03 • 18 • 21

JUSTIN + KATIE | OUR WEDDING STORY IN THE MIDDLE OF A PANDEMIC

Lord, You GIVE & TAKE AWAY !

When I think about Justin + I’s wedding day, it’s the number one soundtrack that plays constantly in my head & heart, “Lord, You Give + Take Away”. To be honest, I wouldn’t even say it is my ‘favorite worship song’, but it’s the worship song we chose to sing at our wedding during the ceremony because it was the most accurate cry of our heart during this season of life. The Lord gave me the man of my dreams, yet stripped away so many other desires of my heart. It’s as if he stripped away everything else to help us focus on the foundation of marriage & what our wedding would be all about. What a wild adventure 2020 was for everyone! Never, in my wildest dreams, did I think I would get married in the middle of a pandemic. Oh, the irony of being a wedding photographer for TEN years before I had my own wedding, only to find myself in the middle of a pandemic. While Justin did not mind a 10-person guest list/pandemic wedding, nothing crushed my soul more than the restrictions they placed on weddings. Everyone who knows me, knows the wedding guest list was probably the most important part to me. It’s why I chose the venue I did because they allowed up to 350 guests. People and relationships are EVERYTHING to me & I was getting married during a time in history where the government had complete control of how many people I was allowed to invite. A time in history where the dance floor was ‘shut down’ — y’all know I love the wobble & the dance floor. I’ve probably danced on more dance floors in the past ten years & I may not be able to hit my OWN dance floor? God taught me a lot in learning to sit with my hands wide open. That we can ‘plan’ all we want, but all of it is just temporary on this side of heaven. I constantly had to surrender our wedding & sit in a heart posture that focused more on the meaning of Justin & I’s marriage than the wedding day itself… but i’ll admit, it hurt, a lot. Nothing came too easy in the planning process as the regulations were constantly changing. Covid affected so many decisions & choices we had to make. Even when I went dress shopping, they would tell me I could only choose from certain racks because they could not guarantee any shipment would be coming in because everything was up in the air with COVID & trade. While I loved my dress, I don’t know that I would genuinely say it was my ‘dream dress’, but I had limited options when I went shopping. The shoes I tried to order were never restocked, I couldn’t go to malls for the longest time to try on other shoes or find jewelry. Our initial videographer & good friend had to cancel a month before our wedding due to the PGA moving their schedule, which I 100% understood. My maid of honor had a hard time finding a dress & bought a new one 2 weeks before my wedding, hoping it would work. The best man’s suit came in 2 weeks before the wedding. My first bridal shower was ‘cancelled’ for celebrating in person & again, if you know me, that was devastating. I’m definitely NOT the person who would rather have a drive-by shower, not wanting to entertain all the people — I LOVE to entertain & just sit with people. So many dear friends couldn’t come to my bachelorette party & I had my pity party about that too. These are only a few of the bumps in the road that made this season not exactly ‘ideal’ for my vision! When I say this season of life was extremely humbling, I’m only touching the surface here. At the end of the day, it is okay to go through hard things & I know that. I know that even in the thwarting, God is working all things for our good & he is refining my character, my heart, and desires. All of this was extremely hard for me because I was stripped of some of my deepest desires, only causing me to lean in to Christ even more. I truly don’t say all of this to say ‘woe is me’ because last year was hard for EVERYONE in some way. I’m admitting this was very hard & it was hard because I had to stop making our wedding about the production of it & making it ‘THEE THING’ . I think no matter what season of life we are in (dating, a wedding, children), ‘we are all guilty of making it THEE THING because sometimes we are not convinced God is good or life is good unless THEE THING happens as you/we think it should’ (quoted/paraphrased from Jada Edwards). I was faced with the question, ‘Do you believe God is still good even if you can’t have your way? Even if he allows these things to happen & it stings?’. I’m a wedding photographer & I love documenting all the pretty details & the perfect venue and so on, but God had to grace me with a healthy DETACHMENT from ‘thee thing’ to redirect my focus on the meaning of marriage. Justin + I believe God uses marriage as the picture of Christ & the church, and we know saying ‘I Do’ carries weight. We want & desire to be good stewards of this GIFT of marriage.

