Burgh Brides

Vivid and bold, this fall wedding at Shady Elms Farm brings out the best of this magical season. With a warm but dramatic color palette of teal, marsala, burnt orange, and raspberry, Lyndsay and Justin designed a casual affair at the indoor/outdoor barn venue. The bold color choices were striking while the decor was just perfect for that time of the year. Large white pumpkins were sprinkled all around beautiful reception space, while traditional orange ones dotted the tables. Centerpieces of rose buds atop brass candlesticks, burlap runners, and wooden slaps rounded out the decor, while bouquets of amaranthus, ranunculus, and calla lilies, also created by Shady Elms Farm, coordinated beautifully with the burgundy bridesmaids dresses. A BBQ menu, bourbon signature cocktails, and a sparkler exit made this rustically elegant affair one for the books! Just WAIT until you see these images from Jenna Hidinger Photography and this highlight film from Pittsburgh wedding videographer Dorosh Documentaries. Call me basic if you must but fall is the BEST!

About the Couple

I landed an internship at FOX Sports in Los Angeles in 2007. A Facebook page was set up for a group of us to connect with each other. A friend of Justin reached out to me and we decided to be roommates. When I arrived, I dropped off my belongings and left to check out the area. Justin and his best friend helped my new roommate move into our place while I was out exploring. Although I just barely missed him that day, we met soon after. One of our first conversations was about Rip Hamilton and Pistons basketball (Justin is from Michigan). The next time we saw each other, he was wearing a Pirates hat (I’m from Pittsburgh) and a Dwayne Wade jersey (my favorite player at the time). After almost ten years, many of our favorite memories together still involve sports.

After my friends left our mountain lodge the weekend of my 30th birthday, it was just the two of us, sitting by the fireplace. I like to tell it like it is, so I mentioned to him that it would be the perfect time to propose. Right then, the wind blew both of the patio doors open, like a sign that he should pop the question. He pretended he didn’t have a ring with him, but then he left the room to go grab it from his suitcase. When he came back, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. We celebrated by eating frozen pizza, drinking champagne, and playing Big Buck Hunter in the cabin’s arcade. Everything fell into place. It was perfect, and more importantly, it was us.

About the Wedding

Fall is our favorite season, so many of our plans were based around warm, rustic tones that complement the colorful foliage. Our venue, Shady Elms Farm, can be summed up as vintage barns, breathtaking florals, and a relaxing atmosphere.  We hoped our wedding would be memorable and unique.  We definitely we wanted it to be informal in a gorgeous setting where everyone could really let their hair down and have a great time. Because we had always dreamed of an outdoor ceremony, but we wanted to be married by a priest in the Catholic church, we actually had two ceremonies. The first was a traditional Catholic mass on Friday evening, and the second was an intimate outdoor ceremony at our venue on Saturday prior to our reception. I truly believe we got the best of both worlds!

Shady Elms Farm did an absolutely amazing job decorating the space for the outdoor ceremony and reception in the vintage barn. The vine-covered arbor with the crystal chandelier and glistening pond were part of the backdrop for our ceremony. The doors of the 120-year old barn were opened and our guests could feel the warm autumn breeze while surrounded by gorgeous wooden beams, chandeliers, and a light canopy strung from the haylofts. I wanted unique, rich colors, so I chose teal, deep red, burnt orange, and raspberry. I think the vivid colors ended up blending together beautifully. I bought small orange pumpkins to be placed on the tables, and large white pumpkins to be placed around the property. I created several framed signs, including ones for our signature drinks, our sparkler exit, a donation we made to an animal welfare organization in lieu of favors, and our wedding hashtag. The memory area to honor deceased loved ones was especially important to me, as my Grandpa passed away a month before our wedding. We laid his boutonnière next to a photo of him. It was really special.

All of our custom floral pieces were created by Shady Elms Farm. They truly made my vision come to life by incorporating the rich colors into the flowers. They were so vivid and breathtaking. They really made our wedding photos pop!

The farm's chicken coop served as a welcoming station to guests as they arrived. It stored a timeline of events and our unique guestbook, which was a huge, rustic letter “B” for our guests to sign. After the outdoor ceremony, our guests enjoyed cocktail hour in the farm's rustically-elegant carriage house. We chose a BBQ menu to complement our informal theme. Of course, we had the Pittsburgh cookie table at our wedding, featuring cookies and baked goods made by family and friends.  After an exceptionally fun evening of cocktails and dancing, our reception ended with a beautiful sparkler exit.

