As an aside, I must admit that I wanted to hug and kiss them both for allotting a large amount of time for photos. While my style is more “photojournalistic,” I can’t stress enough the importance of giving yourself the right amount of time to take some candid portraits. The last thing you want to do is rush through them…instead, give yourself time to relax and just enjoy the first moments of being married!

Everything was located around Pittsburgh’s South Park area, which made it nice for traveling! The ceremony was held at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church, and the reception was held at the Garden Room in South Park. A big congratulations to Kateri and Mark.

By the way, Jay totally ROCKED the camera…love this capture.

Another couple by Jay…

Kateri’s mother made all of the girls’ shawls…

Jay captured this as I was setting up another shot.

The light was purrfect…(and it was so warm!)

Y’all are too cute.

Oooh..I loved Kateri’s hair-do…very lovely.

A fave…

No one actually caught the garter…so this dude needed some encouragement when it fell to him to claim it.

Love this one of Kateri and her father.

Growing up in Moscow, Russia, I used to take a lot of walks with my family, especially with my sister and our dog, Texas. Yes, we had a Rottweiler named Texas! There’s something freeing about being able to step away from the computer, the internet, yes, facebook, and just enjoy God’s creation. Not to mention, it makes for a great time to catch up with your husband!

So, last Thursday Jay and I enjoyed a nice walk in the park…much to Astin’s delight, who of course was included in the walking activities. I decided to take my camera along because I wanted to get some shots of the fall before it was all gone. This season goes by so quickly!

I asked Jay to pose for me in front of these lovely fall leaves..

Astin, doing what he does best: running like a crazy dog.

Jay posing again…I just couldn’t get over the colors!

The noble mutt.

Check out these funky shrooms…

And yes, I asked Jay to make a silly pose by this funny-looking vine-thing. Nice, huh?