WELCOME TO MY NEW WEBSITE! I'M STILL UPDATING THINGS, SO I APPRECIATE YOUR PATIENCE! *hugs*
BASED IN IRWIN, PA
serving the Pittsburgh, PA area
EST. 2008
REAL MOMENTS, FULLY LIVED
Hi, I’m Kara!
Wedding storyteller and travel content creator -
equally at home on a wedding day or in the front row of a roller coaster.
I’ve been in the wedding industry since 2009 and have had the honor of documenting more than 250 wedding days.
What started as a passion for photography grew into something deeper: a love for preserving not just how a wedding looks, but how it feels.
Over time, that naturally expanded into wedding content creation, helping brides and grooms and fellow vendors capture the in-between moments and real-time memories that often go unseen.
Outside of weddings, my family and I travel to amusement parks across the country, riding and reviewing roller coasters on our YouTube channel.
Storytelling is the common thread in everything I do - whether I’m capturing a wedding day or planning out our next big adventure with my family.
I care about documenting joy, preserving memories, and creating content that feels honest, thoughtful, and lasting.
choose your own adventure
Kara offers wedding photography, wedding content creation, and publishes YouTube content surrouding her family's travels to ride roller coasters. Select one below to learn more!
My style is rooted in storytelling, connection, and the in-between moments that often go unnoticed. I’m there to capture the joy as it naturally unfolds, so your photos feel lived-in and timeless.
My YouTube channel is where I document our amusement park visits, review hotels and resorts across the country, and share the tips we’ve learned along the way. If you love thoughtful travel planning and a good front-row ride, you’ll feel right at home.
My style is rooted in storytelling, connection, and the in-between moments that often go unnoticed. I’m there to capture the joy as it naturally unfolds, so your photos feel lived-in and timeless. I love true-to-life colors, authentic posing, and skip out on trends that will label your wedding as having taken place in 2026.
MY VERY
LATEST
WHAT IS A WEDDING CONTENT CREATOR?
A wedding content creator documents your day in real time using short-form video and candid behind-the-scenes footage.
While your photographer and videographer focus on polished, long-form deliverables, I capture the in-between moments and deliver ready-to-share content within hours.
It’s perfect for couples who want to relive the energy of the day right away and have meaningful content to share with friends and family.
If you’re curious how it works and what it looks like in practice, you can learn more about my approach HERE.
In 2020, I began being very intentional about documenting not only my family's personal life, but our adventures in traveling and riding roller coasters as well. And thus: The Adventuring Abbeys was born.
SOME OF OUR
MOST RECENT ADVENTURES:
BUT LET'S BE HONEST..
IT ALL STARTED WITH A CAMERA
^^ ME CIRCA A LONG LONG TIME AGO..
"You have a nice camera, right?"
And that's how it all started.
My best friend had gotten engaged and she asked if I would take some engagement photos for her.
"Sure! I've never done that before, but let's do it!"
That was in early 2008 - and that experience spring-boarded me into seeking out any opportunity I could, taking classes at the local community college, shadowing any photographer who was willing to let me carry their bags, and finally landing an internship at Walt Disney World.
I photographed my first wedding (solo) in 2009 and well, the rest is history!
18
YEARS
SINCE I BEGAN LEARNING PHOTOGRAPHY
12
YEARS
SINCE I TOOK MY BUSINESS FULL-TIME
250+
WEDDINGS
I'VE BEEN A PART OF CELEBRATING
And, we’ve finally come to the end! Last but not least – WEDDINGS!
I’ve talked about this at length before, but my business is evolving.
I’m no longer “just” a wedding photographer – I’m a wedding content creator as well. And the more my business changes and I split my time between both photography and content creation, my business is evolving too.
I will ALWAYS be a photographer. Whether it’s photographing weddings, portraits, roller coasters, or just documenting my own personal life, photography will forever remain a huge part of who I am.
And so, while the number of weddings I photographed in 2025 wasn’t huge, my business balanced out with the number of weddings I was a part of as the content creator. And honestly: I LOVED the balance.
On top of me photographing my own weddings in 2025, I also helped a few different photographer friends by stepping in as their second shooter for several weddings. Second shooting is AMAZING, it’s so laid back and fun – I simply get to be creative while watching my lead’s back.
All of the photographers I worked with gave me permission to share the images I took, so there are a lot of images that have never been published on my blog before mixed into today’s post!
View MORE of my favorite wedding images from 2025 over on my blog: https://karaabbey.com/2025-favorites-weddings/
To the guy who walked directly into my photo the second I snapped the shutter -
No worries.
I really like the second composition I found (with the flower pot) better anyways.
(In all seriousness, amusement parks are not studio settings and I never assume that my shot will stay clear. People are walking, talking to their friends/family, trying to figure out where they`re going - half the time, they do notice me standing there trying to take a photo and they`ll politely steer clear - but other times, they simply do not even notice me (which is the goal). I typically do my best to stand to the side of the main pathways, to be as unobtrusive as possible, and to frame up my shot so I am not at a risk of people stepping into my frame - but sometimes, it just happens, and that`s OKAY.)
#TwistedCyclone #KaraAbbeysCoasters #SixFlagsOverGeorgia
I know I have said this before, and you know I will say it again in the future, but I love shooting engagement sessions! There is just something so fun about celebrating the super-short season in a couple’s life that is being each other’s “fiancé”.
Engagement sessions give me a chance to really get to know my couples. We can chat all we want heading into a wedding day, but hanging out for an engagement session simply takes our friendship to a whole new level. And it is my favorite. I absolutely love setting that foundation, so that I can show up on a couple’s wedding day, more of an “old friend” than just “another vendor”. It makes for a more relaxed wedding day and truly makes the experience so much more fun!
So, yes, this is my shameless plug, that if you are getting married, whether it’s in a few months or a few years, please make time to do engagement photos with your wedding photographer!
These are just a FEW of my favorite engagement images from 2025 - there are LOTS more over on my blog #LinkInProfile #EngagementPhotos #JustEngaged
Shhhh, this is our little secret, okay? Here’s the deal: I don’t advertise that I shoot portraits. Maternity photos, newborns, kids, seniors, families – I can do all of it, but I’ve chosen to focus all of my efforts on the three things I love the absolute most: engagements, elopements, and weddings. However, engagements, elopements, and weddings naturally lead to babies and families!
So, what I’ve found works best for me and my business (and my time) is that I’ve started holding “portrait mini-session days”. (In other words: if the locations of a lot of these photos looks similar, it’s because many of these photos were taken on the same day, at the same place.)
*Side-note: if you’d like in on one of my mini-session days, send me a message and I’ll add you to my email list! My mini-session days tend to book up almost instantly, so I typically don’t advertise them publicly – being on my email list is sometimes the only way to know when I open them up!
OH, and if you’re looking through these images and thinking: “Wait, didn’t you photograph so-and-so this year?” The answer very well might be, “Yes!” but more and more, my families are asking me to keep their children private and off the internet – and I am happy to respect those wishes!
View more of my favorite portraits from 2025 over on my blog: https://karaabbey.com/2025-favorites-portraits/
The temperature might have only been a whopping 1ºF this morning (what?!) but regardless of it feeling like -20ºF, we still had the most amazing time celebrating Hana & Yongky’s engagement!
#pittsburghengagement #burghbrides #cathedraloflearning
LOCATION
Kara Abbey is based in Irwin, Pennsylvania and regularly works in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area, but she has her passport and is available for travel worldwide!