So many months ago now I logged on to Facebook one morning and saw that one of our dear friends had changed his profile picture, and it now included a lovely young lady I'd never met. This seems significant, I thought.
And as the pictures of the two of them kept appearing I felt really happy such a dear friend had fallen completely in love but really sad that we were missing out on being there to share in their joy in person.
The months go by. There's a ring and a wedding in Brazil that we watch over Facebook Live (what a time we live in to be away from loved ones!). And then there's a surprise request: Can they meet here in England and stay with us? Yes, of course they can! What an unexpected gift to get to meet the bride in person.
And then the even more unexpected request to put together a small ceremony so the bride's adopted international family could be there to see them married since they were unable to make it to Brazil in January. The answer was absolutely yes. And life isn't all about one of us, but we have such a kind God who goes about ordering things so that so many of our desires and joys are fulfilled. Taking pictures of my loved ones quadruples my joy, and being 4,000 miles away I never would have imagined I'd get to photograph these two in their wedding finery and newly-wedded bliss, but God always does "more than we could could ask or think."
I think the Brazilian bride was only slightly cold on that North Yorkshire hilltop. 😉
It was such a delightful day, and our week spending time with Lua was such a delight, too.
We wanted to go somewhere to take some wedding portraits, but the weather was chancy. In the midst of our indecision about where to go next we stopped for a bathroom break. Inside the National Trust shop at Rievaulx Terrace one of the volunteers got so excited at the sight of Lua in her wedding dress and asked us if we would please take some pictures there for their newsletter. So while we were debating whether it was worth it to pay to get in and walk through the deep mud in our finery, we got asked to come in for free and even had the temple opened up for us to take pictures inside.
We thought it would do as a grand enough backdrop for portraits.
How cute is she?
Ella took on the role of bridesmaid and did a great job buttoning up the one hundred tiny buttons on the back of Lua's gown.
You can see the abbey ruins down below them in this picture.
You've got to scrape off your boots at the door in North Yorkshire.
Happy 6 months, Seth and Lua!
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