Destination Wedding Photographer, Sedona Arizona

The Gift Of Staying Married vs Giving Up

We DEFINITELY got married too young (22 & 26)…..
yet, we wouldn’t change the course we chose.
Nostalgia surrounds our beginning years, as we swam in our youth,
trying to find ourselves, our passions, and a path we could walk together…
this is probably why in Year Eleven, we feel the most grounded and fulfilled we’ve ever been.
I think mostly because each of us are presently living our dreams and fulfilling our own souls,
so that when we come together, God, we’re happy.
It’s taken us this long to finally end our disagreements with blown out LAUGHTER.
In Year Eleven, we had the most soul riveting moment at a restaurant when we caught each others eyes,
locked it in, and both started crying, over “nothing,” but we both knew our souls saw each other in that moment,
in a way we have never seen each other before. It was a new moment for us.
Thats the gift of sticking together versus giving up.
We had a season of marriage when we had to choose to stand up and fight for it,
and now looking back, the moment in the restaurant is why I will always fight for us:
when you choose a growth-centered relationship, the best is always yet to come.
Each year is better because we are consciously choosing to be self aware of our own baggage,
trying to communicate better than in the past, and trying to resolve conflict better than before!
A growth-centered relationship is much less likely to fail if its always learning, growing,
and WANTING to be BETTER.

Book recommendation: We love the book Hold Me Tight By Dr Sue Johnson!

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Loving Children Teaches us What Unconditional Love Feels Like

It feels like the purpose of children is to learn and experience the TRUE FEELING unconditional love,
and then to understand THATS how much our Creator loves us!!!
AND that’s how the Creator wants us to love OURSELVES & EVERYONE ELSE.
Now that you know how unconditional love feels, start trying to apply it to yourself!!
Love yourself the way your mother loves you. Or start treating yourself how you want your daughter to treat herself.
Take these examples of love and apply it somewhere else! It’s hard. But It’s not suppose to be easy… that’s the point.
I don’t think we’re meant to have children and only love THEM unconditionally.
I think we learn how unconditional love feels via children, but then we could go out into the world
and spread that love to others and ourselves though Grace, Mercy, and Empathy.
Stop being so hard on yourself, your partner, or your child. That’s called grace.
Give up the “shoulds” and expectations and know you’re doing the best you can-
We all are doing the best we can with what were given!

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Pictured Rocks Wedding + Tom and Faren

THIS IS MY SISTERS WEDDING!!!!!! Honestly the best day of my life!!!!!
It was held near the Pictured Rocks in Upper Michigan!
THE most gorgeous area in Michigan, hand to God :P

We’re a family of photographers so this post is a complete collaboration of photographs
between myself, Boy Girl Beauty World, Cole Denver, and Kelly F Peterson.
ENJOY:)

The stars of the weekend were, of course, the babies, Gus and Archie:

Guys, I’m actually am IN photographs!!!!!

We had to canoe to get out to Lake Superior to swim and for the ceremony.. it made for AWESOME photos!

This is my favorite. Dylan’s capture of Marisa bringing the wedding dress to where the bride is:

Faren’s hair, makeup, floral crown, and bouquet were all a collab between her friends!!!!! AMAZING.

My cousin Heather was the makeup pro:

Faren is a painter/artist so she PAINTED FLOWERS onto her Free People dress ahhhhhh

Gus’ butt. yup.

They walked to their ceremony together: )

Everyone. cried. Everyyyyone.

This was during a Native American blessing… the quilt is by my talented quilter friend Emily Dennis!

IT STARTED RAINING WHILE THEY WERE CANOEING BACK TO THE RECEPTION!!!

WALKIN TO THE PARTY LIKE:

^^^^^Those were vegan burgers: ) you thought they were beef right: )

Straight nudity haha:

I think this is soooo funny, photographer mom making her kid pose for photos:

This wedding was exactly how I think weddings should be: )
In beautiful nature… with a small collection of your favorite people.
No pretty details or table vases to stress over…
Did you notice there was none of that? None. Only nature, people, and gooooood food: )

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