Love in the City | Hannah Barlow Photography | Pittsburgh Wedding Photography

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

I’m FINALLY getting caught up on engagement sessions and with that I have another couple I’d love for you to meet! I mean…I’m not REALLY “behind” on editing but you all know I’m a wee bit high strung AND an organizational freak so my current 1-2 week turn around feels SO LONG and it is making me a little crazy! I guess that’s a good thing though, right?! But anyway…I’m just so happy to be showing you all these beauties today!

Please say “HELLO” to Jenna and Josh!

But before I start rambling about these two amazing people, let’s have a look at her beautiful AND unique ROSE GOLD engagement ring!!! It’s ROSE GOLD! That’s right!

Jenna and Josh chose the location. Lacey and I just typed it into GPS and showed up!! That’s right! Do you remember Lacey from this spring? She attended another engagement session with me (Kristi and Justin’s) and I think I officially got another person hooked!! YAY! She’s going to branch out and start assisting at weddings too so you’ll be seeing more and more of her here in the near future!! YAY!

Lacey and I were both loving the vibes going on here too! This location and its colors make my heart happy! And…because I know someone will email me and ask…Jenna got her dress from Express online. I frequently get emails asking about locations and wardrobes. Her dress was totally perfect for this session so I figured I would get ahead of all those emails and post that information right here!! You are welcome! 😉

I mean really though…isn’t this location fun?!

So, Josh gave me a rating of -5 on my introductory 1 to 10 scale of how much he loved having his photo taken. I’m not even kidding! HA! Good grief!! I really thought I may have my hands full but I really think he was just pulling my leg (and Jenna told me later that he said he had fun). CHECK MARK! I mean…he didn’t miss a beat! They walked and they snuggled and I swooned with the way Jenna naturally gravitates toward him and falls into his arms! -5?…get out of town (no pun intended)! This was easy!

Another CHECK! Shoulder sniff complete! For any new blog post readers who wonder what the heck I’m talking about, the “shoulder sniff” is a HBP pose I came up with a long time ago. I found I often had a hard time really explaining what I had in my head so I made up funny names and explanations. Instead of forcing people into poses, I’d just tell them to do ridiculous things like, “go ahead and sniff your shoulder,” and you know what happened?! They did it AND they gave me genuine smiles and laughter because it sounds so ridiculous BUT looks so good!! These two nailed it! I knew this particular location would be hard to beat…and we flew through all the poses quick!

So, we moved on to another location. Want to know something new about me?! I’m afraid of heights. Like…gets my adrenaline pumping and not in a good way…AFRAID of heights. I’ve always been this way and even though I’m older and wiser now and I KNOW it’s all in my head…I still can’t get over it! I always struggled going up the platforms to those high roller coasters when I was a kid because you can see through the grating. Well, I’m still that way now. Don’t EVEN get me started on those steps that you can see through in basements and what not. AHHHHHH!

So, just Imagine my hesitation when Jenna was all calm and said, “Now, there’s a fire escape toward the river. Let’s go take pictures down there.” UMMMMMMMMM. I couldn’t even hide my reaction. I mean…I KNEW I was going to do it. I’m dedicated. It’s in my head and I know it BUT I did start to sweat a bit. Nonetheless, I channeled my inner calm and distraction techniques (that I used to use on patients back when I was a nurse) and I proceeded to laugh nervously…joke around…and walk down those dreaded steps. I’ll be honest…at first I hated every second of it! HA! I mean…JUST LOOK! It is like my worst nightmare! I also started snapping these photos to give me SOMETHING to focus on besides falling to my death. To be fair, they immediately gave me the option to not do it but I’m not one to back down from a challenge (or the opportunity for unique and pretty pictures). So, off we went!

So, while I continued to snap away and attempt to forget where I was standing, I got this accidental but pretty shot of Pittsburgh!

THEN, we started taking some more goodies and I honestly started to forget where I was standing!! The power of distraction is real, people! These two just stood there and posed like we weren’t hanging high above the ground! I was super excited to get home and see these on the big screen! They did NOT disappoint!

Then we moved over to the stairs. This was Jenna’s idea…I kind of love them SO MUCH! I know she does too!! These are definitely some of my favorites!! HANDS DOWN! At this point, I wasn’t worried about the height because I was JUST SO EXCITED! I honestly had forgotten for a moment where I was standing and I just kept coaching and snapping away!

Can’t you just picture their wedding photos?! YEP. These are my favorites!

I may have been being brave but I wasn’t about to start climbing high up on things like I usually do. So, I took advantage of my camera’s handy tricks, went into live mode, held the camera above them and snapped these! I LOVE them in both color and black and white!

Then, we moved on to another amazing location chosen by Jenna and Josh! I was loving the colors and all the graffiti here! PLUS that skyline and sunset was just adding all kinds of required goodness to the photos!

Then, something funny happened. I don’t remember at what point I felt like I was being watched but I turned around and there was a biker who had stopped to take her phone out and take photos. Maybe Lacey knew she was there? I have no idea! I didn’t ask in the moment because I was having a, “ughhhh what do I do now?!” moment. It’s always strange to me when people do this. You wouldn’t believe how often it happens either. I mean…they don’t know the couple. What do they do with those photos?! Anyway, I asked Jenna and Josh if this was “ok” and they looked at me like, “Well, I guess?”. So, I tried to step out of the photo but the lady said she wanted all of us in the photo doing our thing. So, I just proceeded to do “our thing” and she proceeded to take photos of us and said she’d post then on “Instagram Pittsburgh”. SOOOOO, if any of you see us! Tag me! HA! @hannahbarlowphotography

I couldn’t resist taking these photos below. Marriage IS an adventure and I was super excited to take advantage of the graffiti in the best way possible!

The sun was setting but we were taking full advantage! GAH! I can’t wait to go back next June to photograph their wedding in the same city!

Just a few more! I love how the boat conveniently fill the frame on the right! My friend Denise would be proud (even though I didn’t do it on purpose like she always does up there in NYC).

Then, I saw the word “love” and KNEW I needed a photo with that! You know me…I can’t pass up any opportunity like this!

…and everyone needs a sunset photo for the grand finale when all the elements of the day cooperate, right?! AHHHHHHH!!! This session was so fun and a breeze and I thank Jenna, Josh, AND Lacey for making it all possible!

That’s a wrap on this one!! I’m officially caught up on everything but one wedding!! EEEEEKKK!!! That’s an amazing feeling! Jenna and Josh are tying the knot next June in downtown Pittsburgh and will be celebrating in Bridgeville, PA! I’ll be there to catch all the action so check back next year!!

Thanks for reading, everyone!

Have a GREAT day!