Zach & Sinead – Photography by Lance Chicote

Zach and I met years ago when I walked into his workspace and accidentally sat on his office chair. Although I caught his eye, I was in another world and another life, so nothing happened.

But years later, my Facebook page randomly came up on his newsfeed and two days later, a mutual friend randomly told Zach he should date me. Zach thought about these little signs and decided to ask me out. I remember sitting in front of my heater at home watching Gossip Girl when I got his message. I thought he was quite a catch and was so excited to get his message. Two years later, we are happily married. We are both high school teachers and active in our church community, working at our hobbies and side businesses. When we started to get to know each other, we discovered we had lots of the same interests and beliefs, like our direction around our faith, and our desire to challenge other people, particularly the younger generation. It is truly an exquisite thing to stand alongside someone who values the same rhythms as you. On our wedding day, it rained. We had planned an outdoor wedding and were not prepared for this at all. The weather was forecast to be completely clear, but just before the reception started, it absolutely bucketed down. I could not believe it. We had checked every website and they all said there was 0% chance of showers or humidity. Luckily everyone embraced it and it cleared after five minutes, so we decided it must have been a blessing from above. We carried on and the rest of the day was fine. We loved the simple, organic styling and vibes of our day, the way our community came and supported us. It was all so beautiful and natural. We were surrounded by our roots, the people who raised us and cared for us. This generated a constant stream of happy tears throughout the ceremony and reception. When we reflect on the immeasurable impact these people have had on us, and the unending well of love that poured out for us, our hearts were and still are overflowing.