Rachel & Micky | Engagement Session at Carnegie Library & Games Unlimited in Pittsburgh, PA

Six years ago, Rachel was a clerk at the Carnegie Library in Squirrel Hill.
She did all the normal library “things”, like returning books to their proper places on shelves, helping people find books, checking out books for people, and yes, making library cards for new library patrons.

And that’s when a tall, slightly quirky, hilarious guy waltzed into her life.
Well, the guy didn’t exactly realize he was waltzing into her life – he thought he was just coming to the library. He needed some books for school and in order to check them out, he needed a library card.
Rachel created that card for him.

Micky might have waltzed into the library looking for a few books, but he walked out with only one thing on his mind – the cute clerk who’s eyes had sparkled as she happily made him his new library card.

Thankfully, the (convenient) thing about libraries is, once you check books out – you have to return them.

And so a few days later, Micky returned his books. And picked out a few new ones. And anxiously looked around for that cute little clerk he’d previously met.
Surprise: she was still working there.

Micky kept coming back. And Rachel smiled her infectious smile and chatted with him every time he did.
It wasn’t long before he asked her out on a date.

For their first date, they went to Dobra Tea – just a few blocks away from the library.
As they sat and sipped their tea, they realized that they both had a nerdy-side and a fairly obsessive hobby in common: games. Board games. Computer games. Card games. Long games. Competitive games. They had even played many of the same games growing up.

Of course, this acted as the perfect foundation to their friendship. Micky would send Rachel messages filled with inside jokes related to the games they had grown up playing. And Rachel simply could not stop smiling. It was pretty obvious, but they were soul-mates and those first few weeks and months acted as just the beginning of the rest of their lives.

We got together a few weeks ago to celebrate their engagement and upcoming wedding and let me say: this was one of my favorite sessions ever. Not just because Micky and Rachel are so gosh-darn-cute and sweet and friendly (because they are), but because their relationship was so tender and thoughtful and their simple devotion to each other was so palpable. They are an absolute joy and words cannot express how excited I am to celebrate their wedding with them next year!

Of course, we had to get a few photos with Dippy the Dinosaur!

One of the best surprises of our time together was realizing that The PNC Carousel was open! As if I couldn’t love Rachel any more – she is also an amusement park enthusiast and she loves Kennywood and roller coasters (in fact, that’s how she found me – through following Derrick on Instagram!) So, when we saw that the carousel was open – riding it was a NO BRAINER!

Of course – we could not wrap up our time together without a stop at Games Unlimited! The staff there was so gracious in letting us come in and use their store for some photos! Since games are so pivotal in Rachel and Micky’s story and relationship, it only made sense to wrap things up by playing one of their favorite games, in one of their favorite places.

And lastly, we had to get photos under the Carnegie Library sign in Squirrel Hill – after all, this is the library where Rachel and Micky met! We weren’t given permission to go up into the library, but at least we were able to stand outside!