For as long as I can remember…I’ve loved love.  I would read books as a child and get completely swept away in that one moment when the cute boy from school finally asks the girl he likes to dance.  Or I would watch movies just so I could see the grand gesture that inevitably happened about an hour and a half into the script.  Love was all that mattered and as far as I knew…my Barbie and Ken had the perfect relationship!

The thing I realized through age and a heart break or two is that romance and love – true love – are not the same thing.  Romance is the flowers on Valentine’s Day and the first kiss that gives you butterflies in your stomach.  Love is what binds you on your 30th Valentine’s Day and your last kiss after spending a lifetime together.

I’ve come to learn that love is that beautiful thing that exists in midst of all the moments.  Love is what carries us through life.  And life isn’t just a Nicholas Sparks movie or a bunch of pre-teen novels about your high school crush. Life is a constant series of transitions and adjustments and growth and challenges.  Life throws at us the unexpected and the overwhelming joy.  Life brings tears and laughter.  Life brings loss and renewal.  But through it all…above it all…woven through the very fiber of it all…is love.  And the truest and most genuine of love will withstand all of it.

One of my most favourite parts of my job is being present for that love.  Not just on a wedding day or when a new baby is just a week old…but during the in between moments.  In the moments when we first meet for coffee or in the first moments in front of my camera.  In the moments of nervousness and in the moments when they think I’m not looking.  That is where the very best of love shines through.

Catherine and Darcy stole my heart from the very first email.  Their excitement…their anticipation…their desire to walk through this life together – not necessarily staring each other in the eyes…but side by side…headed in the same direction.  When I look at them…when I spend time with them…when I witness them…I know immediately that they have that love.  I know that their wedding – while it will be an unbelievably beautiful day – will only be one of countless beautiful days.  Their love – though solid and true now – will only get better with age.  Their marriage – while only just beginning – has clearly been one of the Universe’s greatest plans.

Catherine and Darcy are not just the romance and the butterflies…the rings and the vows…a bride and a groom.  They are so much more than that.  They are what every little girl didn’t even know she wanted.  They are the love that holds hands on this long road together…they are the support that is unfailing…and they are the voice that whispers “I love you” when you need to hear it most.

Most importantly though…they are Catherine and Darcy.

And that alone, sums it up…