I wasn’t nervous as I stood in the back of the church that day.  I was so excited I started jumping up and down, big white dress and all.  My white flip flops from David’s Bridal were flopping up and down, so I decided to take them off before I walked down the aisle.  No one would know I wasn’t wearing shoes, and the carpet was so plush under my feet!

I grabbed my dads arm and held back some tears as he did the same.  We started down the aisle, and I remember feeling so incredibly loved as I glanced at all the faces waiting for us.  All these friends and family had carved out a few hours on a beautiful Saturday to spend time celebrating our marriage.  They were here for us.  They believed in our marriage.  It was surreal.  They were standing in my honor?  Craziness.

We made it through the ceremony.  The pastors said some of the sweetest words ever, we said our vows (I literally started choking during mine and someone ran to get me water), and Josh sang to me.

He was wearing a white tux.

It was a perfect day.

As we drove away towards our honeymoon we looked at each other and said, “Who let us get married??”

I was 19, he was 21.  All but one key person had given their blessing and honestly, we were kind of shocked.  I mean, we were barely adults, and people thought we were capable of making this lifelong decision?  I was still in college and we were barely breaking above the poverty level income-wise.

Almost every night that first year we looked at each other before falling asleep and asked again, “Who let us get married?”

That was 10 years ago now.  It’s only by God’s divine provision that we’ve stuck together all these years and have grown stronger and closer.  It’s a scary feeling to trust someone completely… to put your entire wellbeing into their hands without a back-up plan.

In our ten years, we have a track record of doing some major life altering event every year.

1- We got married
2- I graduated college
3- We moved to Atlanta (exactly one month before the market crashed in 2008)
4- We moved to Greenville, SC & started Fowler Photo
5- We moved to Yorktown, VA
6- We had a kid & added video to the business
7- We bought a house & changed the name of our business to Fowler Studios
8- Fowler Studios took off and I quit my part time job for good
9- Josh quit his full time job to join Fowler Studios full time
10- We’re adopting Zane!

We no longer ask who let us get married.  Now we ask, “What’s next?” because honestly?  It’s always a surprise.  We are super imperfect people but still God uses us.  In the rush of our daily craziness lives we try to listen to what God is saying… to where he’s leading us.  Each step we’ve taken in faith has led us to the next one, quite literally, and I can’t wait to see where they lead us next!

Here’s to the next ten years, and beyond! To make this celebration even better, perhaps presents similar to those 1st Anniversary Gifts can be provided.

Photo Credits: 2010: Celeste Pressley | 2013: Sarah Halstead | 2014: Meghan Ippoliti Photography | 2015: Christina Barnum Photo