When we were photographing Becca and Jason’s wedding in Traverse City, I spent the morning at Becca’s parents house with “the guys,” and I noticed this poem (by Robert Francis) on the wall:

Keep me from going to sleep too soon
Or if I go to sleep
Come wake me up. Come any hour
Of night. Come whistling up the road.
Stomp on the porch. Bang on the door
Make me get out of bed and come
And let you in and light and light.
Tell me the northern lights are on
And make me look. Or tell me the clouds
Are doing something to the moon
They never did before, and show me.
See that I see. Talk to me til
I’m half as wide awake as you.
And start to dress wondering why
I ever went to bed at all.
Tell me the walking is superb…

Sometimes I’ll read something or Leandra and I will be watching a movie or Lost, and there will be something said or written or shown that make me want to pump my fist and say “that’s what it’s all about” or “that is what love is like”. I’m usually not the fist-pumping type, but there are times when I’m just feelin’ it. I had to take a picture of the poem hanging on their wall so I could remember to tell Leandra.

I think everyday, in really small ways, the way things are have a way of lulling us into sleep. TV does it (which is why we got rid of ours)… and our computers certainly do it (we can’t get rid of them…we have to watch Mad Men and Lost somewhere!). I even do it to myself… we get put to sleep by little routines or habits or just by not thinking. And I’m so grateful that Leandra is in my life now, to tell me to get up and get off the computer, or to tell her what I’m thinking, or to spend an hour with each other instead of worrying about anything else. What’s been so astounding about being married to Leandra is coming to realize that there is another person in my life that not only knows me as well as I do, but sometimes knows me better…who knows me enough to wake me up when I don’t realize that I’ve been asleep.

Here’s a picture we took when we were in Boston with our friend Cameron over the Fourth of July. We were sitting on Boston Common, watching the fireworks, surrounded by thousands of people and seated directly behind this sweet couple:

We’ll have Kate and Tim’s full post ready soon but in the meantime, enjoy your Friday.

We can’t wait to finish editing all of these weddings and get the full posts on the blog… but for now, here is one last peek at another beautiful wedding in downtown Grand Rapids. The ceremony was held in the Amway Grand’s Presidential Ballroom, after which guests headed upstairs to the reception in the Pantlind Ballroom. The day was entirely elegant, from Mandee’s Christian Louboutin shoes to the couple’s classic first dance.

In the last few days, we’ve kept up with Lindsay and Aaron’s updates as they honeymooned through Italy, Pompeii, Northern Africa, and Spain. I don’t really think I need to say anything about how cool that is. Despite just a hint of wish-that-were-us fever, we wanted to post two favorites before we head to Traverse City to photograph a wedding this weekend (at this beautiful bit-of-Italy!). So, enjoy, you two globetrotters!

We’ll be posting the full posts of all these sneak peeks in the next two weeks or so!

Melanie and Andrew spent their wedding day surrounded and supported by their families and closest friends and filled it with their favorite things, from henna to hummus, from foot washing to swing dancing. A few first favorites…