Sloane W: Hartwood Acres Mansion Senior Photos

The night of Sloane’s session was a gamble in terms of weather... we moved her session up a bit in the evening with hopes that we would avoid the pending rainy forecast. And thankfully... not only did it not rain, but we also had absolutely beautiful light for the entire session!

Sloane is an incoming senior with the Class of 2025! She plays lacrosse and loves ice cream 🍦 and her dog! Who she brought with her to her session. Beau was such a good boy and cooperated so well!

Sloane is a hard worker and a sweet soul with great outfit choices... her maxi dress is from @altardstate and her hair is by the fantastic @drybarshopsus !

And I'm sure if you've been following me for any amount of time, I probably don't have to tell you what location these were taken at 😉 (One that I semi-jokingly refer to as my "second home" during photo season!)

Congratulations Sloane on your upcoming senior year!!

Twin Senior Photos at Hartwood Acres Mansion

Meet Madalynn & Logan!

These twins will be graduating from Mars High School with the Class of 2025!

It’s always so much fun to photograph twins. I have some seniors that prefer separate sessions, and some that prefer taking their photos together! In this case, Madalynn and Logan opted to take their photos together on the same night, during the same time block.

During the session, we switched back and forth between the two, then took some photos of them together. It’s always fun going back and forth between two different personalities and finding ways to make their photos unique, yet cohesive! Hartwood was a great choice for these two, since there were lots of different backdrops to work with, but all of them “go” together.

Madalynn hopes to study biology post-high school, and Logan hopes to study meteorology. The night of their session, there was a major threat of rain... but we went for it, completely avoided the rain (though there were dark clouds all around us!) and even got some sunshine towards the end of the session!

It was so fun to see the individual personalities of these two come out during their session.

Congratulations on your upcoming senior year, Madalynn & Logan!

Lexi C: Hartwood Acres Mansion Senior Photos

Meet Lexi!

Lexi is an incoming Upper St. Claire senior who plays lacrosse!

Her session was a BLAST, and was a true Pittsburgh Senior Photo session! We hit three iconic locations - Mellon Park, Mellon Institute, and the North Shore! We were blessed with nearby parking at all locations, which made things so much smoother And we stuck to a pretty strict schedule to make it all happen... but it was worth it!

Lexi chose three different outfits for each of her locations, all of which went perfectly with each backdrop!

Lexi, congratulations on your senior year!

Ava P: Hartwood Acres Mansion Senior Photos

Meet Ava!

She's a Seneca Valley High School senior who plays the viola, loves writing, and hopes to go into special elementary education post high school!

Ava brought three beautiful outfits with her, along with her viola, sheet music, and a journal! It was so much fun to incorporate her props - and her fun personality - into her session!

I especially love her red dress choice! I am a huge fan of bright clothing… it always makes the images pop!

Congrats to Ava on her upcoming senior year!

Jacob K: Hartwood Acres Mansion Senior Photos

I’ve had the honor of photographing both of Jacob's siblings' senior photos (Joshua at Mellon Park & Samantha at the Pennsylvanian), and now his!

Jacob is graduating with the class of 2025 and hopes to study finance after high school. He plays soccer, and brought his dog, Willow, to jump into a few photos with him!

We had a nice cool evening at Hartwood Acres… which was a great break from the heat & humidity we’ve had lately!

Also, I always love a suit at Hartwood Acres Mansion for guys. And Jacob’s casual outfit was a great choice, too! The white shirt and red shorts combo really popped well off of Hartwood’s many backdrops.

Congratulations on your senior year, Jacob!

Kendall K: Pittsburgh Senior Photos, Hartwood Acres Mansion

Meet Kendall!

Kendall is an incoming Pine Richland senior with the class of 2025! She loves reading, science, and true crime documentaries. She brought a book to her senior session as a nod towards her love for reading!

Also, can we get a moment for her shirt with the puff sleeves?! It was such a perfect choice for Hartwood Acres Mansion! And of course, her white dress is adorable too!

Congratulations on your upcoming senior year, Kendall!

Shady Elms Farm Family Photos

If you've been following my account for a while, you might recognize this sweet couple that I've photographed in the past. Well... their family has expanded to include a sweet little girl!

We took some photos to celebrate her upcoming birthday at the beautiful Shady Elms Farm… a beautiful wedding venue in Hickory, PA. They allow photo sessions to take place there for a small fee per hour (pending availability), which ended up working out so well for this family who lives close by!

We did catch a downpour part of the way through our session, but we were still able to get lots of beautiful images to celebrate this little one!

Cierra & Hunter - thank you for the honor of photographing your sweet family!!!

Surprise Pittsburgh Proposal at Phipp's Conservatory

I hope you get a feel for how fun these two are from this blog post… this surprise Pittsburgh proposal was an absolute BLAST to photograph!

