On the eve of the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Michaela and Dan were married at St. Bede the Venerable Catholic Church by the same priest who had baptized Michaela and her twin sister when they were babies.

Michaela and Dan’s love story is one that was clearly only written by God. There have been too many things that led up to this day that happened by the grace and design of God alone. And the beautiful witness of their relationship is a testament to God’s faithfulness and goodness through it all. It is a testament to the reality that the Lord gives and takes away and that when he takes away, he ALWAYS has something vastly superior in place for us.

Michaela and I actually connected through instagram earlier this year when I was praying about guests to invite on to the Arise, Beloved Podcast and stumbled across her page. I reached out to Michaela to ask her to come on to our podcast and she asked me about photographing her wedding. Michaela did come on our podcast (you can listen to her episode here) and she shared more of her story with Dan and how God has worked in her life.

I have been eagerly awaiting this wedding ever since recording the podcast with Michaela because I knew just how beautiful and holy of a day it was going to be. As we headed into the final month of the year, I kept my eyes on the changing state guidelines and tightening restrictions praying that my last wedding of the year could make it through relatively unscathed. And once again, through the grace and design of God it did.

Michaela and Dan were supposed to be married on Saturday, December 12. But on Thursday, Dec 10, their governor announced tighter restrictions would be going into effect at midnight on Friday Dec 11. And so on Thursday, Michaela and Dan made the decision to move their wedding to the next day. This meant no time for a rehearsal, a complete change in the timeline and order of the day, and of course a stressful 24 hours of finishing up all the last minute planning.

And yet, not only did they pull off moving their wedding day up, they did so gracefully, trusting that God was with them and blessing their act of surrender to His greater plans. There are a lot of tiny miracles that made this happen, one of which being that every single one of their vendors was able to make the switch happen relatively smoothly. Another is that Friday was sunny and warm (for December) all day whereas Saturday turned out to be a rainy and cold day.

I share all of this to show you just how much this brave and strong couple went through to get to their wedding day. I share this so that you might have just a glimpse into the depth of their joy and gratitude that they were finally getting married and that they were able to celebrate their wedding while being surrounded by their family and friends. And I share all of this to give glory to God because this was the most fitting end to this crazy 2020 wedding season and the surest proof that He has been here all along.

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A huge thank you to all the other vendors who came together to make this day possible!

CHURCH // St. Bede the Venerable

RECEPTION VENUE // The Brookside Manor

DJ // On the Move Entertainment

VIDEOGRAPHER // Becca Haydu

CAKE // Desserts by Design

DRESS // David’s Bridal, Melissa Sweet Designer

MUA & HAIR STYLIST // Bridget Sgrillo

BRIDESMAID’S DRESSES // All different shops

GROOMSMEN ATTIRE // Men’s Wearhouse