Then say love is like wine, it gets better with age. We get wiser, more patient, we take care of each other more and grow fonder of one another. Do we still get emotional when we get submissions from people who want to share their love story with us? Absolutely! It's special to us to learn more about couples in love, share their stories with you and get inspired!
This stunning couple is about to share their knowledge of marriage and wisdom carefully gathered bit by bit with our dear readers and lovers of truth, beauty and endless love. Make sure to read about this lovely couple, their practical advice, and enjoy the beautiful photographs captured by Sarah Sotro Photography.
About the couple: Well, we are one of those long-lost-but-reunited-high-school-friendships... I (Alanna) always remembered Matt as "the first guy to snuggle me"... we were just a couple of 17 year old punks sitting on our friend's futon when Matt pulled me in so tight that it made such a lasting impression. Little did I know he'd be the last guy to snuggle me. We have now been married for 11 months, 7 days. Our whole life is our favorite thing to do together! What matters most to us is our God. We love being in the Word together and playing in the worship band at church together, and that is a huge part of our busy schedules. We love spending time together and with our families. We love to make stuff: we love to crochet (yes I taught him and yes he's great at it!), and repurpose furniture. Staying healthy is huge too, we are proud to call ourselves gym rats!
Marriage advice:
Advice to men, from Matt: die to yourself, put your wife first always
Advice to women, from Matt: respect and follow the lead of your husband even when you know he is probably not making the best choice. Men thrive off respect and the role of leadership.
Advice to women, from Alanna: try seeing things from his point of view. Men are usually simple; sometimes women and their emotions can convolute things. He just wants to do his best at taking care of you and providing for you. Let him. He is not 5 years old so don't talk to him like he is. Win him over by your pure and respectful conduct. Let him sit in front of the TV in his underwear for the whole day and don't complain. He needs that!
Advice to men, from Alanna: Your wife is delicate. She may try to fight you and make you think she's tough, but she's not. Caress her and tell her you know its all gonna be ok. Know that her mind is a million different avenues going a million miles an hour and it may be up to you sometimes to help pick out and sort out each highway and attack it with her.
About their shoot: It was freakin' cold!!!!! Also, my hair and humidity had a reunion and it didn't go well. But looking at the pics, it doesn't even matter because we still have the memory of the wonderful experience. The best part for me is that it wasn't an engagement shoot where we couldn't touch too much or else we looked scandalous. It wasn't a wedding shoot where my dress was so tight I could die and we were both waiting for this day to be over so we could go and melt away the anxieties we'd been waiting for the whole time anticipating this wedding night. It was a 1st anniversary shoot: still in the honeymoon phase, still young enough to look foxy, and married enough to be ALL over each other! It was the GREATEST! It was nice to be directed to "just do what you do," "Make her laugh!" "Smooch!" and have those genuine moments captured. We loved every minute of it. It was so fun to turn a photo shoot into a date.
Photographer: Sarah Sotro Photography
