Scott S. Smith (formerly a Partner of Monarch Studio) is now operating as SSS-Studio. To see more of his work, checkout the following link: www.sss-photo.com

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Saint George Island, Florida is a quaint and off the beaten path beach spot along the panhandle of Florida and a perfect location for Gwen and Jordan’s intimate and safe wedding during the pandemic. Our couple had a different plan for their wedding, but when the pandemic hit, they adapted. With the original wedding plans canceled, they instead rented a home along the gulf to exchange vows more intimately. Gwen, the bride, states: "The whole day was such a fun and stress-free affair, and we had a wonderful time celebrating with the people we loved most in the world. It may have been a more intimate affair than what we originally planned, but it certainly did not have less meaning."

The wedding was very heartfelt, and everyone who was at the event had a profound role in the couple's life, and it showed. One of my favorite moments of the evening was when the bride's father read some words by the great author Neil Gaiman. I have to share them here...

This is everything I have to tell you about love: nothing.
This is everything I've learned about marriage: nothing.

Only that the world out there is complicated,
and there are beasts in the night, and delight and pain,
and the only thing that makes it okay, sometimes,
is to reach out a hand in the darkness and find another hand to squeeze,
and not to be alone.

It's not the kisses, or never just the kisses: it's what they mean.
Somebody's got your back.
Somebody knows your worst self and somehow doesn't want to rescue you or send for the army to rescue them.

It's not two broken halves becoming one.
It's the light from a distant lighthouse bringing you both safely home
because home is wherever you are both together.

So this is everything I have to tell you about love and marriage: nothing,
like a book without pages or a forest without trees.

Because there are things you cannot know before you experience them.
Because no study can prepare you for the joys of the trials.
Because nobody else's love, nobody else's marriage, is like yours,
and it's a road you can only learn by walking it,
a dance you cannot be taught,
a song that did not exist before you began, together, to sing.
And because in the darkness you will reach out a hand,
not knowing for certain if someone else is even there.
And your hands will meet,
and then neither of you will ever need to be alone again.
And that's all I know about love. -Neil Gaiman