Matt & Tara // Mt. Pisgah State Park, Troy, PA Wedding and Engagement Photographer

Just as fall was blooming in Northern Pennsylvania, we took advantage of a glorious evening to celebrate Matt & Tara’s engagement at Mt. Pisgah State Park in Troy, PA! We literally had the most amazing evening – summer was still hanging on, so I feel like at the beginning of our time together, we had the bright, colorful feel of summer to the photos, but as the sun dipped lower and lower, we transitioned into the warm, comfy feel of fall photos! Literally, the best of both worlds!

Matt & Tara met in high school. Matt was a grade below Tara, but living in a small town and going to a small high school, meant that the label of a certain “age” or “grade” mattered very little. Their circle of friends intertwined, but the friendship level of “acquaintance” was about as far as they ever got in school. Both went away to college and Matt joined the military. They kept up with each other passively through Facebook: statuses and pictures of the other would show up here & there and a casual “thumbs up” click were about as far as communication went.

Matt was then deployed overseas to Kuwait and Tara kept a little bit closer of an eye on him. He was her friend & friends keep up with each other, especially when the other is so far from home & in harms way. When Matt’s tour overseas finally came to an end and Tara saw that he was coming home, she sent him a message simply saying “I’m so glad you’re back in the states safe. Hope all is well.”

Little did she know that that simple Facebook message would be the key to open the door to true love. He responded to her message & asked how things were with her, and she responded back, giving news of home & her job & the weather. He responded in kind and short, chatty conversations turned into long, soulful conversations. And, as they say, the rest is history.

Tara was in Erica & Rob’s wedding last summer (so, if you’re really curious, you can go back & see her in their bridal party photos!) and was pregnant with their precious little babe at the time (if you peek back at the photos though, you wouldn’t be able to tell!) Charlie is now 8 months old & isn’t she the cutest? We had to include her in a few of their photos, because she is such a vital part of their story (and obviously, she steals the show with those huge brown eyes, so we couldn’t have her hanging around for too long)

So, funny story! Right as I was taking the image on the right of Matt & Charlie, we noticed a wet spot on her leg – turns out, just as he was holding her like that, she decided to pee & it came out the side of her diaper, down her leg, into her shoe, and onto Matt’s pants it went. Thankfully, they’re super good sports & laughed about the whole thing! It was quite hilarious! Babies – they always make things so much more interesting!

Aren’t these two perfect though? Ugh, they could be models!

One of my favorites!

Tara, you are just SO stunning and Matt, so fierce! No wonder Charlie is such a show-stopper!