The Wedding Giveaway Winners! | Dallas Wedding Photographer

I am so excited, honored and happy to announce the winners for the wedding giveaway that I posted about last month. The entries were wonderful but Mackenzie and Becky’s story is just so heart stopping and lovely, I couldn’t think of anything better that I could do than to give them the wedding images of their dreams.

Both Mackenzie and Becky are soldiers in the US Army and are on tour in Afghanistan right now. Soldiers have a special place in my heart and hearing their love story just solidifies my respect for them as a couple and as people.

Mackenzie explains it best with her love story that she sent me, here are a few paragraphs from it (prepare yourself for some tears)

“The moment I laid eyes on her, it’s like everything seemed to stop. As cliche as that sounds, this hallmark type moment carried me away into the cloud nine experience every little girl dreams of. She was THE ONE God made just for me and that we were meant to be together. Not only did He place this woman in front of me as a gift, she also brought me back to Him. With her, it’s like I knew that I was loved and that God loved me so much that He took the time to make this beautiful woman my wife one day. What a true blessing. It’s as if I was dead up until this happened; how could I be so deserving?

However, the issue lurking in the shadows seemed to hang for the majority of our relationship…DADT. How was I supposed to conceal our relationship and the love I had and felt for this woman for fear of losing my lively hood? There was no question that I was willing to give it all up for her…this love is all I wanted and nothing could stand in the way of it. We stand to defend freedom, even with our lives, yet we have to be quiet…how can this even be right? But through hours of talk, we knew we just had to do it for both each other and the commitment we had to our country. We began a long distance relationship that endured all the hardships one could imagine for 3 years, but in silence and seclusion. When we could visit each other, we could not embrace each other at the airport or even merely hold each others hands in public. Everything behind closed doors…and drawn windows…and walls. And although this caused enormous strain on our relationship, we made it through. Heck, I would even say we made the long distance thing look seemingly easy. We eventually found secret messages and languages we could pass along the social websites and in public. 

When DADT was finally lifted and it was like a curtain had been raised to present this amazing broadway musical to the public on an opening night. All the preparation and years put into working on our relationship was now ready to be presented to everyone, no matter what the critics said. And here we are today, 4  1/2 years later, stronger than ever. And though we are deployed now, once again doing the long distance thing, we are still making it look too easy. No amount of miles between us, no amount of stress or danger can sink us. She is my rock and strong pillar I lean on, and that keeps me focused and urges me to continue taking steps, even if small, to get back home. It’s so hard…many things we experience here, lets just be honest and say, it’s just so hard to endure and talk about. Never have I been so close to death but feel so alive because of the harsh reality we have had to face. Her constant emails, letters, and rare phone calls keep my heart grounded and is the one bit of beauty I can hold onto in such a place as this war. Because of our love, I am still alive today…I owe this to her.”

Mackenzie and Becky. I could not be any happier to give you this, congratulations again and let’s get ready for the wedding of your dreams!