During our last night in Italy, Steve and I spent hours just walking around the streets of Rome.  We roamed the cobblestone alleyways…sat at the edge of countless fountains…and held hands while the warm breeze blew over us.  Sometimes…right through us.  As we headed towards the forum…there it was.  One single grand piano.  One single spot light.  One single piano player.  Perched upon one of Rome’s most ancient ruins.  Together, they created one single moment that can never be forgotten.

When I tell people this story, I often get asked why I didn’t take a picture.  And the honest truth is – it wouldn’t have mattered.  Because there is not a single image in the world that could do justice the experience that we were living.  An image couldn’t portray what it was like to be sitting on the edge of the ruins with our feet dangling over the edge…or the way Steve had his arm around my waist and the smell of his aftershave…or the feeling that came with living this moment an entire world away from our own.  It was perfection…and only my memory and the sound of the music can retain it that way.

I was thinking of this while I was driving away from Marie-Eve and Ryan’s engagement shoot, because I will likely remember it in much the same way.  This time, I do have the pictures…but just like Italy…they just can’t tell the whole story.  The pictures don’t express what it was like on this perfectly mild spring day…in this perfectly abandoned forest of trees.  The pictures can’t resonate the seemingly effortless sound of Ryan’s guitar…floating through the silence…and filling in all of the gaps around us.

And that’s the thing about music…there are times when it feels like the only thing left that makes sense in the world.  And so we hold on to it tightly…deep in the corners of our soul…so we can remember.

But lest we forget what was at the center of this perfect memory…this perfect moment…this perfect day…

The most beautifully wonderful couple you’ll ever find.

They are the piano…they are the notes…they are the stillness.

They are that perfect moment…a world away from your own…