Sarah peered through a tiny space between the two church doors, looking in on family and friends seated in the pews and her groom standing at the front. Her heart felt like it could take off flying at any moment, and as she stood upright next to her father she took in the deepest of breaths. Her train was being adjusted just right, she looked down to hook her arm through her fathers, the doors opened, and Mark looked on from the front in awe.

Sarah and Mark were married on a glorious late September day in Kalamazoo’s First United Methodist Church, and followed with a reception at the beautiful Kalamazoo Country Club. Sarah’s father constructed the most breathtaking “floral shelf” (with flowers adorning it from Tracy Park of Park Place Designs) that hung above their sweetheart table, and guests not only enjoyed dinner and dancing, but a ‘late night snack’ of pizza and a donut bar with donuts from Sweetwater’s Donut Mill (uhmm…can you say the best idea ever?!).

Joe, Melissa, their two dogs, and Melissa’s cousin piled into the car and headed towards Big Bay, the tiny little town on Lake Superior where Joe’s family has a cabin. They were beginning the celebrations of Melissa’s 25th birthday, and as they drove it was all Joe could do to try and play along with the plans Melissa thought were about to happen. Those plans began with a well crafted lie involving her cousin needing to take the car after arriving to the cabin in order to go “see a friend” before joining in on all of the birthday fun.

As Joe and Melissa opened the gate and headed towards the front door, Joe slowed his pace as he patted his pockets in search of the keys (all part of the act, of course). Explaining he must have left them in the car, he suggested they take a walk along the beach while they waited for her cousin to return. A crisp spring breeze blew off the lake as they strolled and the dogs ran. Melissa headed towards the steps back up to the cabin when she heard Joe say something. Turning, Joe took her hands in his and lowered one knee onto the sand. Melissa gasped, her heart racing, her lips trying to form the words yes.

They were soon met not just by Melissa’s cousin returning to the cabin, but by both of their families ready to congratulate and celebrate into the night. The evening filled with laughter and new memories as they celebrated not only the beginning of Melissa’s 25th year, but the perfect beginning of the rest of Melissa and Joe’s life.

Sometimes life doesn’t go as planned. Okay, almost always life doesn’t go as planned. And almost always, it works out for the better. These past few months feel like they flew by in a blurry whirlwind, and in the midst of them I often lost track of which week we were in.

This summer marked our second year of photographing weddings (it is technically our third year of business, but let’s be honest – that first year pretty much consisted solely of designing a business card and hanging them anywhere visible to human eyes). But if I’m being real, I wasn’t prepared for the sacrifices that would have to be made when charging head first into this season. Sure, my husband and I are working for ourselves and in charge of our own calendar (which, truly, is AWESOME) – but weddings fall on the weekends when the rest of the world partakes in their celebrations, their memorials, their get-togethers. Saying yes to our dream of capturing other couples begin their lives together also means saying no to family and friends…often.

And the crazy thing?