growth in 2014, and continue to do so in 2015.

To these amazing people- thank you, thank you, thank you for hand picking us to be a part of your once-in-a-lifetime moments! We are truly blessed that you chose us to capture your lives in a very special way.

We wish you a glittering, magical, and love-filled holiday season!

Love,
Leigh and Barry

Pittsburgh Boudoir and Wedding Photographer

Pittsburgh Engagement, Children and Family Photographer

Amy + Jason | Beechwood Farms Engagement

Amy, Jason and I met this past summer when they visited from New York to scope out reception venues (and wedding photographers!) I knew that we instantly clicked because, not only were they so much fun to get to know, but they are also such caring and genuine people. Amy travels the world frequently for her job- lucky lady- and I secretly want her to pack me away in her suitcase so I can see the world, too!

Amy and Jason’s session was a beautiful and sunny day, and we took pictures while talking about world travels and our favorite restaurants, to name a few. This couple is so smitten on one another- when they look at each other, their smiles shine so brightly and their emotion is beyond a joy to capture. Take a look at some of the images from their engagement session, and keep scrolling to learn a little bit more about this couple’s story in the Q&A section below!

Beechwood Farms Engagement Photographer | Pittsburgh Wedding Photographers | Lavender Leigh Photography | Blog

Q: Tell us how you met!
A: Jay and I were fixed up by mutual friends from work. Although we knew each other a little bit professionally since we both work for IBM (we worked on the same project but in different departments), we did not have any interaction outside of work. Our friends asked me if I would be willing to go on a date with Jay because – evidently, as my friends say – Jay thought I was “cute,” but was a bit intimidated to ask me out. So, I agreed to meet Jay for a Happy Hour at a local restaurant / bar that my friends and I frequented. I knew that the Happy Hour was a fix-up, but Jay did not. Our friends told Jay that the gang was going out for drinks, but they didn’t tell him that I would be there. So Jay was a little taken aback, but everyone had a good time at the Happy Hour. Evidently it was a success, since Jay called me a few days later to go out again.

Q: What was the date of your first date? Tell us about it!
A: Our first date (the Happy Hour) was on April 25, 2012 at a bar & restaurant called Crew in Poughkeepsie, NY. Our friends thought they were being “sly” when they all left the table we were standing around to leave us alone to talk. Again, I knew what was up, but poor Jay didn’t. But he did think it strange when everyone but he and I walked away halfway through their drinks.

Q: How did you know he was the one?
A: Jay is very smart, has a witty and sharp sense of humor, and is a great problem solver. He has very good values and strong ideas about what he thinks is important, and he doesn’t compromise those to “go along with the crowd.” He is comfortable with who he is today, and he’s looking forward to raising a family in the future. What really sealed the deal for me, though, is how supportive Jay was last year during the time I was living in Pittsburgh to take care of my Dad before he died. I lived in Pittsburgh (and worked remotely) from August 2013 to January 2014 to take care of my Dad (who passed away mid-November 2013) and then help take care of Mom and the affairs associated with Dad’s passing. Jay accepted and agreed that I needed to be away from him to care for my Dad. He gave up his own time to drive to Pittsburgh several times to visit me and my family, and he was with me for Dad’s funeral and the following week. He also cared for my house and did repairs there while I was away without my asking, which was incredibly thoughtful. If actions speak louder than words, then Jay’s actions proved that he values family, he has strong character, and he can be supportive during difficult times.

Q: What date was the proposal? Give us the details!
A: April 25, 2014. Jay took me back to “the scene of the crime” (so to speak) and he took me back to Crew for a late dinner after my choir rehearsal was over. I didn’t expect him to propose; I just thought we were going out for a nice dinner since it was the two year anniversary of our first date. We had a nice dinner, and when dessert was brought to our table, the owner of the restaurant put a champagne glass in the middle of the table with a rose in it and the ring in the top. After I said “YES!” all of the patrons in the restaurant applauded and a gentleman at the bar sent over a bottle of champagne. Jay did a great job planning this because he brought the ring over to the restaurant earlier in the day and made the arrangements with the owner so I would be surprised.

Wedding Date: April 25, 2015
Ceremony Location: St. John Capistran Roman Catholic Church
Reception Location: Rolling Hills Country Club

Our New Client Meeting Room!

Workshops, Waterfalls, and Wineries: Our Trip to Portland, Oregon

2014: Our Accomplishments

Warm Holiday Wishes to Our Amazing Clients

Amy + Jason | Beechwood Farms Engagement

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leigh@lavenderleigh.com