Alec had been planning to surprise his girlfriend, Sri, with a marriage proposal during their trip to Pittsburgh (where they both went to college and both had met!). He chose Phipp’s Conservatory as his venue – specifically the Broderie Room (which you can rent out!). This is one of my all time favorite locations for proposals. It’s beautiful, there’s no need to worry about the weather (since it’s indoors and covered!), it has ample natural light, it’s private… there are so many reasons to love it! In fact, this was my fifth Phipp’s proposal this year. And I have loved every single one of them!

But back to Alec & Sri! The staff at Phipp’s was so good at keeping the proposal a surprise. Alec led Sri into the Broderie Room by the hand as I peeked around the corner, waiting for Sri’s back to be towards me so I could sneak into the room. I hid behind a large well and waited for the big moment… for Alec to get on one knee! Once Sri figured out what was going on, she had the biggest smile on her face, and it never left! She was completely taken off guard, which made the moment all the more special.

After the proposal itself, Alec & Sri took a few minutes by themselves to soak in the moment! Then, we took 15 minutes to get some portraits of the two of them to commemorate the occasion.

And even though it was absolutely sweltering in that humid room, they both handled it like absolute champs… and I’m so excited about the images we got for them to cherish from this special moment!

Congratulations on your engagement, Sri & Alec! It was such a pleasure to get to capture this moment for you!

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Looking for information about how to reserve the Broderie Room for a Phipp’s Conservatory proposal? Click here for more info for how to get in contact with them!

Atalya & Chase: Black Tie Wintergarden at PPG Place Wedding Day

This was an incredible day for an incredible couple! Atalya & Chase are one of the kindest, most sincere couples - and their friends and family are just as lovely! This was truly such a joyful day to be a part of from start to finish - a true Pittsburgh wedding day!

Atalya and her bridesmaids began their day at the Pittsburgh Fairmont. This was my first time taking photos here… and I have to say, it was such a beautiful location! You can see so much of downtown from the floor to ceiling windows… including PPG Place, Atalya & Chase’s reception venue!

Chase & his groomsmen got ready at his apartment. Each groomsman was gifted a custom jersey with his last name on the back… such a fun gift!

The ceremony took place at Heinz Chapel, quite possibly one of the most iconic churches in all of Pittsburgh. After family portraits, we were able to sneak in a few photos of Atalya & Chase in some different spots around the interior of the church. And I say “sneak” because Heinz Chapel hosts TONS of weddings, so they run a very tight ship when it comes to timelines… so extra photos in addition to family portraits on the altar are not always possible. But thankfully, we were running a bit ahead of schedule, and there weren’t any other weddings on the books for the rest of the day (love a Friday wedding! 🙌).

One of my favorite moments of this wedding day was when Atalya, Chase, and their bridal party stopped at the place where they had their first date - Lefty's in the Strip District! It was so worth the pit-stop, and such a beautiful way to commemorate the beginning of their relationship to bring things full circle! Their whole bridal party took a shot to celebrate, and off we all went to the reception!

The reception took place at the iconic Wintergarden at PPG Place in the heart of downtown. This was my first wedding here, and I absolutely LOVE this space! There is much natural light. It’s modern, clean, classic, and everything you would want in a wedding venue. And as a bonus… it is walking distance from the Fairmont, where many of their guests were staying!

The reception was full of heartfelt toasts, a huge cookie table, and a killer band (Go Go Gadjet) that kept guests dancing all night and put on an incredible performance!

Atalya and Chase, it was truly such a pleasure to be a part of your day. Congratulations on your marriage!

This beautiful day was made possible by an incredible team of vendors. I have to give a huge shout out to Vanessa from Alyssa Thomas Event Planning & Design, who coordinated the wedding day and kept every detail in place. She was absolutely incredible!

Vendors: Alyssa Thomas, Event Planning & Design, Community Flower Shop, Bridal Beginning Pittsburgh, Go Go Gadjet, Jeremy Scott films, Beacon Lane Wedding Invitations, Antonette Medved Makeup Co, Emma Hathworth (hair), Oakmont Bakery, Wintergarden at PPG Place, Pittsburgh Fairmont, Lefty's

Lauren M: Hartwood Acres Mansion Senior Photos

Lauren was a joy to photograph a few weeks ago at Hartwood Mansion! It was toasty & humid, but I'm not sure you would know it from these photos She was such a pro!

Lauren is a life-long dancer - since she was about 3 years old, to be exact! She does lots of different types of dance, and chose to incorporate her pointe shoes into some of her photos! She hopes to go into Psychology and work with children - she loves kids, loves helping people, and loves chit-chatting, making it a perfect fit!

I absolutely LOVE the outfits Lauren chose for her photos! She opted for a short dress, a long dress, and a blouse with white jeans. The variety of her outfits gave us lots of different opportunities for posing and movement!

Congrats Lauren on your senior year!