Wedding Bells

Kristen & Jon Carroll - 5.22.10

This past Saturday, my sweet, sweet friend Kristen married her lovely fiance', Jon. I was lucky enough to be a part of this wonderful celebration. Kristen's family is military, so much of her family is scattered about around the country. It was so amazing to see so many people travel so far to join in on the festivities. I love families that love each other. Kristen and Jon are such a great couple. I wish them all the happiness in the world.

My "aha moment" of the day was at the end of the ceremony. The preacher said, "I don't cry a lot. But, if Kristen and Jon come to me in 25 years and tell me that they love each other as much as they did the day they got married, I will cry. They will not be tears of joy but tears of sorrow. Love is supposed to grow and mature, and so I hope they love each other SO much more than they do today. If they do, that is the greatest love story of all." It was weird to me how such a simple statement could resignate with me so much. Being an old married woman of almost three years, I believe in and completely understand what the priest said.
This is probably my favorite picture of the day. After all the running around and craziness that usually takes place on the wedding day, Kristen finally had time to think about the committment she was about to make. The guests were seated, the photographer was already in the church, and the ceremony was about five minutes from beginning. So, there we stood, Kristen and her bridesmaids, waiting to walk down the aisle. At that moment, Kristen said, "I can't breathe. Can I do this?" I told her that people always say it's never too late to back out, but that I wasn't willing to let that happen because I wasn't about to go into the church and tell everyone the bride was MIA. Right before we left to go into the church, Anna (fellow bridesmaid and friend) took this picture with her Iphone. To me, it shows exactly how Kristen felt at that moment: the anxiety, the excitement, the wonder of just how much her life was about to change. And, through all of that, she completely understood and was ready for the committment she was about to make.

I just really love this picture.