Over the Moon Session - Hannah and Terry
DFW Wedding Photographer Photo Archives
It’s day two of the archives, and I’m already in tears.
Hannah and Terry - both career military. In their seven years of marriage, they have been stationed apart many times over, but their hearts appear never to have been closer.
Just the other day, Terry posted on Facebook about when they became friends on there, stating, “I still remember asking for your Facebook *heart eye emoji*” - a little glimpse into the lives they share years after their wedding.
I offered Over the Moon Sessions back then, and I still do. It’s where we meet up after the honeymoon, hence the over-the-moon part, and you can either get all gussied up again and relive your big day memories without all the rush, or you can come dressed in different clothes while starting to write the next chapter of your lives.
Hannah and Terry wanted to capture the last bit of time they had left before deployment that fall in 2017, so that’s what we did.
Meeting at a park in the middle of Denton, Texas, the town they fell in love, exploring the beauty of fall, talking about their plans, their hopes, their dreams, and wrapping up with an attempt to read private vows that ended in just reading silently because their voices got all choked up and they couldn’t speak.
It was a beautiful beginning to a marriage, a “ta-ta, so long love of my life” in a way. I only share a few to honor that time and space.
Hannah comes home from another deployment soon; for her safety, I won’t say when, but to think of the sacrifice she and Terry make each time.
Their story is not yet fully written, but chapters are illustrated, and here is a glimpse into one of them.
The one lesson I have learned from Hannah and Terry it that true love is patient, long-suffering, and full of hope and dreams.
I am honored to have been their wedding photographer, to get to watch their story as it unfolds. It's what I love most about being a wedding photographer: it's better than the cinema, romance novels, and love songs combined. Yes, even better than if Jane Austin, Dear John, and Louis Armstrong had a baby.
Because your love is real to me, as palpable as the early morning breeze here in Texas in summer or the ground when I walk. We long for that, every one of us - that feeling you get when you see true love really does exist.
Until next blog,
Annie Shannon
DFW Wedding Photographer
Hablo Español, learning ASL
Forever a cursive writer
P.S. There is something so vulnerable about this process - sharing what I have yet to share with you on the blog -7 years after the fact. Like a part of me is being reborn, a part of me is throwing caution to the wind and giving you all I have been and all I have produced and created with my blood, sweat, and tears. No longer shrouded in shame of not being just like my favorite photographers but kind and accepting, and, dare I say, obsessed with where I was back then and being oh so excited for where I am now: broken, but like a jar of clay, put back together for Christ to shine gently and softly, and sometimes boldly for the world to see. And darling, I want to be part of that journey for you; I want to illustrate what you’re writing till the day I go blind or die, whichever comes first.
