Emily and Alan met online. (Do you see a trend here in the last couple engagement posts? Haha) If you’re looking to meet someone, that seems to be the way these days! They’ve been together over 7 years now – so it MUST work.
One day last summer, in the middle of the pandemic, they decided to get out of the house and go hiking. They headed to Ohiopyle, a favorite spot of theirs! But they didn’t take all of the “normal” and “easy” trails, they took a long hike where they wouldn’t pass too many people. The trail was difficult and at one point, they had to rappel down a hillside. Alan went first, and he was just so excited for what was to come, that he accidentally left Emily behind to make it down by herself. But Emily knew that Alan didn’t think clearly when he was really excited. Afterall, he’s a professional paintballer and so anything thrilling gives him a huge rush of adrenaline. She was annoyed, but she was also excited to get where they were going.
Once she made it down, she caught up to Alan and they headed to the top of a beautiful waterfall in the middle of the woods. Alan started shaking as he reached into his bag. Even with all the rushing and Alan’s extreme excitement, Emily was not suspecting a thing when he got down on one knee and asked her to marry him! He gave her a gorgeous diamond ring with an infinity symbol on the band.
It was a beautiful surprise and they were so excited to move into the next chapter of their lives.
When we were planning for their engagement photos, Emily really wanted to go to the woods at Braddock’s trail in North Huntingdon, once the wild flowers began to bloom! This year was a tough one to predict with the ups and downs of the temperature. The flowers were just beginning to bloom and were very low to the ground, so they aren’t too visible in the photos. But we were able to still get the woodsy vibe that we were going for as well!
After about 15 minutes in the woods, it started sprinkling. The rain that was in the forecast had disappeared, so we thought that it would only last a few minutes. But a few seconds later, we were running back up the hill to the parking lot in a DOWNPOUR! It was just crazy! As we reached our cars, we were soaked!
Thankfully, I had done a little bit of scounting nearby, in downtown Irwin, and there were several beautiful trees and bushes in full bloom. So we headed into town and I grabbed my handy dandy umbrellas. I always bring them, just in case! We finished their engagement photos by the beautiful flowering trees at Immaculate Conception Church and at a gorgeous purple bush at the Hildenbrand Design Center.
As we were finishing up, the sun began to peek through the stormy clouds. We headed to a small parking area where there were hundreds of daffodils in bloom! It was such a big surprise because you couldn’t see them from the road! It was the perfect place to end their spring engagement session.
Emily and Alan, I had such a wonderful time capturing your engagement photos! You two made it so easy to capture your love as you rolled with the ever-changing weather conditions! Thank you for trusting me as we changed locations last minute! I can’t wait for your wedding at Bell’s Banquets next fall!
