I asked Alli & Mark to pick out their most memorable images and tell the story about why those stick out, and they couldn’t help themselves and picked 6.  It’s all good, though, because the stories are so great, and the stories are what matter.  50 years from now, they’ll be flipping through their wedding album and these will be the stories they remember, and that is just plain awesome!

Alli: This might seem like kind of a weird choice for one of my favorite wedding pictures, but I can’t help but love it for so many reasons. First a little context. Two or so years prior to our wedding, Mark purchased me a slap bracelet. I’m pretty sure it was yellow and blue zebra print. And I totally, 100% thought it was a joke. I mean, why would he, completely out of the blue, buy me a popular toy circa 1995? (I still don’t know the answer to this.) What I do know, is when he found my friend wearing it a few days later he was not a happy camper. Apparently, it wasn’t a gag gift. He really thought I would like it. And, in true male fashion, he would never let it go. To that day I was still hearing about it from time to time. So when we decided to keep our wedding gifts to each other at a five dollar maximum, I knew exactly what to get him: A KU (our alma mater and where we met) slap bracelet. Well, if anyone out there knows where I can find one of those, please let me know, because I looked EVERYWHERE. This was a true handcrafted KU slap bracelet. And I love looking back at this picture because it not only reminds me of our weird slap bracelet incident, but also how much he really loved it.

Mark: It’s so hard to look back at every picture and remember exactly what I was feeling or why I was laughing, etc…but not when I look at this picture. This picture to me perfectly sums up why Alli and I were there that evening on August 29, 2009. Two young people, madly in love, who realize that taking on the world together, is so much better than going at it alone. I was so excited to be in love with a beautiful woman, who gave me a shot, who made me a better man, and who now has shared one more wonderful year with me.

Alli: It was really hard to choose a favorite picture of me and my dad. I knew that I wanted to include one of them because I love them all so much, but making the final choice wasn’t easy. I picked this one because it was a really special moment for me. We had just finished our father/daughter dance to one of his favorite songs, “Your Song” by Elton John. Growing up my dad had this mix CD of all his favorite songs, and he’d always have it playing during family road trips and things. My sisters and I could still probably name all of the tracks to this day. We loved it so much. And now, whenever we hear one of the songs, it reminds us how much we completely adore our dad. He and I are exactly, to the day, 32 years apart. And I felt like I waited my whole life to dance with him to that song. It was absolutely perfect.

Mark: Life tends to find ways that make getting all the fellas together a little bit harder. Jobs, families, and life can complicate even the simplest things. Looking at all my best friends getting together one more time to crack jokes, tell some odd stories, and to support me definitely makes you sentimental. We’ve all been there for each other, through highs and lows and I was proud and thankful to be able to share that day with them.

Alli: You know when you’re ten and you close your eyes and imagine what your wedding day is going to look like? Well, this is what I pictured. Which is why it’s definitely one of my favorite shots. When I look at this picture, I think: The year of planning, all the meetings with vendors, all the checks written, all the decisions that had to be made, all the petty arguments, standing in line in the freezing cold for 3 hours, the fittings, the guest list struggles, the nerves, the parties, the Thank You notes, the countless hours on theknot.com, the worries, the mix-ups, the constant checking of the weather were sooooo worth it. This picture is so beautiful. The wedding was so beautiful. Not everything went perfectly, but when I look at this all I can think is, wow, this was perfect. I love it.

Alli & Mark: This is our favorite picture. There’s a billion reasons, but the one that rises to the top is: LOVE. We can both remember the emotion we felt right there in that moment: Part awkward because we were getting our picture taken , and part awesome (Mark’s word choice) because we had just gotten married and were officially starting our lives together.

Alli & Mark, thanks so much for taking the time to share some of your favorite images along with why. I had a great time re-living your awesome day

Just a reminder, the In Their Own Words series is a chance for real brides and grooms to share with everyone their most memorable images from their wedding day, and why they are the most memorable.  It’s fun to see what people value in their lives, the little things they love about each other, and I think it’s fun for them to flip through their wedding images again and re-live their day one more time.  And now, I’ll shut my trap and let Laura & Jeremy’s words take over.

