Emily & Dave: Italian Inspired Bella Sera Event Villa Wedding Photos

Emily & Dave had the perfect Italian villa inspired summer wedding day at the most gorgeous Bella Sera!

While it may have been one of the hottest days of the year at that point, it surely did not dampen this epic celebration! Emily & Dave really wanted to enjoy cocktail hour with their friends and family, so they decided to opt for a first look, which allowed us to complete the vast majority of their portraits (bride & groom, bridal party, and family formals) prior to the ceremony. It also allowed us to get some candids of cocktail hour, and gave us a solid chunk of time to photograph all of the gorgeous reception details at Bella Sera!

Right after dinner, we snuck back out into a grassy area for a few extra portraits of just Emily & Dave! I always LOVE this part of the day, when (if) couples decide to sneak out during sunset or golden hour for a few photos. Couples are typically so much more relaxed at this point in the day, and it really lets us get some different types of images!

After their golden hour photos, we headed back into the reception for parent dances and for LOTS more dancing. Emily & Dave had a huge dancing crowd, and we got so many fun photos of Emily & Dave with their guests on the dance floor (don’t worry… you’ll see!)

We absolutely LOVED getting to be a part of Emily & Dave’s day and capture the beginning of this next chapter. A HUGE thank you to Emily, Dave, and their friends & family for braving the heat for photos and for just being amazing to work with!

Congratulations, Emily & Dave! ❤️

In addition to having a wonderful couple, bridal party, and family members to work with, we were able to work with an incredible vendor team, too… check them out below!

Vendors: Bella Sera, AConti Media (Videographer), Fragile Paradise Florist, Bethel Bakery (Cake), Kevin H. Redford (DJ), Dana Burns (hair), Bridal Beginning Pittsburgh (Bride's dress), AZAZIE (bridesmaid dresses)

I love when we are able to get a photo with our couples! ❤️ A big thank you to the guest who took on my “fancy camera” for this sweet shot!

How to Choose Outfits for Your Engagement Session

You're engaged - congratulations!!! Now comes the next step - engagement photos! One of the most frequently asked questions I receive as a Pittsburgh engagement photographer is: what should I wear for my engagement photos? While there's no cookie-cutter answer (because style varies from couple to couple), here are a couple of suggestions for choosing the best engagement session outfits to represent yours and your husband-to-be's personalities!

1. Choose something you feel comfortable in!

Comfort is key while having your engagement photos taken. Being comfortable in your clothes will translate to comfort in front of the camera!

2. Don’t be afraid to go for something a little upscale!

It’s not often you and your husband-to-be have your photos taken, so dressing up can be a fun way to celebrate the occasion! One of my favorite options to recommend for dressy clothing (without having to buy something to expensive) is Rent the Runway. They have dresses of all styles that can be rented for just a fraction of the purchasing price!

3. Don’t be afraid to accessorize.

For brides – adding a scarf, necklace, or hat can be a great way to add some additional visual interest! For grooms – bowties, ties, watches, and pocket squares can do the same! For the photo below, Becca wore a statement necklace and an adorable pair of red shoes that are complimentary to Dave's bowtie and checkered shirt! Their outfits were some of my favorites to date because of the thoughtfulness they put into using such a variety of accessories and colors!

4. Coordinate colors, but don’t match.

It’s important to balance each other out. In the photo below, Jeff and Trina are wearing similar colors (navy) but have some tans, light blues, and pinks thrown in the mix to balance them out! (The photo above is also a great example of color coordination!)

5. Pick something that represents YOU!

Whatever you wear, don’t forget to throw your own style flare into your photos. This could mean wearing an outfit from your favorite designer, purchasing a dress from your favorite store, or incorporating a hobby/career theme into your session! Trina and Jeff, shown below, incorporated Jeff's long-time love of firefighting into his photos.

Why We Need to Support Marriage

I love wedding day toasts. Typically, by the time the wedding day rolls around, I've gotten to know my couple fairly well, but listening in to toasts by the father of the bride, best man, and maid of honor always leave me with an expanded perspective of who a couple really is. 

One of my favorite toasts ever was given by a father of the bride at one of my weddings a few years ago. He talked a lot about the couple, about their relationship together, about his love for his daughter - and then he took a spin on the typical "father of the bride" speech and started talking directly to the people in the room. He challenged them to love on this couple long after the wedding day. To check in on them, and to find ways to support them in their marriage. He noted something in that moment that everyone already knew, but that he said anyways: marriage is tough. And often times, even in marriage, it feels as though we're living in isolation. We unintentionally isolate ourselves from other people and try to fix the broken pieces of ourselves all on our own, but in reality, we need to be supporting and uplifting each other, not just on the wedding day, but years and years after.

