kaitlyn & matt’s wedding photos // roche harbor, san juan islands

“When you love someone, you do not love them all the time, in exactly the same way, from moment to moment. It is an impossibility. It is even a lie to pretend to. And yet this is exactly what most of us demand. We have so little faith in the ebb and flow of life, of love, of relationships. We leap at the flow of the tide and resist in terror its ebb. We are afraid it will never return. We insist on permanency, on duration, on continuity; when the only continuity possible, in life as in love, is in growth, in fluidity – in freedom, in the sense that the dancers are free, barely touching as they pass, but partners in the same pattern. The only real security is not in owning or possessing, not in demanding or expecting, not in hoping, even. Security in a relationship lies neither in looking back to what was in nostalgia, nor forward to what it might be in dread or anticipation, but living in the present relationship and accepting it as it is now. Relationships must be like islands, one must accept them for what they are here and now, within their limits – islands, surrounded and interrupted by the sea, and continually visited and abandoned by the tides.” -Anne Morrow Lindbergh, “Gift From The Sea” 

Kaitlyn & Matt did what I sometimes think to be the unthinkable… they pulled off a wedding with zero stress, and with only about twenty people in attendance. They agreed together on what they wanted with their wedding, and they never deviated from that plan, and it was perfect. Just them, in love, with good food & with good people.

Kaitlyn told me that they hired me because they love my family photos, which of course made me all giddy inside… I knew, that Kaitlyn & Matt are “my people.” She explained to me that they are each very close with their families, and that what was most important to them were photos that captured that in its essence. When I arrived at their wedding, it was with Michael by my side (my very trusty assistant for all of my weddings this year!)… we had just spent a very leisurely morning enjoying a sunny boat ride to the island, with enough time to picnic on the beach before we headed to the home where they were to be married, getting ready for the day in the van when we arrived. All this to say that, it was a very very chill way to start a perfect day.

If Kaitlyn & Matt telling me that family is the most important thing to them was a preface to what I was to be prepared for, they were right on. We were immediately welcomed into sharing this day with them, as if we were just as much family to them as the people with whom they’d shared their whole lives with. It was wonderful, and it was very soon after we had announced to the world that we would soon be welcoming a baby boy into it, so their wedding made me feel especially connected to the importance of family.

And as the sun set on their wedding day, to the sound of children playing & people basking in the warmth of it all, and with cheers all around… we all delighted in feeling surrounded by so much love.

Congratulations again to Kaitlyn & Matt, and many thanks to Lydia at Ever Ours for featuring this wedding on her blog! {http://ever-ours.com/real-wedding-love-at-washingtons-san-juan-island/}