If truth be told, I’m sure we could find something around early May to call our anniversary… but we didn’t have these photos taken because it was our actual anniversary.  That’s not until November 5.  So technically, these photos were taken around our half anniversary!  But that’s not at all the point of this post…

I love the idea of anniversary photos for couples because it’s not that it’s marking the number of years you’ve been married as much as it’s marking where you currently are in your marriage.  We’ve taken photos, the two of us, every year since we were married.  And I’ve even had a canvas printed from each of those sessions (don’t ask me why they aren’t on the wall yet…).  And while this was the first year we didn’t take these photos in the fall, the circumstances surrounding them made them even sweeter.

Back in 2008, a friend from college got married and posted a link to his wedding photos on his Facebook page.  He was bragging on his photographer and since I was in the early stages of my business, I bookmarked her page and went back to it later because I was looking at them on my Blackberry (yes, pre-iPhone!) and wanted to actually have a chance to see them on my computer.  Little did I know how much that photographer would come to mean to me!

Katelyn James began her business in college and I remember emailing her in those early stages asking her questions and she was so kind to get back to me and answer them.  Even though she’s a good bit younger than me, God has given her a very savvy business mind and a very talented eye and I don’t take the things she says lightly!

So, one workshop with her, several industry events, and many lunches at said events later, I’m so thankful that she’s become more than “a girl I stalk follow online.” :-)  And when we were able to work it out for her to take photos of Ben and me at Connect this year, I was beside myself!

Since she and her husband live in Virginia, the only time we see them is at industry events like Connect or United.  And those things only happen once a year and we haven’t even been able to go to United recently, so this was our chance.  And I’m so thankful it worked out!!

You see, we’re in between kids right now, which simply means Catherine is almost 15 months old and it’s not quite time for the second one yet.  And while we’re thrilled about growing our family, we’re also being intentional about us and our marriage.  Because if our marriage isn’t strong, our little family will suffer.  And there’s nothing we want more than to show our children who Christ is, that we are married because of him and that our marriage works because of who he is.

So doing small things like taking time out to just get photos of the two of us is huge.  Trust me, there are plenty of photos of Catherine.  And there are plenty of photos of her with us.  But if we don’t take time to invest in just Ben and me, then once she and our future children grow up and we launch them into the world, we might be strangers living in the same house.  And that’s the last thing we want.

Ben and I got married to spend our lives together.  The two of us.  Regardless of how many children ended up being in the picture with us, the plan was for he and I to spend our days together until we’re too old to live on this planet any longer, or whenever God calls us home… hopefully at the exact same time, even if I’m 110 and he’s 108 :-)

Children are a complete blessing and we don’t take that for granted.  But the truth is that they will grow up.  They will move out (please, Jesus!), and will possibly have families of their own one day.  And our plan with that is to be even more deeply in love when that day comes than we are today.

So, back to the question of why we had anniversary photos taken when it’s not our anniversary… because this freezes time where we are right now.  We’re in between children, we’re owners of several businesses, we’re still young, and we’re loving life!  Our marriage is FAR from perfect and we have so much to learn and so much growing to do.  But these photos capture where we are as husband and wife and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.

Especially because it gave us a chance to be in front of Katelyn’s lens for a little bit of time :-)  So, here are some more of my favorites from that day!

I was slightly terrified of this grass… it was tall and itchy and probably full of ticks.
But, I trusted Katelyn when she said it would be worth it for the photos and she was right!

I love all of the photos, but the wind in this one makes me a little giddy!

Thank you for doing these for us, Katelyn!!  We had so much fun and will treasure these photos for years!

 To see Katelyn’s post from our session, click HERE.