On December 18th, 2015 my little brother got married in the Payson UT, LDS Temple. This is the last marriage for my parents. Though I do not believe parenting is ever over, when your children are all married off, and in LDS culture - married in the temple, it is a sigh of relief and a passage into the next chapter of life. Now at the ripe old age of 53 & 56 my parents are focusing on retirement and grandchildren.
This marriage also signifies what may be the last wedding I ever have to shoot! My Camera (Pentax K10D) was purchased for me by my parents in 2007. After my first year of College and before my oldest sister's wedding. My parents figured I would need a digital camera for school and that it would also serve as paying a photographer for all the weddings to come. And that's just what it did. This camera got me through the BFA program, a photography study abroad in Scotland and all three of my siblings' weddings. It is a little worse for wear. It has gone a lot of places and seen a lot of things. It has a bit of a focusing problem I just can't shake and it seems like now with advancements in photography technology a lot of people's phone cameras have better iso capabilities than my old dslr. But it still serves its purpose fine, and I am grateful that parents bought it for me.
Let's talk about the Bride and Groom shall we? They met in one of Caleb's classes his first semester at BYU. Ian and I put together and registered Caleb for all of his first semester classes while he was on his mission, so you could say they met because of us...
As is customary, they got married during Christmas break to accommodate housing for the following semester at BYU. We took some shots of the two of them the day before the wedding to lighten up the workload to be done on the wedding day itself. On the 18th (the wedding day) there were something like 80 weddings going through the Payson Temple. It was busy but the temple workers had it all under control and people are generally happy at weddings so it was all fine. After the wedding itself and taking a few family and wedding party photos we had a luncheon down the street. Then we cleaned that up, changed the children, packed our bags, and ran like mad to Moab, UT (Becca's home town) for a reception that night.
In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints we get married in Temples because they are The House of the Lord. We don't make promises to our spouse 'til death do us part but we make covenants to our spouse and our Heavenly Father for Time and All Eternity. Like all covenants made with the Lord they come with special blessings that don't just bless the spouses but also the posterity of the family. We believe that families can be together forever. What a comfort that has been in my life.
At Becca and Caleb's wedding the sealer (the priesthood holder who performs the wedding is also known as a sealer because he seals spouses and families together for time and all eternity) said something like "At this wedding altar you are sacrificing all your personal priorities for a larger more eternal priority of family," I should have written it down sooner. That struck me because I often feel like I have sacrificed a great deal and I'm sure mothers and even some fathers all around the world feel that too. It was good to get the reminder why mothers do what they have to do, maybe not what they want to do. And why fathers work so hard, when maybe they don't want to work that hard. A reminder that there is a time and a season for everything, and priorities in life. That we make these sacrifices of personal goals and aspirations momentarily for the most important priorite of all, Family.
