Charity + Matt { Vendor, Arkansas | Wedding Day }

|| In Loving Memory of Chiquita Wilson||

We have an extremely special wedding to share today. Not every wedding is planned in one week and made absolutely perfect. This thing we do called 'life' isn't always smooth riding and, more than likely, things probably won't go as planned. However, we have Christ to hold on to and to give our every care. There's no more stable ground than Him. Not every situation goes as planned but there's always a way to make the best of it. There is a bright side. You just have to find it. For Matt and Charity, their 'bright side' was planning their wedding in one week so Charity's mom would be able to attend the ceremony. Of course, getting married sooner than you expected is always a bright side, too! Matt contacted us several several months ago to book a family session with him, Charity and their baby girl Shia. Little did Charity know, Matt was going to propose to her in the middle of the shoot! It was such a beautiful porposal and these two are SO in love! From there, the wedding planning began, but they didn't realize how soon it would actually happen!

In the meantime, I recieved this email from Matt's sister Katie (who also happens to be one of our fabulous #shingleurbrides): "Hey Lance! I'm not sure that Matt has filled you in on what is going on with their wedding but he is a little preoccupied with everything that has recently happened so I thought I would fill you in and ask for your prayers. I know that he emailed you about doing their wedding but not long after he talked to you, Charity's mom was admitted into the hospital and last week was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. It is very aggressive and moving very quickly. Because of this news they have moved up the date of wedding. The wedding is now going to be NEXT WEEKEND. EEK! Charity and Matt are obviously very preoccupied and focused on other things so Mom and I are trying to help out as much as possible. I know this is a LONG SHOT....but if you have this coming weekend available they would still love for you to shoot their wedding. If you can't, we obviously understand but we wanted to check with you first before trying to find someone else! Thanks!" Believe it or not, we were available. It really must have been a 'God thing'. We customized a wedding day package for Matt and Charity, got all the little details worked out and showed up to the cutest wedding we have ever seen! They opted to get married on their families farm in an old chicken house. Yep. You read that right! A chicken house! Who imagined that a chicken barn could be so perfect for such a sweet wedding?! Imagine quilts everywhere. Tree stumps lining the middle isle adorned with mason jars and gipsofila. This was the epitome of country chic! This precious couple deserved every bit of it too!

More than anything else, we were honored to be so trusted to capture such an important day for Charity and Matt. This was more than just a wedding day for them, but a time to really love on the ones closest to their hearts. May we all never fail to properly appreciate the ones who mean the most to us. We were able to spend some alone time taking pictures with Charity and her Mom and I know that the images we took will be cherished forever.

On Feb 19th, Charity's mom gained her wings. We were absolutely priviledged to be with Charity and Matt on their special day. We know that this day will always ring true as one of the most memorable times for them and we are blessed to play such a small role.

CONGRATS M+C!