Laura: It was really tough to narrow down all of the pictures and choose one “favorite”…. so, I grudgingly did.  All of our photos were amazing, they captured our wedding day in a perfect way…we all looked normal, not posed, and not fake.

With that being said, this photo really does have to be my overall favorite. It was taken just after our ceremony and as we were walking down the aisle. Do  you see those stupid grins on our faces? Well, those grins are showing what we were feeling inside…a whole lot of happiness and love. We will show our  grandchildren (and great grandchildren cause we plan on getting old) this picture and anyone else who comes to our house and the picture speaks for itself.

Jeremy: As I look at this picture I remember thinking about how beautiful my wife looked, and how much I love her. This was not a planned shot, it was a result of Josh finding the perfect light in the sanctuary and grabbing Laura and I to take some pictures. As I look at this picture now, I can feel the love of God poured out on us the way that the light is poured out on the frame.

You can click here if you care to check out more of their wedding photos.

Catharine – This is one of my favorite pictures from my wedding because of the moment it captured. My maid of honor was getting ready to put on my veil, and all my other bridesmaids came over to help. In some sort of attempt to be funny, I had planned on saying “Gather around peasants” but mistakenly said “Gather around pheasants”. I love how hard everyone is laughing at my lame joke gone wrong- especially Erica (second from left) who I think just said something like “Did she really just refer to us as wild birds?” This picture reminds me of how much fun I had that day with my favorite people in all the world. I’m so glad Jenny snapped a picture at this moment. To this day my friends are still making pheasant jokes.

Catharine – And speaking of perfect timing- I had to throw in this picture. It’s incredible! This is of our friend Josh who as you can tell was having a great time at the reception. This picture becomes even better when you know this was him letting loose to Kelly Clarkson’s “Since You’ve Been Gone”.

Richie - My dad finally got put on the other side of the camera.  He’s the guy at family events who gets real serious about pictures, we’ve all learned to just walk away when he gets his camera out.  We had been knocking out some classic family portraits and as Josh was taking his shots, my dad was simultaneously taking pictures over his shoulder, even throwing in his two cents at times.  Josh just knew my dad likes putting on a show so threw him in front of the camera.  This captured so much of my dad’s personality and Josh did a great job of handling that personality.

Catharine – I had such a hard time narrowing down my favorite pictures from the wedding because I love so many of them. But I knew this one had to be in here. First of all, it is a beautiful photograph. And secondly, I love the emotion it captures. I had been doing well all day up until about this moment when I got insanely nervous. Walking down those stairs into the crowded room of people staring at me seemed terrifying- but having my dad there made it all ok. I have the greatest dad in the world, and if my mom hadn’t told me afterwards, I would have had no idea that HE was insanely nervous and emotional this whole time too. That is just like my dad to stay strong all day to make it easier on me.

Richie – This is during the toasts and I love the nonverbal communication captured here.  Dan (best man) and I lived together for four years during undergrad.  By this time, Dan had been working the best-man toast for a while, I wasn’t sure what he’d do to me but I didn’t expect to be let off lightly.  Dan’s eyes are saying, “yeah, I went there”, I’m firing back with, “seriously!?!?”  and Catharine’s laughing at me thinking, “seriously Richie?!?!”

I hope that you all enjoy reading these In Their Own Words features, because I’m going to keep sharing them.  Great stories deserve to be shared with the world.  Great stories add meaning and value to our lives.  Great stories should be shared and passed down from generation to generation.  Jenny & I love the fact that we get to play a part in so many great stories.

