When your Australian friend falls in love with an American just like you did, and decides to move to America and have her wedding there too, you photograph it. You cry with her over the goodbyes and rejoice with her over the gift of marriage, because you know exactly how it feels yourself.
THEIR VOWS:
Back when I (Athena) lived in Sydney, God brought Jordan and I together 2 years ago for a bridal styled shoot for a Hosea devotional I was writing, and ever since then I just knew I’d photograph her again – because of a deep heart connection and a mutual desire to know and share the pursuing love of God ❤️I got to debrief with Jordan about her day:
WHAT WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF YOUR WEDDING PLANNING?
That Jesus was honored. Our first love always has been and always will be Jesus. It was important to us that everyone who came on the day saw and felt the heart of God in a pure and tangible way. For this reason, our vows and communion were the two most important moments of our day. Our vows display the way God loves us in relentless covenant, and communion celebrates the union we have with him because of his passionate love. Everything else in our wedding was planned around these two components.
For this groom, pre-ceremony prayer wasn’t a little photo op. It was almost an hour of intentional words of truth and prophetic wisdom, spoken to him and also by him. It was community at its most vulnerable. It was friendship at its most intentional. It was full of expectation and anticipation of not just being a groom, but being a husband.
“The way they prayed over me before the ceremony was so powerful and it actually felt like electricity was charging through my body because the Spirit of God was so present.”
“Watching her walk down the aisle was the closest thing I’ve ever experienced to glory — heaven. I understood a shadow of how fiercely and irrevocably Jesus loves his Bride. She was so gloriously beautiful. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful. It was the most electric few moments I’ve ever experienced.”
“Choosing to see Dylan as I walked down the aisle was probably one of our our top two favorite moments of the wedding day. In that moment, it felt like everything faded into the background and all we saw was each other. We worshipped in our hearts for those few seconds, just so grateful to have the gift of one another… I couldn’t stop looking at him. I couldn’t believe he was mine to keep forever!”
“My favorite moment from our wedding was when I got the end of the aisle and he kissed my hands and whispered prayers in my ear. Oh my heart!”
During Jordan + Dylan’s ceremony, the groom took the microphone and spoke for probably 20 minutes. While Dylan spoke his bride was so moved she ended up on her knees. Jordan said,
“God shared his heart for us through the story of Hosea. Dylan was overcome with emotion sharing the endless pursuing love of God for us, his Bride: No matter what we do, even though we run after other lovers and chase selfish pleasures, even though we forget his goodness and turn our face from him, he sees us as his precious bride and will do anything to get us back. Everybody’s eyes were closed and Dylan spoke over everyone that God loves them all with a tender, forgiving, passionate love. No rejection of God was too much for God to stop pursuing them. No addiction, divorce, depression, slander, wealth, poverty or sickness got in the way of the love of God for our family and friends.”
You should have been there – the whole room was completely electrified with God’s presence. Dylan invited his guests to experience and know this love as his bride kneeled and prayed, expectant for God’s love to really change hearts. Their faith was genuine and humble and it was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen at a wedding.
And in a depth of humility we’ve only seen a few times in our lives, the groom shared the love of Jesus. Jordan’s reaction was to kneel and pray as He spoke and gave space for God to work. It wasn’t his eloquence or her beauty or the fact it was their wedding day – it was God, at work, in the room. Seriously never experienced anything like this! We get goosebumps every single time we tell someone about it.
“As Dylan spoke, I was so moved by the passionate love of God that I could hardly stand and knelt in prayer that these words would sink deep into the hearts of our family and friends.”
Jordan’s beautiful words of this photo moved us so much. We love when our photos become so meaningful to our brides + grooms:
“God, your wrap around presence is our defense. In your kindness, look upon the faces of your anointed ones. For just one day of intimacy with you is like a thousand days of joy rolled into one! (Psalm 84:9-10)
This verse reminds me of this photo. Nothing will ever be more sweet than being found in His presence. Our prayer for our marriage is that we never spend one day together without intimacy with our divine Friend.”
