With a bursting round of applause and hearts beating fast, Isaac & Kailey entered their reception for the first time as husband and wife, surrounded by hundreds of their friends and family, amped and ready to celebrate. The walls could barely hold in the resounding shouts of enthusiasm as they made their way to the dance floor, but I could feel the goosebumps on my own arms when it all suddenly fell to a hush, as later the lights were lowered and they danced to the same song they’d danced to 8 1/2 years ago in middle school. We all felt as though we got to travel back in time and get a glimpse of when they were just beginning. The room swelled with a strong sense of fulfillment as we reflected on how things were back then on a day that cemented how they would be forever.

Every now and then in middle of inquiries, I’ll get a message from a soon-to-be bride who can tell a proposal is just around the corner and after seven and a half years of being Isaac’s girlfriend, Kailey was one who could feel the change in the wind. They’d been together since before either one of them could drive – through high school and junior and senior proms. They’d won homecoming queen and king, graduated side by side, gotten their bachelors and traveled everywhere from Florida to Cancun to the Dominican Republic. She knew a ring would be coming soon and she had good intuition. On Christmas vacation after dinner on a cobblestone street downtown Orlando, Isaac took her hand beside the lake and asked her to stay with him always.

A year and a half later in the heart of summer, the August sunshine peeked its way through patches of lush leaves above and speckled across the grass beneath. A fresh breeze brushed through familiar places where they’d made a youth of memories together… their long-awaited day had finally arrived and they were ready.

Thank you, Isaac and Kailey, for trusting me with the collection of moments that transpired one after the other as you vowed your lives to each other last weekend. Being a part of your journey the last couple of years has been a joy for me and I feel so grateful to have been some small part.

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