The downtown Pittsburgh skyline is one of our city’s best attributes and today’s rooftop wedding shows it off beautifully! For their wedding celebration, Stephanie and Emmanuel wanted to combine an industrial chic ceremony with a refined reception. Enter the David L. Lawrence Convention Center and The Pennsylvanian, an unlikely yet strikingly gorgeous duo. The couple exchanged vows on the Convention Center’s rooftop patio under Vintage Alley Rental’s infamous moon arch, which was done up in pretty purple blooms from Allison McGeary Florist. Speaking of purple, the bride’s favorite color was on full display in everything from the bridesmaids dresses, her shoes, the groom’s socks, the stationery, and of course the floral arrangements. The regal shade added rich elegance to the day’s style and it’s sure to leave you swooning. Kaitlin Powell Photography beautifully captured Emmanuel’s thousand-watt smile, Stephanie’s adoration for him, and their effortless love for each other. This one is so.good.
About the Couple
We met for the first time at a job interview for our first jobs out of college. We both got the job and became coworkers in June 2008!
We worked together for six years and grew closer as friends during that time. Emmanuel was the one who finally decided to take the chance on taking the relationship to the next level. We started dating in November 2014.
In November 2017, we took a trip to Aruba. We were really enjoying our time in paradise and then Emmanuel surprised me with reservations to go off of the resort to a restaurant where we could dine on the beach at sunset. This particular day, November 11, had special meaning to us. Little did I know, but Emmanuel had specifically planned the dinner on this day months in advance. We sat down at the table and the view was stunning; we were right on the water! Gazing at the beautiful sunset, we were served our bottle of wine. We toasted to being in paradise then Emmanuel got up and walked around the table to my surprise. He had a whole speech planned and got down on one knee and there was the ring! I was completely surprised. I had given him no ideas for rings specifically because I wanted the ring to be his choice, but I had no idea he was already looking. To make things extra special, he had the inside band engraved with 11.11 (and my birth stone), which has always been our thing. It was absolutely perfect!
About the Wedding
Our wedding didn’t specifically have a theme, but we really wanted to capture both of our styles and our favorite parts about Pittsburgh. We wanted both an industrial/city chic ceremony and an elegant evening for our reception. We knew that we wanted a Pittsburgh rooftop to show off our city buildings and then we really wanted to switch to a more elegant feel for our reception. We felt like we nailed both of these with our rooftop ceremony at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center and our reception at the Pennsylvanian. The rooftop ceremony at the DLCC was unique to us; we had only stumbled across a random photo of this location and we had to wait to ensure that no conventions would be planned the same weekend as our wedding.
We decided not to hire a wedding planner (we are both project managers by profession), so all of the planning was done by the both of us. Yes, Emmanuel was very involved with the planning! We compiled the best possible vendor team that you can imagine to help bring our day to life, and pitched in our own touches where we could.
Purple is my favorite color and I knew that it needed to play a part in the day. We pulled light purples into the bridesmaid dresses, my shoes, and the flowers. I also found cute royal purple dresses for the junior bridesmaids to keep with the color theme and let the younger girls stand out. Our other colors were very neutral – tan, cream, and gold – allowing purple to stand out. The gentlemen wore traditional black tuxes and bow ties.
We also were able to share our day with special friends and family. Emmanuel’s uncle (who is a reverend) married us, which was very special to us both to have family involved with the most important part of our day. Our nieces and nephews agreed to be a junior bridesmaid, flower girls, and ring bearers – the cutest crew ever! My little sister through Big Brothers Big Sisters also was a junior bridesmaid. It was so special for the both of us! Emmanuel’s older sister and my little brother spoke at the wedding.
Favorite Moment
Emmanuel:
Seeing Stephanie at the end of the aisle (we decided not to do a first look).
Stephanie:
Seeing Emmanuel at the end of the aisle and being able to look into his eyes during our ceremony (it took all of the nerves away). Also, watching Emmanuel and my grandma try to “floss” at the reception.
This is so lovely! Thank you for sharing and providing such great photos. They really capture the day and make you feel like you are part of their special moment! Beautiful!