#Beautiful wedding moment during the wedding ceremony at Cozumel

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Bride and wedding ceremony at Cozumel Island Mexico Bride and wedding ceremony at Cozumel Island Mexico Beautiful wedding moment during the wedding ceremony at Cozumel…

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Wedding: October 121, 2017

Ceremony: Northway Christian Community: Wexford, PA  

Reception: Franzee’s Javy: Ambridge, PA

Hair: Style Lush Salon - Oakdale - Pamela Males

Makeup: Style Lush Salon - Oakdale - Pamela Males

Florist: The bride

Bakery: Walmart

Entertainment: MaryBeth Mazur (DJ) & Jack Cornelius (pianist at church)

Colors: Burgundy/wine, Navy, and gold

Honeymoon:  4 days in Miami and then did a western Caribbean cruise to Cayman Islands, Belize, Honduras, and Cozumel

“Weddings are a celebration of love, that which is found among family and friends” –Author Unknown

Sharon and Jacob are a couple that you just love and enjoy being around. They are young, fun, in love and amazing parents to Kaeleb. I was absolutely thrilled when Sharon called and booked a consultation to come in and talk about her wedding. This is not my first time meeting Sharon as I photographed her brother, Derek’s wedding and I have been photographing her sister, Cara’s family since her nephew Beau was born. The Ash family is awesome! They are fun, sweet and have an undying love for one another.

I’m going to start with the engagement session for this blog post, Sharon and Jacob met at a Pittsburgh Steelers football game so it was only fitting that we would start their engagement session there. They are an amazing couple and so fun to be around, but they also have two sides of themselves, as we all tend to, they are fun, energetic and full of life but they are also parents, that’s not to say they aren’t one in the same, but they are wonderful parents and their exceptional parenting skills are shown through Kaeleb’s behavior. He is such a sweet, kind, gentle young man, he was so sweet during our entire session and so well behaved. He stole the show a few times and loved every minute of it, but also stuck to me like glue when we needed him to and wanted to get some photos of just the two of them. He is absolutely adorable and remains to be my little buddy.

We started the day with pre-ceremony coverage of Sharon and the girls at the hotel, to say that Sharon is hilarious is an understatement. She is so fun, vibrant and full of life. She had everyone cracking up! From the moment that we walked into the room, Sharon’s mom, in true Cheryl fashion starting trying to feed us. Haha. She is so warm and inviting, she has raised three amazing kids and I am blessed and honored to have photographed all of them. Following pre-ceremony with Sharon we proceeded to Northway Christian Community to photograph the groom and groomsmen getting ready.

I couldn’t wait to get there and see Kaeleb in his little tux, he is just so handsome, composed of all the best parts of his Mom and Dad. We arrived and got some photographs of Jacob and the guys and Kaeleb and waiting for Jacob’s parents to arrive. I am honored to have met his grandmother, Sajida and his parents Karim and Tammi once they arrived; she is 89 years young and immigrated from Afghanistan in her 60s to the United States. I really think that we need to step back in our American culture and take notes every so often, because the honor and respect that the Afghan side of Jacob’s family showed towards this elder was a beautiful and humbling act to witness. The day was a celebration of the wedding of Jacob and Sharon but Jacob’s grandmother was a star of the show. I was raised to honor and respect my elders and it was so nice to see a family doing this, hugs, kisses, holding her hand, kneeling before her and talking to her, asking for photographs with her, all of it was something I noted and hope that my children will do one day.

The ceremony was perfect, fairly short and sweet with a flair that screamed Sharon and Jacob; there were laughing (Sharon and Jacob), crying (Cheryl and Tammi) and tradition (everyone).

Following the ceremony, we did family portraits at the altar and headed out to go to Sewickley to get some park shots, Sharon planned perfectly and accordingly so that we had plenty of time for photos. We did some of just the two of them as well as the entire bridal party. Sharon is such a trooper, climbing in places most brides wouldn’t dare, to get the perfect photo complete with their reflection in the water. Fall leaves and confetti photos rounded out this location and we proceeded to Old Economy in Ambridge to get some more photos.

At Old Economy, there was a couple of adorable little girls who came up to Sharon and told her how beautiful she looked and I have to agree, they handed her a flower which she instantly added to her bouquet as she hugged and thanked them.  See Sharon has such a great personality and she is beautiful, people are just drawn to her, everyone, from all walks of life. It’s like her soon to be mother in law said at the pre-ceremony when she hugged her son, “she’s a good one” and she is, a truly good person.  

