Jess & Mike // South Side Pittsburgh, PA Engagement Photographer

Inspired by the City Lights – South Side Engagement Photos at Night

Jess swore that she would never get married. Her friends & roommates over the years would tease her about “when you get married” and she would always cut them off & set them straight: she was NEVER getting married.

A few too many lonely nights in a row took Jess to an online dating site. She made a little profile and scanned the available bachelors. Mike caught her eye, so she sent him a one-worded-message: “Hey.”

Mike got her message & was immediately intrigued. He read her profile & looked thru all of her photos and then wrote her back several paragraphs. He introduced himself and told a little about his background & his hobbies. Jess responded back with one word: “Cool.”

Eventually, Jess opened up a little bit more than just one-worded answers & thus it all began. They chatted online for several weeks before deciding to go out for some drinks to meet in person. That first date turned into several more – some that went really well and others that went not-so-well – but no matter what, both came to the same conclusion that good or bad, they truly enjoyed spending time with each other.

It took a while – about 6 months went by before they even considered themselves officially dating and even more time went by before they introduced each other to their friends & family. Their friends were convinced that they were each dating a “ghost”! But, sure enough, Mike was real, and the girl who always refused to even think about marriage, had hearts in her eyes.

And here they are a few years later – engaged! But, how that all went down is another story for another day. We celebrated their engagement last week in one of the most unique engagement sessions I have ever photographed! In talking about engagement photos, Mike & Jess agreed that they wanted something different from what they’d seen their friends have. A little brainstorming led to the idea of doing the session entirely at night with the city lights of Pittsburgh in the background. I was so excited for the idea that we ran with it!

We started out in Station Square, walked up along the Smithfield Street Bridge (because what are Pittsburgh photos without a bridge?), and finally ended up on one of the Mount Washington Overlooks. I’m slightly obsessed with these photos! If I was excited for their November wedding before, I’m over-the-moon for it now!