Engagement Portraits | Shell Bailey Photography

Oct

Mount Lebanon Engagement | Kelsey & Evan

engagement / lifestyle portraits / 1 Comment / October 2, 2012

Had a fantastic time at Kelsey & Evan’s engagement sessi0n. :) They choose to do portraits at their home town on Mt Lebanon, and had all of these fantastic, quirky little locations for pictures! Old stairwells and beautifully lit brick alleyways and parking garages- it may sound outside-of-the-box, but it’s such a unique way to capture the place that they live and who they are at this time of their lives. Having that kind of backstory, on the streets they walk down every day, makes it so much more than just a pretty location. I just love that little glimpse of them & now I can’t wait for the wedding.

They’ll be getting married at the end of October and honeymooning in Utah (where Evan is going to go the Bonneville Salt Flats! Chances are you either don’t know what that is, or, like me, you’re now very jealous.) So looking forward to the wedding, it’s going to be amazing.

Sep

Morgantown WVU Engagement | Amanda & Ken

lifestyle portraits / 2 Comments / September 17, 2012

While most of my weddings are in and around the Pittsburgh area, I am always excited when photography takes me a little outside of my usual realm. I love traveling and seeing new places and don’t always get the chance to do that as much as I would like. Whenever I do get to explore somewhere new, my favorite thing to do is to walk around and take pictures, so of course I’m thrilled whenever a couple has somewhere in particular in mind. :)

Amanda and Ken are getting married at WVU in Morgantown during the summer of next year, and wanted to take the opportunity to get shots of some of the more scenic locations for their engagement portraits. We had so much fun- they gave Andy & I a tour of the campus and told us all about going to school there and the best places to eat. And they both have a great eye for style & what looks good, I absolutely love working with them.

If you’re considering something similar, I am always interested in doing destination portraits- it’s especially a great option if you have to keep the wedding a little closer to home! I am always on the lookout for neat places. In the meantime, I’m totally looking forward to Amanda & Ken’s wedding at WVU next year. :)

Sep

White Oak Engagement | Virginia & Chris

lifestyle portraits / 1 Comment / September 7, 2012

I’ve been waiting for this one for a while. I may not know a whole lot about cars, but I very much appreciate them, and when Virginia & Chris told me what their plans were for the engagement session, I couldn’t wait.

Virginia & Chris met because of these cars, & were so excited to include them. Two classics- a Challenger and a Cuda- rumbling through the park, drowning out the graduation parties. We would park and pose and you could watch the fathers kind of sneak away from the parties to come stare at the cars until we drove away. :) Despite the occasional audience, it wasn’t hard to get good shots. Virginia & Chris are just so happy together it’s adorable.

And tomorrow’s their wedding day…!

Jul

Phipps Engagement Portraits | Chris & Molly

engagement / lifestyle portraits / 8 Comments / July 9, 2012

I only met Molly & Chris two weeks before their wedding, due to some crazy circumstances. We had a consultation, two days later I was shooting their engagement portraits, and the next week I was shooting their wedding. A bit of a whirlwind, but I was so glad we could fit the engagement portraits in- we went to Phipps Conservatory and strolled through the sunlight & leaves. Chris and Molly are so fun to hang out with, I can’t wait to show you their wedding– and it’s coming soon. :)

Nov

Pittsburgh Engagement Photos | Chrissy and John

engagement / 0 Comments / November 10, 2011

It’s been a busy but fantastic fall, and the wedding season is winding down. I’ve got one more wedding left for this season- and it’s tomorrow!

Chrissy and John are from Virginia Beach, and I think every time they’ve been up recently it has been wet and miserable. We were lucky enough to sneak about half an hour of glorious sunshine for their engagement session. I’m hoping that they have just as much luck for their wedding- the forecast is calling for snow. Think warm and sunny thoughts for them this weekend, please!

