A New Year - Are Photos Worth It?

If you're getting married in 2015, we know you're excited. You're looking forward to finishing the wedding planning, seeing your family and friends come together, and finally tying the knot with the one you love.

But in the end, are photos really worth it? We put so much value in them - spend thousands of dollars on them, hang them on the wall, and then look at them from time to time. Is that worth it?  Sure it is. It's your family you're talking about, right? They're worth every penny.

But what about the actual relationship? In the hundreds of weddings we have shot over the years, we are sad to say that some of them have ended in divorce. Not 50% like the stats say - actually much less. To our knowledge only about 4 or 5 couples have parted ways, and although that sounds good in comparison to worldly statistics, it's never a good thing. It breaks our hearts.

But it also breaks God's heart. God takes our commitment in marriage seriously. He knows that it's not an easy endeavor. In fact, the Apostle Paul advises us to stay single unless we see that we cannot control ourselves.  (1 Corinthians 7)

Hollywood likes to paint a warm and fuzzy picture of marriage, but the fact is, marriage is a lot of work.  Through the ups and downs, both people have to sacrifice and learn to become more and more unselfish. That's not an easy thing to do.  But it's worth it.  Then again, anything really great in life takes effort and hard work.

So are the photos worth it? Yes. But worth much, much more than the pictures, the video, the cake and the party, the RELATIONSHIP trumps them all. Without the relationship, everything else means nothing.

So we encourage and challenge all of you married couples out there, and soon to be brides and grooms, to put forth your greatest effort in 2015, to love each other, to sacrifice for each other, to put ourselves last, and be ready to be there when the other one falls or stumbles.  In the end, it's the relationships that last forever.  Not the photos.

Jim & Stephanie

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