I drove out to Pittsburgh last weekend for a baby shower for one of my dearest friends and while out there I was able to meet up with two of my Pittsburgh couples and shoot their engagement photos. First up on Friday was Kelsey & Zach!

We met at McConnells Mill State Park because it is one of their favorite places to go hiking together and holds a lot of special memories for both of them. I had never been here before and I wasn’t sure what exactly to expect but oh my goodness, it did not disappoint. Because I was coming in just for the weekend, we had picked this date over a month ago and had been praying that bad weather didn’t force us to reschedule. All of last week I kept checking the weather forecast and I grew more and more excited as the chances of snow grew higher and higher. If you’ve been following me for any amount of time, you probably know that I love, love, LOVE snow. I have been dreaming of shooting a wedding or engagement session in the snow for a long time and I was overjoyed to have it finally happen. This state park looks like it is gorgeous in every season, but covered in snow it truly became Narnia. In fact, I honestly didn’t even know that Pennsylvania could even look like this!

Kesley & Zach are high school sweethearts who have been together for 5 years. They went to different high schools but met at their youth group and soon discovered that their families had been going to the same church for generations. In fact, Kelsey’s dad and aunts had actually gone to school with Zach’s parents and their siblings years earlier!

I was so thankful that Kelsey and Zach were willing to brave the cold and be adventurous with me in this snowy winter wonderland and we truly had so much fun. We went on quite the hike that included a little rock climbing and wading across a stream (the duck boots that both Kelsey and I had opted to wear came in handy for that, Zach had to be a bit more strategic for that portion). At one point, we literally had to pass my camera person to person and then help each other up so that we could all make it up this snowy bank without falling. We laughed a lot together and it was truly such a good time!

Xoxo,

Mary Kate