Brooke – This image pretty much sums up our relationship, and I think that is why I love it so much.  It’s just Matt and me, walking down the road of life together, holding hands.  I don’t think either of us knew this picture was being taken at the time – we had just finished some portraits, and were heading back to meet our wedding party and get the ceremony started.  There was an antique car show outside of our venue on the day of our wedding, so we spent quite a bit of time walking around with Josh looking at all of the cars, and stopping for a photo every now and then.  At this moment though, we were just walking together, not a care in the world, heading in to get married.  It was like it was just him and I walking down this road, like no one else was even around.  I think you can see that in this image, too.  At first glance, all you see is the two of us.  But then as you look a little longer, you notice people and cars here and there in the background.  To us that day, it felt like it was just the two of us, and we were just walking along, starting the journey down our road together.  Even though there were actually a ton of people around, and most of them were staring at us and telling us “congratulations”, we were in our own little world.   It means a lot to me to know that no matter where life takes me, or what road I’m walking down, my husband will be there with me holding my hand along the way (and he’ll even hold my sunglasses for me )

Matt – About an hour before marrying the most beautiful, caring, intelligent woman in my life, we exchanged cards.  Well, I think it was Josh and Jenny that did the exchanging, but when Josh showed me that the two cards were almost identical, I was amazed.  And so was Josh – so much so that he had me hold them so he could get a picture.  Now don’t get me wrong, the card and what she had written inside was beautiful and emotional for me, but you don’t get to see a picture of that because I was trying to be tough in front of the camera.  I am so glad he thought of capturing  this though,  because it meant so much to see another sign that we were meant to be (although I didn’t need another sign, I knew she was the one for me!).  This just goes to show those who don’t know us not only that we think alike, but how we feel about one another, and that is why this is one of my favorite pictures – even though it doesn’t show my beautiful wife, and the sincere words inside the card, I think it says a lot.

Jenna – When I look at this picture today all I can do is sigh! What a calm moment after a very exciting, very busy, very perfect day! Trying to get married the Saturday after Christmas was a bit stressful and I thought I had everything under control leading up to the day. We woke up that morning to find a pretty good sheet of ice coating everything and a yucky rain/sleet/snow wintry mix continuing to fall, not really what we had pictured. Despite the added stress of the weather, the day went absolutely perfectly. We were even surprised as we opened the door of the church after the ceremony to find it had started snowing big beautiful flakes. The rest of the evening was full of excitement and celebrating with family and friends. James and I are high school sweethearts. After 7 years of dating, 3 of which were while we were living in different cities going to school, we were finally married! This picture really captures the purpose of the year of planning, the moments of stress, and the reason for the celebrating. We were walking through the door to our house as husband and wife for the first time just the two of us (and Josh)! This was probably the calmest moment of the entire day, but really it was the most thrilling. We were married and were starting our life together!!

Jenna – I love this picture! My dad has always been very supportive and loving. I was blessed in never having to wonder a day in my life if he was proud of me or if he thought I was beautiful. I love how this picture shows his real feelings and emotions just before he walked me down the isle. I couldn’t see his face as we made our way up the stair well (and it was probably a good thing or I would have been a wreck.) If I did have any question of my dad’s love for me, this picture really does say it all!

James – There are hundreds of awesome pictures that the Solars took during our wedding day, but the pictures that mean the most to me are the ones that bring back the emotions of the night for me personally. That’s the reason these are my favorite two pictures.

The first picture is taken during the first few minutes that me and Jenna saw each other. I remember thinking up to that point that I would have no emotional problems and that Jenna would be the one that might lose it at some point during the evening. I remember turning around to see Jenna, looking at her, and that all of a sudden I started to cry like a little girl. I don’t know why, I don’t really know what came over me at that point, but I just broke down and had an emotional time with Jenna. I remember so specifically the feelings in those minutes, and that’s the reason I love this picture.

James – The second picture is during the toasts at the reception. Again, I thought I would be fine as my brother was joking around and telling stories…but then all of a sudden it got emotional. He started talking about some of the things we had been through, and again, the emotions of everything going on just hit. This picture captures all of our faces as we went from a very sentimental time in the speech to a 360 degree turn to some random comment that we all thought was hilarious. I think it captures the relationship that I have with my brother perfectly, and it captures what a great time we were having listening to what the people closest to us had to say.

Looking at both of these pictures takes me back to one of the best days of my life, and puts me in those moments like they were yesterday. Thanks Josh and Jenny for spending that day with us and putting up with everything that was going on. We were so happy with you guys as our photographers and can honestly say we can’t imagine our wedding day without you guys being there.

