When Charity and Chad started planning their wedding, they knew they wanted something simple that reflected their love of God, to be surrounded by family, and to have beautiful images documenting the day. And so, on Auburn’s bi-week (because true Southern women always have to consider their favorite team’s schedule when picking a wedding date) they exchanged vows at their home church in Gadsden, Alabama.

Their story started many, many years ago… they met when Charity was just 5 years old and Chad was 8. They lived on the same street. Charity jokes that he didn’t talk to her much when she was a little girl, but now thirty years later with a lifetime of learned lessons and life experiences between them, Charity and Chad live in his childhood home. Together… and just down the street from her mom.  Charity and Chad’s ceremony took place in the sanctuary of the church, followed with cake in the church’s fellowship hall. By today’s wedding standards, it truly was a simple day — but what they lacked in “feature-worthy details” they certainly made up in kindness and love. Kindness and love showed to every guest and to me, one of their few vendors. Every wedding is special and every couple should have the day they’ve always dreamed of… but a truth that I wish I could scream from the rooftops — not every wedding has to be a $50,000 affair to be special.  As Charity advises to bride’s planning their day: “Make your day, down to the most intimate and precious details, a reflection of who the two of you are. Do not worry so much about whether your wedding is magazine material but more about whether your marriage has the foundation to last a lifetime. Pray over you husband, pray over your marriage but most importantly, pray that God will use this union in ways you never thought possible!“