So today, I want to put a little challenge out on this little corner of the web: send a married friend a little love today. Write them a note. Or send them a message. Or show up in their lives somehow - today, tomorrow, next week - and show your support of their marriage. We have enough marriage-bashing jokes going around. What if we started to change our perceptions and words towards marriage to reflect the good instead of the bad?

Easy Desktop Project File Organization

Whether you're a copywriter, blogger, videographer, photographer, graphic designer, or web designer, staying organized as a creative with a gazillion projects floating around can be a challenge, and knowing where you are in each project at any given time can be even more of a challenge. 

Towards the beginning of my photography business, I was booking, culling, editing, exporting, backing up, and packaging up sessions without a true rhyme, reason, or rhythm to my madness. One session would be in the editing phase, another couple in the exporting phase, a few others in the packaging stage, and for the life of me, I couldn't remember which one was in what step! After a few days of researching, I finally came up with a system that worked for me: a visual way to organize my laptop desktop where my "open" session files could be accessed easily at any time:

I broke my process down into 5 easy stages/action steps: working files (including culling, editing, an exporting), put in a gallery (I use and love the PASS gallery system), burn to USB (love my Flashbay drives!), back up to hard drive (or, in my case, since I'm extremely paranoid, to TWO hard drives), and finished files, which means the files can be discarded from my laptop safely. Then, once I exported the Photoshop file as a JPEG, I set the JPEG as my desktop and organized my projects into each category. Using these five stages, I know where every single one of my active sessions is at any given time in the process.

I'm sure there are much more intricate programs, software, and apps that can do this exact same thing - but this easy to implement system has been my go-to for the last 4 years and was an easy way for me to get organized and change the way I work. If you're interested in trying out this easy desktop organization system, click here to download your free PSD desktop organization template! Customize your categories, add a photo, export the file as a JPEG, set it as your desktop screensaver - and voila! You're ready to start organizing!

5 Ways to Pamper Yourself for Your Engagement Photos

In a world of intense wedding planning, your engagement session is the perfect time to do a little bit of self-care. Below are a few of my favorite suggestions for brides who want to pamper themselves before their engagement session.

1. Have your nails done

Show off your new ring with confidence – typically, during engagement photos, I like to photograph the ring up close on the bride’s hand. Having well groomed nails can make a big difference in those close up ring shots! 

2. Have makeup done

Not many brides consider having their makeup done for their engagement session, but doing so is a great way to pamper yourself! If you are planning on having your makeup done for your wedding, ask your artist if you can schedule your wedding day makeup trial for the day of your engagement session. Typically, a pre-trial is included in your wedding makeup package, so most of the time it won’t even cost you an extra penny!

3. Treat yourself to buying (or renting) a new dress or outfit

This might be my favorite tip of them all! The right outfit makes a HUGE difference in the outcome of the photos. A fun way to treat yourself for your engagement photos could be by buying a new outfit, or by renting one. I recently learned about Rent the Runway and I’m OBSESSED! Rent the Runway has a huge variety of expensive clothing, allowing you to rent for a small fraction of the original price. Lyndsay, my soon-to-be-bride in the photo below, opted for a gorgeous floor length red dress that made her session come together perfectly. And the best part was, she didn’t have to pay hundreds of dollars to look fabulous!

4. Plan to go out to dinner together afterwards

One of my favorite things my husband and I did after our engagement session was to plan to grab a bite to eat after our session ended. Planning to go out to dinner gives you and your soon-to-be-husband something else to look forward to afterwards, and makes the whole evening feel like a date!

By using one (or all) of these tips, you’re sure to have a relaxing, pampered engagement experience!

Lyndsay + Justin: McConnell's Mill Engagement Photography

There are so many things to love about Lyndsay and Justin! Their relaxed personalities and undeniable love for each other made them an absolute joy to photograph. Lyndsay had a clear vision for her engagement session - a winter wonderland, and a bright, red dress. Thanks to Rent the Runway, Lyndsay was able to rent a killer dress to perfectly accent the session (side note: brides, this is a great way to dress up your engagement photos without having to commit to buying a dress!). These two put up with freezing cold temps and an icy hill that almost stopped us from reaching our last location - but they pushed through like champs, bringing her gorgeous vision to life! Without further ado - check out one of my personal favorite winter sessions ever. We are so excited for your fall wedding, Lyndsay and Justin!

Vendors:

Makeup by Joy Lager at Beauty by Joy

Hair by Mallory Puniak at Copacetic Salon

Becca + Frank: Cathedral of Learning Engagement Session

There's something about freezing winter temperatures that make a shoot feel all the cozier! Becca and Frank's Pittsburgh engagement session started off inside the Cathedral of Learning, then gradually moved outside to the Mellon Institute (where they dealt with the cold like champs!). These two were so natural in front of the camera - I could've photographed them all day! They talked, laughed, and just enjoyed each other (plus, Frank is awesome at what I like to call the "tackle hug," which you will see below :) ). I loved working with these two and couldn't be more excited to photograph their wedding in 2017!