Maddie & Joey: Historic Harmony Engagement Photos

Oh my, what a blessing it was to photograph these two on a beautiful, early fall day! Historic Harmony provided the perfect variety of backdrops for these two - all within a very short walking distance!

Maddie & Joey met while at Calvin College, and both have a love for serving their community within the realm of public health - which, I think we would all agree, is so important right now!

I've had the pleasure of knowing Maddie since she was in middle school (crazy!!!) and even took her senior photos back in 2014. I couldn't be more excited for you two to experience the joys of marriage, Maddie & Joey! And I couldn't be more excited to photograph your beautiful wedding day!

Enjoy just a few of my favorite photos so far from their session!

Nicole & Ed: Historic Harmony Engagement Session

Nicole and Ed are engaged and are celebrating their many years of dating (high school sweethearts!) with a wedding next year! 💕

Their first date back in high school was to Cheeseman's Fright Farm (classic!) when they were set up by their friends to be each other's date to that year's homecoming. And as they say... the rest is history!

Not only are Nicole and Ed incredibly kind and genuine - but it's also SO easy to tell that they have an incredible love, admiration, and respect for each other, just from our short time together.

Harmony was the perfect spot for their engagement photos, considering they met in high school at Seneca Valley, right down the road! We were even able to use the Harmony Inn's gorgeous patio for a couple of shots.

Congratulations to you two! 💕 I couldn't be more excited for your wedding day!

JHP Engagement Photo Highlights 2019

Engagement sessions are one of my favorite types of sessions EVER! It is so much fun to have people in love in front of my camera, and this year, there were some seriously amazing ones! 💛

To all of the couples who trusted me with their engagement photos: You are the BEST! I am so thankful to be the one you’ve trusted with these precious memories!

If you’re looking for more information about engagement portraits or would like to schedule a session, visit my pricing page here, and my contact page here!

This was my first time photographing a couple at Fellows Riverside Gardens and I totally fell in LOVE! Props to my couple for introducing me to this epic location!

Brielle and Stephen came dressed to kill! An engagement session is always a good time to kick up the style a notch!

Photographing my cousin and his fiance was definitely one of the biggest highlights of all of my engagement sessions this year! And getting to take photos in the sunflower fields at Soergel’s was just icing on the cake!

I mean, have you ever seen flower bushes so beautiful?!

I was wondering why all of the sunflowers were facing in one direction, and learned that they grow facing towards the rising sun. Fun fact!

Winter engagement sessions are always, ALWAYS my favorite. 💕 Specifically when there’s snow!

Technically this was an anniversary session, but we adore these two so I had to include them!

Ed and Meghan incorporated a car that’s been in Ed’s family for quite a few generations. It was so much fun!

This was one of my favorite locations of the entire year! Everything just came together seamlessly - the sky, the light, the couple.

Melissa & Matt: Fall Engagement Photos in Western Pennsylvania

I have been looking forward to Matt and Melissa’s session for months, and I am so excited to share my favorite photos from their session on the blog today!

This session in particular was extra special, because Matt is my cousin and Melissa is my soon-to-be… cousin-in-law? I don’t know if that’s a real thing, but we’ll just pretend like it is for now! 😉 These two traveled four hours in to have their photos taken, so of course, we had to hit all of the good spots - including two of my favorites, Historic Harmony and Soergel’s Orchard!* Soergel’s was a last minute add-on, and it was SO worth it!! Afterwards, we stopped at Arsenal Cider House and had some great family time around the bonfire. It’s always such a treat to spend time with family who live further away! 💛

Melissa and Matt met through the Penn State CrossFit club, and started dating in the spring of 2017. They love going to wineries and breweries, so Matt proposed at the end of 2018 in a wine cellar, followed by a five course meal! They are getting married next year, and we are so excited to get to celebrate them and their love! Congratulations, Matt and Melissa! We love you guys!

*Note that Soergel’s requires pre-planning and permission for photo sessions that take place on their property! A huge thanks to everyone at Soergel’s for letting us stop by!

The Best Things in Life are the Things We Don't See Coming

Some of the best things in life are the things we never saw coming - sometimes that phrase rings true on a wedding day, too! While I’m a big fan of location scouting and planning locations, poses, and ideas in advance, the truth is, on a wedding day, you never know exactly what you’re going to get in terms of photos! There are so many different variables that can impact a wedding day and cause things like the timeline, weather, or even location to change!

