"This is where the heart lies
This is from above
Love is this, this is love
Love is why we do it
Love is worth the pain
Love is why we fall down
And get back up again
Love is where the heart lies
Love is from above
Love is this, this is love..."
This is from above
Love is this, this is love
Love is why we do it
Love is worth the pain
Love is why we fall down
And get back up again
Love is where the heart lies
Love is from above
Love is this, this is love..."
-The Script
How can I begin to tell you just how remarkable this wedding was? How can I express the honor I felt at getting to document it all? I can't find adequate words! (maybe that's why I make photographs). I hope that the heart-revealing moments in these photo highlights, my most favorite moments from the Wedding Day, will give you a glimpse into the Love that is Mark and Lin.
Lin. A woman who has experienced the heartache of losing a husband to cancer years ago, and yet walks around with the most tangible, faithful, positive, expressive joy of any one person I know. It's like she carries within her own slight frame the passion and excitement of 10 happy souls, that wondrous combination of energy and peace possessed by a contented child, the faith of a Hero....all rolled into One Lin: The nurse, the single mom, the speaker, the missionary, the visionary.
Mark. A man who, along with his wonderful wife Diane, the mother of his three children, had spent much of the last two decades working as a doctor throughout impoverished areas of Africa, and most recently, Haiti. He has helped to open and run AIDS clinics, built orphanages; treated patients whom no one else would help, and who have had no where else to go. I'll personally never forget getting to watch him helping and counseling AIDS patients at a hospital in the Ivory Coast of Africa when I was 17 years old. His work is life-changing. The way he loves people is soul-changing.
The "Kids". I could seriously write a post about each one of these incredible people. The love, the resiliency, the strength, the character that each possesses. And the FUN. These guys know how to bring on the laughter, let me just tell you. Well, let me just show you. And hello?! How are they all so really really ridiculously good-looking?! (I said that in my best Ben Stiller Zoo-lander voice).
Having all experienced the loss of a beloved spouse or parent, the continuation of their "Life Story", together, is nothing short of amazing. Miraculous. Healing. A Gift.
On to the photos...
To me, a beautiful photograph has to be about a lot more than just the lighting, scenery, props, poses, or cheap photoshop tricks. If those 'easy' elements are all that get noticed, it lacks depth. My goal is to make photographs that engage, capture the magic; to find those rare and elusive fleeting moments that reveal essence, uniqueness, wonder, heart, joy, comedy, bliss, connection, delight, awe, and character. To see in a photograph something that is authentically real, soulful and true...now that is beauty.
But I'm not exaggerating when I say that Mark and Lin (and their kids) have what must be a God-given LIGHT inside of them that actually made my job easy! Like magic energy that you just want to gather up and share with everyone; it's just that Good.
Like a contagious Good. Contagious Joy, and Love, and Hope.
Anyone who comes near this family will catch it!
(So, consider yourself warned!) :-)
That's the most special thing about this family, I think. They reach out, they help, they care, they heal, they love...and it's actually making a difference. They genuinely want everyone else's Story to have a Happy Ending.
So I hope that these photos, this Happy Beginning for Mark and Lin, will help you to catch some Love. Some Hope. Some Joy.
Catch it all, really. It is so Good.
xo,
Summer
Special thanks to the amazing Bogle Farms.... as well as hairstylist extraordinaire Missy Krueger!
