Anthony Swidorsky and Kate Shemak on the Duquesne Incline. (Photo by Brittany Smeltzer)

By Natalie Rodriguez, Pittsburgh Magazine

A North Versailles couple took their love to new heights when, earlier this year, they got married on the Duquesne Incline — 400 feet above ground.

Kate Shemak and Anthony Swidorsky exchanged their marriage vows overlooking the picturesque Pittsburgh skyline in an incline car on Jan. 25, 2025.

Such nuptials are rare. They were told by the incline attendant that theirs was the first on an incline ride in recent memory.

The incline’s 18-person cars are first-come, first-served, so the bridal party had to get crafty. Shemak called ahead and learned that the couple could not reserve a private car.

Instead of changing the venue, the couple decided to “wing it” and invite their guests to meet them at the Duquesne Incline station on Grandview Avenue on Mount Washington.

“We’re all going to show up, our immediate 18 family members, and we’re going to go with it,” Shemak recalls. “I had the exact amount of money, and we were just gonna go, and if we waited with everybody else, we were gonna wait.”

On the day of the wedding, the incline had a few dozen patrons already in line, so the bridal party waited their turn.

(For more of the story, visit Pittsburgh Magazine.)

Natalie Rodriguez is a student at Duquesne University and one of 10 Pittsburgh Media Partnership summer interns.