This is simultaneously one of the best and toughest things about weddings. Some photographers love to wing it, other photographers (hi 💁‍♀️) love to have a plan. But I’m always reminding myself, again and again, that some of my FAVORITE photos ever have happened due to things outside of my control, and were shots I never actually planned for - everything just sort of fell together at the right time!

So today, I thought it might be fun to share some of my favorite photos that I didn’t actually plan for!

This shot, for example, was one I never saw coming because: 1) you never know what the weather's going to be like in January in Pittsburgh 😂, so this sunset?! Totally unexpected. And 2) these horses literally came up at JUST the right time. They were so interested in Kirsten and Travis, and right after this shot tried to (what it looked like to me) lick Travis' head 😂

While I had seen Tess and Phil’s gorgeous wedding invitations in advance, this shot was one I didn’t see until I was packing up to head to their ceremony location! I had just finished photographing Tess’s bridal details when I moved my gear into a different room in her parents’ house. I saw this table and tray - both of which perfectly matched the color and style of Tess and Phil’s bay front wedding in Maryland - and arranged this in about thirty seconds! I even had a piece of ribbon that happened to pull everything together!

Also, as a side note - many of the detail photos I take I don’t really plan for, because I don’t know what details I’ll have to work with, or what those details will look like! I love trying to bring in elements that compliment or the details, so many times that means looking for items around the immediate space to incorporate into the detail photos (like the example in the photo above!)

I know this isn’t a wedding photo (this one’s from a senior session!) but one of the best things about unexpected rain at a session or wedding is getting to create an epic photo or two!

I had no idea this couple was bringing this “B” wreath with them, and it just so happened to fit perfectly on a nearby window pane in the little town of Harmony!

When you think of a December wedding, you might think: huh, maybe it will snow! But surely no rain! Nope. In Pittsburgh, it might be 6 degrees or 60 degrees on a December day, you never know what you’re going to get! For Chiara and Patrick’s wedding, it pretty much rained all day. There was maybe a 10 minute break directly following the ceremony, but other than that - nada!

So, we needed to get a little creative with bridal portraits pre-ceremony. Typically, I will try to take the bride outside for some portraits while her hair and makeup is fresh. But on this rainy December day - there’s no WAY that was happening! So instead, Chiara’s mom and bridesmaids helped me clean up/rearrange her parents’ sitting room. And wa-la! A portrait that I couldn’t have planned any better myself was born.

This wedding was quite a few years ago - but this photo is still one of my favorites! Our timeline was shortened drastically the day of this wedding, giving us about five minutes for bride and groom photos. I had planned for the photos in a completely different location - but it would’ve taken at least five minutes to walk to that location for portraits! So, I took the couple literally right outside of their hospitality room where hoerderves were being served and worked quickly within this little hallway to make this portrait. Lucky for us, this hotel had the most beautiful hallways ever, so we didn’t have to walk far to find a great location in a pinch. This definitely wasn’t planned for, but it’s still one of my favorites!

In the photo in the hallway with the yellow doors above this one, you’ll notice a pair of double doors at the very end of the hallway, which were locked for the entire wedding day… until an employee walked through while we were standing in the hallway! Curious as to what was back there, I stopped the door before it could close (and lock), and low and behold, this adorable little room was there! This little room made the perfect spot for another quick portrait!

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And there you have it! A few of my favorite photos that I didn’t even plan for. As someone who loves security and planning, I have to remember that sometimes some of my favorite work comes when I least expect it. I’ll always stand by solid planning and timelines, but you never know what you can create when you least expect it!

Victoria + Kevin: Historic Harmony Engagement Photos

One of the most beautiful days in all of January here in Pittsburgh happened to fall on Victoria and Kevin's engagement session day! These two - Victoria from Michigan, and Kevin from Pittsburgh - met in Florida on spring break in 2010, started dating in 2014, and got engaged November of 2017 when Kevin proposed in ARUBA on the beach at sunset - talk about magical!!

Victoria's two dresses are from Amazon (can you believe it?!) and they complimented the warm color tones around Harmony perfectly! I am so excited to share this one. Congratulations on your engagement, Victoria and Kevin! :)