We decided to NOT change our wedding date. Justin and I knew we would get married July 19th no matter what. We had no idea what that would look like for quite some time, but knew that’s what we’re doing. After a painful planning season, God, in His kindness, opened new doors. Come June 1st, all wedding events could gather 300 guests — We went from 10 to 300 over night?! Thank you, Jesus! The dance floors opened & masks were not mandatory. Our wedding was on a Sunday & the mask mandate went into effect the Tuesday after. I tell people all the time, somehow we slid under the radar, legally, of course! The irony for Justin came with all this ‘good news’ for me. He is quiet, hates the spotlight, doesn’t like to dance, gets drained from entertaining. Like I said before, he was not upset with the idea of only 10 guests at the wedding, but he knew how devastating it was for me. He sat with me in the pain & was the greatest support system. We both had to sit in our discomfort & lean in closer to the Lord. Justin was such a trooper come the day of our wedding. He entertained 250 guests, did a semi-choreographed dance in front of all of those people — did I I mention he HATES to dance? The song we danced to was literally called “I don’t Dance” – HAHA! He woke up to do a SUNRISE First LOOK ! Oh, he is such a gem & truly tends to my heart better than anyone. Justin told me the night of our wedding that he thoroughly enjoyed our entire wedding day & wish more people could have made it! Did you read that? He wanted more people !!! God does perform miracles, folks 😉 I love my man!

Now that I’ve given a glimpse into what it was like & how we were feeling leading up to the wedding, let’s get to the BIG day !!! Enough sad talk, but God is indeed GOOD & worth of all praise for this day! Our wedding day truly was GORGEOUS & so many people came despite COVID. I truly can’t tell you how much that meant to us. People from 9 different states were there & loved on us & celebrated us so well. I truly felt God’s favor was upon us as we learned of zero cases, hugged one another, worshiped alongside our brothers & sisters, and danced the night away. We had people in tears telling us how life giving our wedding day was because they had not been in Church since March & felt like they went to church the day of our wedding. People told us ‘this has been the best thing to take place since COVID & what a celebration the enemy can’t even stop’ ! We felt so loved by everyone who attended. It actually made us so sad for those who couldn’t because of Covid. Some of my BEST friends couldn’t even attend — BUT we will treasure the memories we have with all of our people who could attend!

As mentioned above, Justin & I started our wedding off with a sunrise first look. My matron of honor, McKenzie was a complete gems as she got up to help me get ready at 4 AM! Did I mentioned she found out she was pregnant a couple months before our wedding? Just adding to the story line 😉 A huge shoutout to our vendors, Hannah, Jer, and Ashley for even being willing to capture all of this at such an hour. We went to our videographer’s house that was nearby for the first look. She had a garden, which is like a sanctuary for me & you will see so many of those photos ! Justin, being a farmer, I love that we could get photos in the corn. God is in every detail. He gave us a gorgeous golden hour. During our first look, I washed Justin’s feet as a symbol of humility, mirroring Jesus when he washed the disciples feet. We spent so much time together on our wedding day & it was so special. It was not rushed & it was the best part of the day. AND I got to wear a hat for my first look. I was that bride who had 2 looks & 2 pairs of shoes for her wedding day !

After our first look & portrait time, we eventually headed to the venue & I started to get ready AGAIN – ha! I have SO many shoutouts to give to amazing friends, family & vendors who made this day look & flow so smoothly. We heard more about our ceremony than anything else. Erin Russo + Ashley Thompson wrote a poem about Justin + I’s love story (At the very bottom of this post, I will attach a copy of the poem.). They are so creative. Erin read part of it to us on the phone back in January of 2020 & we were in awe of the way she communicated it all. We knew she + her twin HAD to read this at our wedding. I really wanted it to kick off the ceremony, like before Justin or I stood in front of everyone. To us, it really set the tone & helped tell our story to those we had not been able to see yet because of Covid. I can’t tell you how many people came up to us & said they looked around and saw so many people & grown men crying during the reading of the poem. It was simply beautiful… The poem was followed by me walking down the aisle to Justin as we were led in worship by none other than Jordan Rife. Finally, worshiping all together since March & it was POWERFUL, oh so POWERFUL! After we were pronounced husband & wife, we immediately went into our first dance, followed by dinner, pie cutting & ice cream, and then the dance floor. Fun fact, Snyders are ice cream snobs (in the best way) & we ended up getting married on National Ice Cream day with an ice cream truck! That was honestly unintentional, but a fun detail.

