If I wanted to give you a simple sentence to sum up this wedding, I would just say: Katie and Joe were married on a beautiful day in June at The Stonegate Manor in Benton Harbor, MI surrounded by their closest friends and family.
But wedding days are so much more than who was there and where it happened. We are tasked with the great privilege to document what happens on a wedding day, yes! for sure, absolutely. BUT – what really gets us excited to tell wedding day stories is why things are happening. We want to peel back those first easy layers of weddings and get to know our couples and uncover how and why they love each other. Marriage is a big deal, love is a big deal, and we are kind-of-maybe obsessed with knowing the details of what makes our couples tick.
Joe said it best at the end of his interview in a message directly to Katie – we call them “Love Notes” at the end of the interview – just that final thing you wanted to say with no one listening before you see each other.
He said, “When I was thinking about what to put in my vows I stumbled across a few ideas and one of the things I wanted to stress (although I’m not sure if the ceremony is the right place to do this) is that everyone has flaws and faults and things they don’t like about themselves (maybe they see that more than other people), but I think part of love is embracing that person for who they are and helping them see that they have value and worth and that other people value and love them very much. So, I borrowed some lyrics from a person that I think we both spent time watching when we were younger and I just wanted to share them with you:
Woof. Yes. While Joe didn’t share these familiar Mr. Rodgers’ lyrics during the ceremony, his deep and abiding love for Katie was evident and present. I mean, it’s a simple concept: “I like you for you”, it is also deep and vast and plays an integral role in how these two behavioral analysts love each other. They are constantly building each other up, building a life together, working hard to ensure that the other person feels valued, feels heard, and is given “positive reinforcement on a 5 to 1 ratio” (as affirmed by Katie in her vows), and that complicated Game of Thrones plots are carefully and thoughtfully explained (as affirmed by Joe in his vows).
This couple is not one of those pairs who scream their love from rooftops for all to hear (and there’s no shame in that – more power to ya!), they have that deep, strong, steadfast love. A love that’s firm, that’s visible but that’s as gentle as shared secret or a knowing look, and as true as the earth we stand on.
This is why we do what we do. To uncover the wild and beautiful, the fragile and eternal.
