The connection, culture, and creativity you’re about to see will have you dreaming for days! Mehrgol and Jasper’s two-part Dobra Tea House engagement session comes with an abundance of charm. They kicked off their day at the cafe in Squirrel Hill, where they transported to a Middle Eastern atmosphere. The space carried a nostalgic feel as Mehrgol’s family is Iranian. It was the best setting for the two to cuddle and laugh as the light shined through the big beautiful windows of the cafe. The next location was back to the place they met – the University of Pittsburgh. Golden hour images were captured around the couple’s alma mater with iconic locations making an appearance as the two walked down memory lane. Their collection of photos displays their effortless and natural chemistry. But the pair says they owe a huge part of the engagement photo success to their photographers We Are The Richards. Tea for two and two for tea, keep on scrolling to enjoy what you see!
About the Couple
We met in the last semester of our last year at the University of Pittsburgh. For years, though, we had seen each other around the Oakland campus and later found out we had many mutual friends. Within a few weeks after we started dating, we both graduated and started our long-distance relationship.
For four years, we were long distance, taking turns traveling between DC, Montreal, and Pittsburgh. We got engaged in March 2022, after which we celebrated our six-year anniversary in April. Our engagement was fully collaborative. We discussed together the idea of getting engaged for a few months. We had even shared the news with our families (and planned a whole engagement party before actually getting engaged!). We went ring shopping together for Jasper, and we decided that Jasper would be the one to pop the question. It just remained a matter of when…
The engagement itself happened in the first days of spring, during the Persian New Year (Norooz) in March 2022. It was a bright Saturday morning during peak cherry blossom season in DC. Jasper had planned for us to a visit a local museum and garden. I had a feeling an important question may pop up during this visit, but as the two-hour tour was coming to a close, that feeling went away. Just then, Jasper suggested stopping by a quiet little bench in the rose garden. He pretended to queue up a self-timer photo on his phone and sat on the bench next to me. Jasper turned to me and whispered, “I’m not actually taking a photo,” as he dropped down to one knee and pulled out the ring we had picked out. The next week, I gifted Jasper with the commemorative engagement watch that we had also picked out together (my mother’s family had gifted my father a watch to commemorate the joining of their families nearly 30 years ago).
About the Session
Our engagement session came together very quickly, thanks to the flexibility and brilliance of Glen and Julia, our photographers. We decided to incorporate locations that were meaningful to us. Glen and Julia kindly offered to split our session into two parts.
The first part took place at Dobra Tea House in Squirrel Hill, which is a cozy Middle Eastern-style café. With me and my family being Iranian, we had already decided to have a Persian-inspired wedding (or “aroosi”). With its old-world charm and nostalgic atmosphere, Dobra felt like a wonderful location to incorporate this Middle Eastern element into our engagement shoot. One way we achieved this was by ordering a tea service and pouring little cups of tea for each other, which is custom in many Middle Eastern traditions. We told Glen and Julia that we
wanted the warmth of the space to come through in the photos, and really give off an enchanted feeling. This was enhanced by the beautiful glass block windows inside the café, which diffused the morning light and made the whole space glow.
The second part of our engagement session took place around the University of Pittsburgh’s campus, where we first met and blossomed our love. Given our history there, we wanted our photos back on campus, six years later, to reflect how far we had come in our journey of life and love for one another. To do this, we wore more formal clothes, selecting the deeper green shades to contrast with the neutral architectural facades of the gorgeous university buildings. Glen and Julia guided us through a series of golden hour shots around the Mellon Institute, Cathedral of Learning, Frick Fine Arts Building, and the Carnegie Library and Museum. These were all places we had, at one point or another, spent time together, making the whole session feel like a “victory lap” around Pitt, once more for old times’ sake. Our photos showcase quiet moments behind the Frick Fine Arts building and joyous ones, laughing together, on the Cathedral of Learning patio.
Overall, across the two parts, we were able to create a very organic and authentic illustration of our life together. This was in big part thanks to Glen and Julia, their chemistry together, and all of the work they do to get to know their couples and make them comfortable.