A handful of ‘thank-you’ below :::

Kelly Moses — Everything designed for our wedding from save the dates, invitations, thank-you, programs, table numbers, popcorn favor design… Not to mention everything she did running around doing the day of the wedding that I do not know about. Kelly came on Thursday evening to keep me sane, make decisions for my indecisive soul, and take charge of things I didn’t want to be in charge of. She picked up programs, drove down to Columbus to pick up my hat & more importantly, she left her husband & babies for 3.5 whole days to help with the wedding !

Patti Evans — Where to begin with Patti. She is so intentional & creative and just gifted in throwing parties. She decorated the cross for our wedding, the mantle, displayed the entire dessert table, welcome table, gift table & so much more. She is someone I completely trust when it comes to executions. I do not even need to go look and ‘approve’ if I know Patti is doing something. She is so faithful to the Lord’s leading & therefore, I trust her completely.

Ashlin Hundley + Pam Miller — Oh these lovely ladies took complete control of my favors & centerpieces and let me tell you — they were a God send. My tables looked beautiful because of them & my favors were perfect because of them.. They spent so much time in preparation for the wedding day & I’m so thankful !

Dawn Miller — Thank you for doing hair for the wedding day last minute – we all loved it & you were the sweetest addition to hang with in the bridal suite !

Jess McMahon + Haley Kuschman — Such dear friends who were around all morning the day of the wedding taking care of details, tying eucalyptus on the aisles, doing my make-up, praying over me ! You ladies were wonderful & I’m so glad you were there all day. Haley also planned my Bachelorette party with Hannah & made me feel SO LOVED!

Jordan Rife — AMAZING Wedding Singer. My goodness, you have always been my top pick & you brought CHURCH my friend.

Hannah ROSE Gray — My dear friend who we LOVED capturing our wedding day. The one I spent most of my entire wedding day with & LOVED it. Thank you for waking up early 😉

Jackie Gray — Hannah’s mama who supplied us with breakfast at the hotel in Findlay. It was delicious & so thoughtful.

Jer Nelsen — 2nd Photographer to Hannah, who came last minute, hit a deer on his way & brought so much equipment ! You were wonderful.

Ashley Ray — Our lovely videographer, who was the sweetest. She let us use her property in the morning & got up at sunrise !

Jeff Stuttler – Hands down the BEST DJ out there !! !

Jenny Converse + Peggy Hayes – THANK YOU for making our delicious wedding Peanut Butter Pie to cut into.

Tiffany Nicholson, Emily McElroy, Mary Jane Swartzentruber, Marilyn Hassinger, Faith Stoltzfus — you ladies made my dessert bar taste SO yummy!!! THANK YOU for your baking skills & labor.

Erin Russo + Ashley Thompson — Thank you for writing our love story in the most beautiful way, starting our ceremony off & making all the grown men cry at our wedding with your poem.

Pastor Aaron Taylor — THANK YOU for performing our wedding ceremony. We had so many people tell us ‘He’s SO good. Best wedding ceremony ever’ & we said, ‘we know He’s good!’ 🙂 If you’re in Dublin/Powell, check out Living Hope Church

Mark’s Homemade Ice Cream — Thank you for helping us celebrate our Wedding Day on National Ice Cream day ! I mean, how fitting?

Will + Faith Stoltzfus, Marilyn Hassinger, Zach Kratowicz, Derek + Maryiann Wright, and Jamie Miller — THANK YOU for serving our food & our guests !

Adam Wixtead + McKenzie Price — our best man & matron of honor, THANK YOU for everything from hosting bachelor parties to bridal showers & standing beside us on the most important day of our marriage

Last, but NOT least, we want to thank our parents — Dale + Marla Snyder, thank you for everything, a lovely rehearsal dinner & delicious ice cream 😉 . Matt + Connie Haller, thank you for the gift of a wedding day & everything that went into it. We are forever thankful for your hard work, support & love.

I’m sure I forgot some people & I’m SO SORRY if I did, but we could not have pulled this celebration off without ALL of you!! What a gift it is to live in community.

And now, onto the GORGEOUS photos by Hannah + Jer with a video to follow by Ashley !