I have been blessed with an incredible best friend. Do you have one of those? The person that knows you so well they can read your mood with just one look. The person that cares for you so deeply that they celebrate your successes as if they were their own, and are willing to be the bad guy in order to tell you what you need to hear sometimes. The person that’s willing to go along with whatever crazy ideas you dream up even if they are sometimes a little far fetched. Well, you guessed it, that person for me is Hannah– one-hundred and ten percent, which is why I feel so incredibly blessed to have watched her meet her soul mate.

I remember listening to Hannah tell me about the first time they spoke in the high school choir room. I was there when Hannah had butterflies in her stomach for weeks surrounding their first date. I’ll never forget our movie nights where we bought all the take out Japanese food we could and overanalyzed the most recent texts that Jp had sent her. Side note- I was the one eating all of the food! Hannah didn’t eat for a month or two after they started dating because she was just too nervous!

Fast forward a few years…

I vividly remember the call I got from Jp one night when I was driving back to my college apartment. He wanted me to know that he was going to propose to Hannah on their trip to Gatlinburg that weekend and wanted me to be one of the first to know. I remember holding back a few tears and smiling the entire 20 minutes it took me to get home.

I was also there when Hannah picked out her wedding dress, as she planned their wedding in two weeks, as we navigated the crazy chemical spill on the interstate that was keeping us from the church on her wedding day. I was there with a camera in hand as she took her Dad’s arm as they walked down the aisle toward her future husband.

Since then I’ve watched the two of them settle into married life– move into an apartment, adopt their dog, buy their first home, and man, has it been a blessing.

Hannah and Jp, thank you for allowing me to be in your lives. The two of you are truly an incredible example of how a couple that has built their marriage on the foundation of Jesus. I hope that I can follow in your footsteps one of these days, but for now, I’m entirely content watching you two flourish!

Thank you for wandering through fields of tall grass with me in the 100 degree weather as we captured how much you guys love to laugh together! Love you both!

-Chelsea