Following the outdoor photos we made our way over to the reception at Franzee Javy’s in Ambridge and I’ll be honest, I haven’t been here for a wedding in many, many years. Upon entering the reception, Jacob’s family showered them with Noghl, which is a traditional Afghan confection; it is made by boiling sugar with water and rose water and then roasting almonds in the mixture. These are the kinds of things that make me love shooting Pittsburgh weddings, they are always different and we live in a pretty diverse area so you have so many amazing cultural mash ups that it’s so fun to see all the different traditions that take place. This leads me to the toasts and Jacob’s family throwing money at the couple, yet another Afghan tradition.

The evening was about to get started and we paused for a moment prior to events to get Jacob’s family together for a family portrait then sing Happy Birthday to Sharon’s Aunt followed immediately by first dance, father daughter and mother son dances. The DJ was super laid back and accommodating, Jacob’s family provided her with some traditional Afghan music which lead to an entirely filled dance floor with some very enthusiastic dancers! It was awesome! This of course means I get to capture some fantastic pictures! During the dancing I pulled some of my favorite people and snagged some photos of their individual families and couples, who just happen to be some of the VIPs of the evening as well. We ended the evening with Sharon dancing with her mom, Cheryl.

To say this wedding felt like home to me is an understatement, some of my best weddings are those of family members or friends who I have photographed before. I know Sharon’s family, there were no questions, I could have filled out her paperwork on my own, it brings a level of comfort, that’s not to say that I put down my guard, and it means I really have to be on top of my game! She knows exactly what she’s looking for, it’s me, my work, my creative mind, my personality and its 100% one of the biggest honors of my life to know that a bride didn’t even call another photographer because she knew what she wanted, she wanted me. The Ash family will always hold a very dear place in my heart, they are amazing people and I am blessed to be the one to capture all the best moments of their lives. I get to share in those moments with them, it’s such a gift.

It’s wedding days like Sharon and Jacob’s that remind me exactly why I fell in love with photography and specifically wedding photography. Wedding photography is my jam, I LOVE it! It is well with my soul. It calls to me. I get to see all the best parts of people, of families, of joy, of love, of hope for the future. I truly stumbled into photography, I had taken all the AP classes in high school, applied and was accepted into 4 schools, weighed my options on tuition, scholarships, etc. The summer of 1998, I went to have my senior portraits, I left there and said to my mom, “So…you can actually do this for a living???” with a panicked look on her face, she said “Well, some people can” by the time we got home, I planned on changing my major and applying to Art School, out of fear my Dad told my mom “Oh gosh, she’s going to be a starving artist!?!?!”. I did just that, applied to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and would go in to pursue a degree in photography. Why this was a surprise to my parents, I’m not quite sure, since I was in the band (I was 1 of 2 female section leaders on the drum line) and had traveled to Disney World in Orlando, Florida for a trip to play in Magic Kingdom, when I returned I had spent nearly all of my spending money on film and returned with 30 rolls of film over the course of the trip. My mom wanted to kill me! LOL She said, “Do you have any idea of how much that costs to get developed??”. Ummmm I guess I didn’t think about that part.  I did my prerequisites at the Community College of Beaver County and in 2000 followed up by attending The Art Institute of Pittsburgh, within three months of  beginning my adventure there a new adventure was underway. I met a guy by the name of Jeremy, he was roommates with one of my dearest friends, the following Monday he found me in the library at school and in true “Pretty in Pink” fashion (Do you remember that scene where Blaine intercepts her work on the computer) he sat down next to me, asked me to go to lunch and the rest is history. My life changed, it was altered in a way I cannot express into words. He had something about him that I had never experienced before. He was sweet, calm, soft spoken, attentive and caring. Jeremy is now my husband of 11 years, but this coming February will be our 16th year together. Shortly after starting school and the summer following meeting Jeremy I had already photographed two weddings, I knew it was all going to be ok, I wasn’t going to be the starving artist my Dad feared. 

The two greatest loves of my life are my family and photography. I can be having a bad day and look through that lens and see the love of a couple like Sharon and Jacob and all my misery, anxieties and annoyances disappear. I have the distinguished honor of stopping time, there is no other job on the planet that can accomplish that. I capture so many firsts, for so many people, I am completely and utterly thankful to the dear Lord everyday that I get to do what I love. How many people can say that? Watching the joy of a couple who have committed their lives to each other is truly a gift, capturing the first moments of their newborn child’s life is an honor, stopping time throughout their lives is a blessing.

This song sums up Sharon and Jacob, PERFECTly, all the puns intended!