Favorite Moment

The feeling of being married (after almost ten years together!) was what I was most anticipating, along with celebrating with the people we love. Special moments that really stand out in my mind include doing a first look with my mom, dad, bridesmaids, and my husband. There wasn't a dry eye at our outdoor ceremony as I walked down the aisle to a beautiful song. The personal vows we exchanged made us smile, laugh, and cry. Our first dance was also pretty epic, as I chose “Forever Young” by Jay-Z and Beyonce, which is about as nontraditional as it gets. We had a such a blast singing and dancing to it! We were also blessed to have the most gorgeous fall day. It was sunny, warm, the perfect temperature, with an absolutely stunning sunset to end the day.

Vendors

Bride's Dress: Morilee from One Enchanted Evening | Bride's Accessories: Rent the Runway | Bride's Jewelry: Ben-Amun | Bride's Shoes: Betsey Johnson | Bridesmaids Dresses: Bill Levkoff from One Enchanted Evening | Bridesmaids Earrings: Kate Spade | Bartending: Ray's Last Call | Cake & Cupcakes: Made by the groom's sister | Cake Topper: Etsy | Cookies: Kretchmar's and baked by family and friends | Caterer: PW Catering | Ceremony Locations: St. John the Baptist and Shady Elms Farm | DJ: Modern Era Weddings | Flowers: Shady Elms Farm | Hair: Mallory Puniak and Marie Puniak from Copacetic Beauty Lounge | Makeup: Joy and Amanda of JL Makeup Studio & Beauty Boutique | Menswear: Generation Tux | Photography: Jenna Hidinger Photography | Pumpkins: Soergel Orchards and Shenot Farm & Market | Reception Venue: Shady Elms Farm | Sparklers: Superior Celebrations | Stationery: Zazzle | Transportation: Elite Transportation | Uplighting: Modern Era Weddings | Videography: Dorosh Documentaries | Wedding Bands: Orr's Jewelers 

Makeup: Joy and Amanda of JL Makeup Studio & Beauty Boutique | Videography: Dorosh Documentaries

If you’ve ever doubted for one moment that you should have pre-wedding pictures done, I’m pretty sure this gorgeous nature inspired Somerset engagement session from the one and only Lauren Renee Photography will have you easily convinced! Aly and Van’s shoot at Jones Mill Run Dam near Seven Springs (an amazing Pittsburgh wedding venue, BTW!) is as pretty as they come: a romantic, flowy floral dress, a rustic woodsy backdrop, a bubbling stream, moss covered rocks, and, of course, the cutest couple, ever! And if these photos aren’t enough, the story of their proposal will certainly have you swooning (read it below!). With a session this beautiful, I’m already counting the days until I can see their their wedding photos!  

About the Couple

We have gone on a lot of trips together, but being outside is one of our favorite activities. We particularly love the Western N.C. mountains in Asheville and causal weekends filled with hikes, yummy food, and exploring breweries. One weekend in September 2017, Van chose a strenuous hike to the top of Cold Mountain. With the most breathtaking backdrop of the Blue Ridge mountains at the top of the ten mile hike, Van proposed and I could not have been happier! He tricked me by telling me we were staying in a old cabin but he actually had rented a beautiful AirBNB. He planned spa days, Biltmore tours and vineyard visits to surprise me with the most perfect weekend ever.

We initially envisioned a rustic barn wedding. However, due to family traditions and timing, that plan changed and we are now thrilled to be getting married at the gorgeous Heinz Chapel and Grand Concourse. But, we still wanted to incorporate that rustic feel in our engagement and figured these photos were the perfect way.

Sophisticated and timeless, this merlot Omni William Penn wedding is the perfect mix of classic style and modern trends.  With a color palette of marsala and gold, Lauren and Sean embraced seasonal colors with their October affair.  While the gentlemen wore black and white tuxes, the ladies were dressed in burgundy chiffon bridesmaids dresses from Bridal Beginning.  The bride wore a lace sleeved Hayley Paige wedding gown, also from Bridal Beginning, and it was beautifully complimented by a bouquet of cymbidium orchids, hydranges, and celosia arranged by Cuttings.  After a traditional ceremony, a confetti-toss exit, and a ride in Lauren's dad's vintage car, the pair celebrated at the Omni William Penn with a little help from Pittsburgh wedding planner A & L Events.  With fresh greenery wrapped around gold candelabras, a white and gold wedding cake, a mirrored seating chart, and a sketch of Lauren's wedding dress serving as a guest book, there was a lovely mix of style and uniqueness.  The mother of the bride even hand-painted champagne glasses for all 280 guests!  Enjoy all of the images from this Instagram-worthy day, taken by Leeann Marie Photography.