This is the first in our “In Their Own Words” series.  From time to time, we’re going to ask one of our past couples to share with us the stories behind their most memorable image or two.  These are great stories that need to be shared with the world.

First up is Becca & Kyle.  They got married last June.  Here are some of their wedding pictures.  Now here, in their own words, are the stories behind some of their favorite images.

Becca – I love Kyle dearly, but cool under pressure he is not.   On our wedding day he was a nervous wreck, threw up (sorry Kyle), and was such a bundle of nerves that the best he could muster when we first saw each other was “um, you look cute.” Now, let me take this opportunity to send a message to any grooms-to-be out there—the correct adjective in a wedding-day situation is beautiful.  Stunning perhaps, amazing, breathtaking…you get my drift.  I could be cute in a t-shirt.  As a result of his nervousness, Kyle looks a little unsettled in a lot of our pictures, and I briefly wondered if he was having second thoughts, because really, who would be such a wreck if they were sure they wanted to be legally bound to someone.  Then I saw this picture.  I love it because his smile is so genuine and he is that happy because I, in my cute white dress, am walking down the aisle.   This is my favorite smile of his, and while it only made a few appearances that day until he had a few beers, I love that he flashed it during this moment.  Because really, this was the moment that it mattered.   (Also, I think he tried to make up for the cute comment with his favorite picture….what do you think guys, should I let him off the hook?)

Kyle – This picture is my favorite because it not only is technically a beautiful photograph, but it is a reflection of happiness and is highly symbolic. I remember how happy I felt as walked down this road together, knowing that despite any struggles or obstacles in life, I had found the woman I wanted to spend my life with. As for the context, on the day of our wedding, a light rain started a few hours before the wedding. This had brought me a lot of anxiety, because for months Becca had wished and hoped for a sunny wedding day. I wanted Becca to have her perfect wedding, but the weather was the one thing she couldn’t control or organize. Though Josh and Jenny had consolably prophesized that the clouds would break and the sun would eventually come out, I was less sure. However, I should have trusted these expert photographers (and amateur meteorologists) as they accurately predicted the sun would come out. This picture was taken shortly after Becca and I walked outside the church with the weather still cloudy. As we slowly made our way down the driveway of the church and towards this beautiful road between the grove of trees, the bright warmth of the sun finally came out and beat down on the pavement below us, insuring Becca and I that everything was going to turn out wonderful. Finally, I love this picture because of its symbolism. There is something magical and timelessness about an open road, with our futures and all of life’s possibilities in front of us. As Becca and I walked down this road, hand in hand, I was certain that I had found that special someone to walk this road of life with me, which is why I love this picture.

Becca – Let me tell you about my sister.  She’s awesome.  But she is awesome in a “I wear skinny jeans and Chuck Taylors every day, play the guitar, and get tattoos in my spare time” kind of way.  She does not, I repeat, does NOT wear dresses.   But she took one for the team on our wedding day, and she looked beautiful.  She even held off on getting her latest tattoo so she wouldn’t make our pictures too “rock star.”  I love this photo not necessarily because of how gorgeous she looked, but because of how it makes me feel.  She had no clue Jenny was taking this photo and the look on her face almost brings me to tears because to me it says “I can’t believe my big sister is getting married, I love her so much even though we fought every day growing up, I’m proud of her, I’m so excited to be getting a brother, and of course, when can I take off this dress?”  This photo reminds me of why people get married and start families in the first place.  We do it so that one day sisters can look at each other like this.  We do it so that the people most dear to us can share in something special.  We do it to start something special that will hopefully result in someone looking at our children like this on their wedding day.

Kyle – I love this picture because of its emotional weight. I see not only two sisters with love, pride, and happiness, but also two people with an unbreakable bond. This photo gives me hope that no matter what struggles emerge in the lives of these two people, I know that they will always be there for each other, and it motivates me to be someone who my new family can lean on.

Josh – Becca informed me that it was a coincidence that they picked out one of the same images.  Which is pretty amazing to me considering they had over 900 to choose from