Happy Love Day! First of all, THANK YOU for all the submissions and comments that you have sent from the blog, facebook, and privately! We are so humbled to read all the stories from all of the submissions. Your stories confirm that this offering is not just a contest for fun, but a blessing & wonderful gift for many of you. Without further ado…. let me introduce the winner! Here’s their story:

My name is Noelle and my fiance’s name is Kenny. We met, of all places, in the third and fourth grade. I remember I would make fun of him for picking his nose and in band class, he would empty the spit out of his trombone valve very near my shoe and it would make me so mad. After fourth grade, we lost contact, as I moved to a different school but in the last year of college, I found Kenny on facebook, and we got back in touch after my sister convinced me to text him.

We both remembered each other from grade school and it was surreal for both of us to meet up again after twelve years. But it was so wonderful and beautiful how the Lord orchestrated everything and helped us grow together. We started courting (old fashioned, but we did) after two months of getting reacquainted, and we have been growing together ever since. We have been though our share of difficulties, with family members being in the hospital, my mother having trouble with the law, and being apart from each other for months at a time.

In these times, the only thing getting us through was knowing the faithfulness of God, trusting that He would get us through, and how much we love each other. Something I love about our relationship is that when we have the chance we pray together to re-center and re-focus our relationship on Him.

One of the worst moments was when we had an important discussion that we were not sure would turn out in our favor, but we knew that it had to be discussed to determine where our relationship would go. Obviously it turned out well, because now we are getting married.

One of the happiest moments we have had was when Kenny came home after being a teacher in Vietnam for 6 months. I did not know that he was coming home early, and on a weekend visit to his family’s house, he surprised me by coming home that weekend. I remember laughing and crying and just holding him, being thankful to God that he was home with me and home safely.

We are not perfect, but I can say with honesty that I cannot wait to commit myself before God for life to my best friend and the man I love more than life itself on March 14th. And I know that Kenny would say the same.

We would truly be appreciative and grateful for this gift of photography, because we are on a tight budget, and this would be such a blessing. If another more deserving couple receives it, though, we will be more than happy for them. Thank you for your time and blessings to all those couples who enter!

Thanks again everyone for supporting us! I’m looking forward to shoot Noelle + Kenny wedding soon! ^_^