But at any rate, they’re a fantastic couple, and I am really looking forward to tomorrow, no matter what the weather turns out to be. Stay tuned… :)

Jul

Downtown Pittsburgh Engagement | Emily + Scott

engagement / 12 Comments / July 13, 2011

Emily and Scott live in Kentucky, but they are originally from Pittsburgh. So when they came back in town for wedding planning and the fourth of July, they wanted their engagement portraits to have an iconic Pittsburgh feel. We bounced around a couple of ideas, including Downtown, the Strip District, and the North Shore, but we eventually decided to take a walk along the river and feature some of the famous bridges. I don’t think you could ask for a more perfect setting for a summer engagement sessions- a great cityscape, the sun setting over the three rivers, and the cutest couple ever. Seriously. I couldn’t put them anywhere for two minutes before they’d start laughing at something, and forget about posing, because we were having far too much fun for that. (Give me someone who can work the lyrics of the Safety Dance into conversation, and we’re bound to hit it off!)

Emily & Scott are getting married this September in the Cranberry area, and if the couple of hours I spent with them are anything to go by, it’s going to be a fantastic time. Many thanks to them for fitting me into their busy return home & I am definitely looking forward to September.

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Jun

Engagement Portraits at Frick Park | Heather and Dave

engagement / 14 Comments / June 28, 2011

Heather and Dave booked me forever ago- a year and a half ago, I think? And their wedding is coming up in a hurry! It’s only two weeks away. We finally got a chance to meet for the first time a few weeks ago, and we had a good time running around Frick Park. I was a little nervous when I got there- it was near sunset and the lighting was fading fast, especially under the cover of the trees; it had rained recently and all the trails were mud; and there were huge mosquitos absolutely everywhere. But luckily Heather and Dave are super sweet and up for anything. So whenever I suggested blazing through the knee-high underbrush in their nice shoes or sitting on muddy steps in order to catch the elusive rays of light- instead of looking at me like I was crazy, they followed right along. I think we got some great shots because of it. Thanks, Heather & Dave, for being such good sports!

These next two weeks are going to go by fast, so look for wedding photos soon!

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Jun

Engagement Portraits at Hartwood Acres | Alisa + Luke

engagement / lifestyle portraits / 11 Comments / June 23, 2011

Here’s a fantastic engagement portrait set that I’ve been holding onto for a little bit… Alisa and Luke! Luke works outdoors, so they knew right away that they wanted to do it at a local park, and we ended up choosing Hartwood Acres. Interestingly enough, I got to pose them with some of the specific trees that Luke has worked on before- I thought that was pretty cool!

Alisa & Luke are such an adorable couple, and so easy to photograph. They’re such a good example of how you don’t have to know how to model or even what do in front of a camera… you just have to be comfortable. They have this great little look they give each other, this private, happy smile, and there aren’t even words for it. Just adorable. I’m really looking forward to their wedding this fall!

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Mar

Pittsburgh Strip District Engagement Portraits: Natasa + Steve

engagement / 17 Comments / March 27, 2011

Even though we were all really looking forward to it, this was like the engagement session that almost never came. We’d pray for two hours of sunshine, and then it would rain. Not nice spring rain either; the wintery kind that chills you to the bone and makes you feel like you never should have gotten out of bed. We’d reschedule it, the weather would clear up, and then the day would come, and it would rain again. This happened a few times before we finally agreed to just squeeze it into those precious few hours of between getting off of work and early sunset. Honestly, I’m glad we did. It was a fantastic day, the light was just amazing, and, well, Natasa and Steve would look good no matter when we did it.

They’re getting married this fall in a traditional Serbian Orthodox ceremony… I can’t tell you how exciting this is to me. Traditions! Crowns! Serbian music! (You might think I’m joking. I didn’t even tell them how much Balkan & Serbian music is on my playlist at any given time. Um… it’s a lot.) We spent practically a good hour at the consultation just talking about their plans for the wedding, and from the sounds of things, it’s going to be fantastic.

In the meantime. I have equally stylish engagement portraits to hold you over until then. :)