I don’t often get personal in my blog posts, I usually tell you about all the glorious details of the day and at this particular wedding there were so many. This DIY wedding was stunning, I LOVED it. I mean hello there was a Royal Copenhagen ice cream cart, my dream wedding idea! Today however I am writing from the heart.

I have always had a big place in my heart for Kathy and her family. We were best buddies as little 11 year olds and her family opened their home and hearts to me. They were the first Christian family I knew and the love they showed me was the first glimpse I had as to what God’s love was like. When I first met Kathy I was a brat. I was the new girl at school and thought I would ‘fit in’ by being mean. I was horrible, truly horrible! Kathy was one of the girls I was mean to. Rather than fighting back she turned the other cheek and loved me.

Looking back I think it was the grace of God on my life as by the next year at school we were best friends and I was a constant feature at their family farm. I have so many great memories that include this family and their part in my life was a true gift. At the time I never knew just how great this gift was and how eternally it stretched.

I bumped into Kathy about six months after I gave my life to Christ, I was 18 and overjoyed. I told her about the last six months in my life and she was super excited. It’s a memory that sticks with me as clear as day. She told me how she must tell her mum Kay and then shared that every week their family would pray for me that I would one day know God’s love. I had no idea that they had done that for me and was so thankful for their faithfulness and their love for God that overflows into wanting that love for others. So being asked to photograph this wedding I was thrilled. I was so thankful to be able to capture and give back a little bit of the love that Kathy and her family had showered on me.

To be there on her wedding day, a day of love and God’s grace was a true delight. It was intimate and serene affair filled with loved ones. As the sun streamed down people clapped as these two wed and the celebration continued throughout the afternoon on the stunning grounds of Waverly Estate, mostly by the pool, it was 42 degrees after all.

So I am delighted to share the wedding of a girl who introduced me to God’s love and the man she said ‘I Do’ to.

I hope you enjoy

Carly xoxo