If you want to learn what someone values, spend time with them. As photographers, we spend more time with couples on their wedding day than any other vendor. A lot of that time is spent observing, and from these observations, we learn a lot. Our perception of each couple begins to form before we arrive on their wedding day. We read their inquiry, chat with them over a video call for their consultation, and spend time getting them comfortable behind our cameras during their engagement session. We don’t spend nearly as much time with our couples as their family and friends do, but it’s still enough time to get a picture of what matters to them most. So, what matters most to Madison and Stewart? Family.
We pull up to the family farm—that Stewart’s family has unbelievably lived on since 1754!—for Stewart and Madison’s engagement session. The walls of the home are decorated with pictures from the past. The ancestors who built the original home appear to be watching the youngest generation from their frames. We ride along part of the 200-acre property and learn about the various buildings that once stood among the fields. Various pieces of farm equipment, retired from their days of work, sit sleepily near the old dairy, reminding the family of the hands that once operated them.
It’s typical for us to meet the family of the couple on the wedding day for the first time, but Stewart’s family was there at the engagement session, moseying about their evening routines. At the end of our session, the family was found spending time together on the front porch. We were gifted with spending a brief amount of time with them before heading back home. During this time, we learned that Stewart’s parents were converts to the Catholic faith. Amazingly, both Madison and Stewart’s soon-to-be brother-in-law just converted to the Catholic faith on their own accord. When you love your family well, they will often be curious about the things you love. The rock-solid foundation of family values that have been laid out on this farm since 1754 has produced a modern-day family that is moving closer to Jesus, together.
Madison and Stewart, from our perspective, you two have the entire world at your fingertips! To be surrounded by a family who loves you, and to share a faith in Jesus and the Church he founded, has prepared good soil for your marriage. When Jesus said, “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16), he was saying that directly to you and your family! He has chosen you, and he will continue to choose you. We’re so excited to see what joys your vocation holds!
In Christ,
Amy and Kyle
