•  I know that in the days before the wedding, Carrie was worried about not having a ton of details like most of her fellow bees do.  As a photographer, I love details but sometimes the reason for the joyous occasion gets lost in all the stuff.  One of the things I loved most about this day was the fact that there didn’t need to be any details to remind you why you were there.  The love for Carrie & Ken was overwhelmingly felt all day and that was the only detail that was important, that these two people whom are absolutely perfect for one another were saying I Do.

•  Photographer confession:  this wedding took place in Pittsburgh, PA… and I left well over an hour ahead of schedule to make sure I was there on time (which meant that I leave about 4 hours ahead of the start time).  Then traffic happened.  Turns out there was some lane closures and whatzits just outside of the city which resulted in us taking almost an hour and a half to go 1.5 miles!!!  While I always plan for the worst, I figured an hour + buffer was more than enough… I was wrong.  🙁  I still get sick to my stomach when I think of that.  I was so frazzled that I was literally “this close” to hoofing it on the highway and having hubs pick me up when he got through traffic to get there!  Luckily for me Carrie planned more than enough time and we had wiggle room to make things work and when I arrived (45 minutes late) we still had time to get shots of her getting into her dress and no pictures suffered from the traffic.  WHEW!   Next trip to Pittsburgh will have an overnight stay in place after that stressful drive!!!

•  This was a destination wedding for most of the people in attendance.  I love when people don’t conform to the ‘traditional’ destinations and go where their hearts lead them.  In their case, it was to Pittsburgh where they both attended Pitt.  Family came from all over the country to see these two lovebirds get married!

•  I’m still drooling over the food that was served.  They had stations and each station had a theme.  My personal favorite was the Pittsburgh station which had sauerkraut, sausage and more goodies.  YUM.

•  I’ve never seen so many people dance their hearts out at the reception.  The dance floor was packed all night and everyone cut a rug – there was NO timid dancing to be had here!

•  Ken is by far and away one of the most expressive people I’ve ever taken pictures of… every time that I thought one image was the best captured I’d find another that was even better!

Wedding Vendors

Catering: Big Burrito
Ceremony: Heinz Chapel
DJ: DJ Andy Hutelmyer
Florist: Parkway Florist
Reception: Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh
Transportation: Your Designated Driver

Carrie you are simply stunning!

 

Carrie got dressed in the bedroom with just her sister, me and her Mother so this was the first glimpse the bridesmaids got of her all dolled up, their expressions were priceless!

 

Once we got to the Heinz Chapel the girls finished primping in the bridal room in the basement.  This is one of my favorite getting ready images of the year!

 

The Heinz Chapel is breathtaking!  While beautiful, the beauty definitely comes with a price as they are one of the strictest places for photography during the ceremony (cannot stand in the aisle during the processional for images – you must be 5 pews from the back in a pew to take all images of the processional, pictures from outside the doors to the vestibule during the ceremony straight up the aisle or from the balcony etc.).  Even though the rules can be confining, it’s pretty impossible not to take a beautiful shot here!  Ahhhhh pretty!

 

See what I mean?  So beautiful!

 

Chris was up in the balcony and was able to get some wonderful moments like this.

 

 

After the ceremony, we walked over to the fountain on campus for some pictures.  The guys were so much fun!

 

The girls were troopers walking across campus in their dainty heels.  I absolutely LOVED the way their bouquets all popped off their dresses.  Such a fantastic color combo!

 

I was testing my light and snapped a shot and burst out laughing when Ken did this.  HILARIOUS!

 

🙂

 

This is my favorite posed pic of the day, awww!

 

 

RAWR!  I guess this is a Pitt thing?  Either way, it’s awesome!

 

 

Ahhh Carrie!  You are SO beautiful!!

 

After we finished up on campus we had enough time to go hit a spot that Carrie wanted some pictures before the wedding that we didn’t have time for.  It all worked out for the best though because not only was the game over so there wasn’t the crazy crowds from earlier but we were able to do a full bridal party shot with the skyline!

 

Even better?  A couple portrait!  YAY!

 

We headed off to the reception and on the way in the guys stopped to raise their arms as the roller coaster on top of the entrance went down the hill, LOVE!

 

While Carrie and Ken were catching up with guests, I buzzed around the reception hall and got pictures of all the fantastic details!  Carrie and Ken had just that perfect amount of personal touches to add the kiss of personality to the reception which included personalized drinks that I hear were amazing!

 

I mentioned the food before so I had to include some pics of the fantastic food as well as the hit of the night, the daffodil specialty cocktail which was named after their darling doggie!  LOVE!

 

Right after their entrance, Carrie and Ken went into their first dance which I loved!  It’s always fun when couples change things up from the ‘normal’ timeline!

 

Immediately after, they cut the cake and Ken proved yet again that he is the most expressive groom ever!

 

While everyone was eating I managed to grab the rings for a moment to get some images of them.  I absolutely adore Carrie’s engagement ring!!!

 

*love*

 

Carrie’s Dad gave a heartfelt speech that had everyone going from tears to laughter in minutes.

 

The rest of the night was spent celebrating and dancing with friends.  I don’t think I have ever had a bride and groom have THIS MUCH FUN on the dance floor!!!!!  LOVE!

 

On the way out I captured a picture of the museum at night, such a fun fun fun venue!

 

Thank you Carrie and Ken for being your awesome selves and hiring me, it was such a lovely day!!!