Saugatuck Michigan Wedding Photographer | Northern Michigan Engagement Session

I feel like I could cry writing this post and sharing these moments with these two.

Seeing them, and witnessing some of the most heartfelt moments of two people coming together, vowing their love and commitment to each other through trial and triumph, and sickness and in health… QUE THE TEARS.

Meet Josh and Anita: Their story is one only the Author of Love could write and being able to document it in this stage was a full circle moment for me.

Josh was a dear friend from elementary school, and actually, the one who first introduced me to my now husband (and neighborhood crush) one summer wayyyyyy back when.Middle school, high school, then college came and went, and like most friendships, Josh and I lost touch but never lost our friendship.

September 2nd, 2015.

A date that forever changed Josh and his family. A date, that 3 years later would be a date not to be mourned, but a date to celebrate all that God has brought him through, as that same date would be the day he asked Anita to be his wife….

September 2, 2015, Josh embarked on a boating accident that would change his life. He dove off a pontoon boat into shallow water and broke his neck. Rushed to U of M (the very hospital he worked at the time) he underwent an extensive spinal surgery and spent months in rehab working extensively to regain feeling from the neck up. On that same day of Josh’s accident, Anita was somewhere celebrating her birthday. September 2 the SAME DAY of this tragedy,  is also the day God gave Anita breath on the day she was born. If that doesn’t give you the goosies you better check your pulse. As if He was saying as they met,  “though this trial has come to you, I see the bigger picture, and here the day your life changed, is also the day I created your soulmate many years before.”

CUE THE FRIGGIN TEARS + TISSUES….

GOD are you WORKING IN OUR TRIALS!

Beauty for ashes, joy for mourning, a crown of glory for despair (Isaiah 61) 

As with any horrific spinal cord injury, the effects are lifelong… But I can truly say that Josh is one of the only people that could be on that end of this injury and still have the most INCREDIBLE, I mean downright INCREDIBLE look on his life that he is grateful to wake up every day to (and he reminds others of as well.)

Josh will be the first to tell you that His faith in God through the trial, is what brought him to his beautiful angel standing by his side today. Watch his story and full testimony here!)

Anita and Josh met through her boss at U of M who at the time was helping Josh in rehab. They way they’ve connected has been divine, and in a way, only the Author of Love could have had a hand in.

Anita and Josh, thank you for letting me be a part of these first moments with you and giving me (and the world) a glimpse into the beautiful life you two share together. With family, friends, and the God who’s given you purpose and strength these last 3 years by your side, I know together you can take on the world. I can’t wait for the wedding bells to ring, and the many full circle moments you’ll continue to discover in this life together. May you always be each other’s beauty for ashes, joy for mourning, and crown of glory as you walk through temporary seasons of despair + many more days of delight. 

blessings, dayna