I hope you all enjoyed the holidays & had a wonderful welcome to 2012!
This first post is pretty close to my heart, since it’s the bridal pictures for my sister’s wedding from Valentine’s Day of 2011.
{Oh, did someone just throw the “Rotten Blogger Award” to me? Making that a 2012 resolution…!}
Their story is worth sharing & I really hope it brings a smile to your face the way it does to me when I see this beautiful family…
Rachel & DeWayne married in 2000. {I know this might sound confusing, just keep reading}. I was her bridesmaid & sang a Jaci Velasquez song & {happily} cried my way through her ceremony… as all good sisters should. They were young, madly in love, & excited to share their lives together. Many changes took place over the next few years, including a move across the country & welcoming three lovely kiddos into their family. The road ahead of them had some devastating twists & turns, including the loss of DeWayne’s beautiful mom to breast cancer. After a very difficult period, they made a very hard decision to separate & proceeded with a divorce.
I know that’s not a word you usually see in a wedding blog and I’ll be delicate with their very personal details. Anyone who has been through a divorce, or is close to someone going through one, knows that the pain is excruciating. I truly wish there were as many resources dedicated to inspiring couples to work through life together as there were sites inspiring them to use mason jars as their centerpieces. I think so many of us could use that kind of refreshing encouragement & hope. Perhaps you may see more of that around here this year…
Back to my sister & her story.
The papers made the divorce final, but their story was far from the end.
Although they were living hundreds of miles apart, a visit over Christmas brought a change in their hearts & they began to carefully reconnect.
“Reconnecting” eventually led to another engagement & wedding!
It was truly a red letter day to see this family sewn back together. You can see it in the faces of each of their three children in their wedding portraits. They had a simple, very heartfelt wedding ceremony to re-marry on Valentine’s Day. It was such an honor for me to capture this special time in their lives. I love that these pictures show so much warmth & love, even during a very cold Ohio February…
Venue: The Patterson Homestead in Dayton, Ohio {you may recognize it from this post last year}
Remember, these kiddos had just recently saw the miracle of their parents coming back together. It was better than Christmas.
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Rachel & DeWayne, I love you both! Thank you for being so trusting & allowing me to give you advice on every aspect of setting up this shoot!
I’m so happy for your family!
Hope you enjoy this poster I made especially for them:
“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” Maria Robinson ♥
Beautiful images! 🙂 Do you read A Practical Wedding (www.apracticalwedding.com)? I found it so helpful when planning my own wedding, and I feel like it is just a wonderful resource. They discuss so many of those “working through life” issues you mentioned that so many other wedding blogs ignore.
Andrea, this was beautifully written! The story isn’t perfect, but each day, we learn the meaning of for better or for worse, and we do our best as people to allow God to continue to change us to be more like He created us to be, and less like life’s struggles and bitter places…Thank you so much for capturing this special time for us so beautifully:)