About the Couple

Sean and I met through our church youth group in high school.  We had a lot of the same friends even though we went to different schools!  We even went to homecoming together my senior year (those pictures are priceless).  Through the years, we always remained friends and would hang out over school breaks.  We started dating the summer before my senior year of college while Sean had an internship in Chicago.  We dated long distance for two years!  We moved to Columbus and on our 4th anniversary and he surprised me with concert tickets to one of my favorite musicians!  We spent the weekend doing all of our favorite things.  I thought he was going to propose but when it didn’t happen on Saturday or Sunday during the day, I didn’t think it was going to happen at all.  Sunday evening we met up with a friend for drinks right on Lake Michigan.  Our friend suggested that we take some pictures by the water with the city in the background.  I obviously agreed because we never take enough pictures together!  As soon as we started taking pictures, I looked at Sean and he was down on one knee!  It was so amazing!!

About the Wedding

Our wedding day was absolutely perfect!!  We have a very traditional, classic style in general and we knew with planning a wedding we wanted to keep that style!  We wanted it to be very classy and timeless.  Our colors were merlot and gold and a lot of lush greenery!  There were a lot of personal touches, including my father’s cars to pictures from our families' weddings to a sketch of my dress that was our guest book!  My mom even hand-painted our favors!  She hand-painted 280 champagne glasses for all of our guests!  Most of the comments I have received about our wedding were how perfectly planned it was.  My mom, along with A & L Events, did an amazing job to make sure every little detail was thought of!

Favorite Moment

After our ceremony, we had a confetti toss with us coming out of the church.  We got into one of my dad’s classic cars. (This car was at my parents' wedding and my brother's wedding!)  Sean and I shared a bottle of our favorite champagne and just were grinning ear to ear!  One of my other favorite moments was when I iced Sean during our garter toss.  The only reason I wanted to do a bouquet and garter toss was so I could ice Sean.  I was able to hide the drink under my poofy dress and as soon as he went to take my garter off, he felt the bottle and knew what was going on.  He bent down and drank it!!  It was so funny!!

Vendors

Bride's Dress: Hayley Paige from Bridal Beginning | Bride's Headpiece: Bridal Beginning | Bride's Shoes: Badgley Mischka | Bridesmaids Dresses: Bill Levkoff from Bridal Beginning | Cake: Oakmont Bakery | Caterer: Omni William Penn Hotel | Ceremony Location: St. Boniface | Desserts: Bella Christie | DJ: Wenning Entertainment | Flowers: Cuttings | Hair: AtHome Beauty | Lighting & Decor: Encore Event Technologies | Linens: Lendable Linens | Makeup: B. Mattise Makeup | Menswear: The Black Tux | Photo Booth: Wenning Entertainment | Photography: Leeann Marie Photography | Reception Venue: Omni William Penn Hotel | Rentals: All Occasions Party Rental | Stationery: Hello Beautiful Designs | Videography: Trillium Wedding Films | Wedding Planner: A & L Events

Bride's Dress: Bridal Beginning | Bride's Headpiece: Bridal Beginning | Bridesmaids Dresses: Bridal Beginning | Photography: Leeann Marie, Wedding Photographers | Rentals: All Occasions Party Rental

Get ready to pick your jaw up off the ground because this Ohiopyle engagement session is unlike anything you've ever seen. I guarantee it! Since Jessie and David chose a city wedding, they switched things up with an e-shoot inspired by nature. And boy, did nature bring it's A-game. The stunning Ohiopyle and it's wooded areas, waterfalls, rushing streams, mountainous terrain, and gorgeous views resemble something out of the PNW and I am all kinds of inspired. This pair wasn't afraid to climb on fallen trees, dip their toes in icy water, or venture to the edge of an overlook all in the name of good photography. Speaking of which, Whitling Photography is about to BLOW YOUR MIND, Y'ALL!

About the Couple

We met in Chicago two and a half years ago. Our first date – at a board game bar – lasted 7.5 hours….and ended with a side hug! (Luckily, it turns out he wasn't disinterested – just polite.) We've been together ever since.

Knowing we'd soon be moving away from Chicago, David decided to propose in the ferris wheel at Navy Pier – an iconic spot on the Chicago skyline that we would always be able to point out in photographs. Naturally, on the day it was planned, the ferris wheel wasn't running because of thunder storms. But David had decided that was the day, so, in the rain, he got down on one knee, presented a beautiful ring, and said, “My knee is wet.” I had to gently remind him to actually ask the question. Coming from a guy who is typically witty and can work a room, that sincerely imperfect proposal was perfect.

About the Session

We both love the outdoors. We considered having an outdoor wedding, but Pittsburgh's unpredictable weather pushed us to a safer, indoor option in the city. Knowing that we would have amazing urban wedding photos, we decided to go the natural route for our engagement session. Our photographers suggested Ohiopyle and we're so glad they did! Even if it meant crossing rivers via fallen logs, dipping our feet in freezing water, and testing an unnamed-someone's fear of heights on a cliff at sunset – it made for a beautiful photos and a great set of memories.