Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Worth 1,000 Words: Emilie Anne Hendryx of E.A. Creative Photography

The featured photo: 
Bride: Angela Blount, Groom: Paul Blount
Wedding Photographer: Emilie Anne Hendryx

What true loves meant to Angela on her wedding day and what it means now:


"The day I got married I was focused on how much I loved my soon to be husband and how much that love had changed me and him into better people. I was devoting myself to building a life with this person, and was looking forward to how much our love would continue to change us for the better."

"I've only been married for eight months now but it's amazing how much my view of that love has changed. I still love my husband very much and even more so than the day we were married but I've also learned a lot about the kind of love that's required if it's going to last a lifetime. Grace is a chief requirement for a marriage to have a chance. Not that I wasn't aware of this before, but now am uniquely attuned to just how imperfect my husband and I both are."

"I'm still devoted to building a life with my husband but more importantly I'm devoted to my husband. To loving him and supporting him as he strives to improve himself and become the man I know God created him to be, as he has graciously done the same for me."


*The groom was not available for comment. 

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What Love Means as a Wedding Photographer
By Emilie Hendryx | Owner/Photographer at E.A. Creative Photography

The music changes. Everyone stands. All eyes are on her.

She steps into his line of sight and I immediately turn my camera on to his face. The look of joy, astonishment at her beauty, and pure love that’s reflected there often makes me tear up. Then I turn back to her, capturing her journey down the isle to exchange one name for another, commit her life to his, and seal it all with a kiss. 

I love weddings and, working as a wedding photographer, I’ve gotten to see all sides of them. The good, the bad, and the beautiful. The one thing that has been consistent through all of the weddings that I’ve captured is the reality of love between the groom and his bride. Yes, it looks different outwardly, but I’d hazard a guess to say it is very similar inwardly. A type of love that bypasses conventional wisdom in some cases, that over-looks flaws, and that preservers to the uniting of two hearts.

I get the behind-the-scenes look. It’s actually one of the tenants that I build my business on—the reality that I’m not just the couples photographer, I’m their friend capturing images that will act as tangible memories for the rest of their lives. With that, I get to see everything. I hate to break it to you ladies who may not be married yet, but your wedding likely won’t go off “without a hitch”. That doesn’t have to be a bad thing though! I once did a wedding where a caterer didn’t show up…they ordered pizza and it was a chance for everyone to do dessert first!

The fact is, the wedding day—though a joyous occasion and celebration—is just that, one day. A marriage is forever. And for that forever to work, the foundation has to be love. Not the kind of love you feel one day and it’s gone the next. Not the kind of love that burns passionate and fizzles out. Not even the kind of love that is based on who the person is right then and there. No, it’s a different kind of love.

This kind of love is durable. It can be stretched. It will be tested. It sees with clear eyes to the heart of who the person really is and delves deeper than what can be seen on the surface or acknowledged in a few conversations. This love says that it will take everything—good days and bad, sickness and health, poverty and wealth—because it’s a commitment.

This type of love is a choice.

I’m idealistic and a true romantic at heart, but I have come to realize that I can’t believe love rests on a feeling. If it did, I think I’d be anxious all the time because with one wrong move, that love would be gone because feelings change so often. But realizing that love is a choice means that there is hope. Hope of a sustaining, lasting love.

When a bride says, “I do” to her groom, she knows that those words cover the ups and the downs. They cover her in the morning without makeup on or him forgetting to take out the trash. They cover experiencing the death of loved ones, loss of finances, or natural disasters. They also cover the beautiful times like candlelit dinners, faraway vacations, and the birth of a child.

That is what I see love as. Sustaining, enduring, and ultimately based on Christ’s love for us. We have the perfect example in Him and, through his perfect grace, we can exhibit the type of love that lasts forever.

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends."~1 Corinthians 13:4-8a


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Photographer bio:
Emilie lives in Washington, D.C. and fills her time with creative pursuits. She writes, runs a wedding & portrait photography business, reads, plays guitar, and drinks too much coffee. 

She’s a member of ACFW and is currently working on a romantic suspense series while dreaming up a YA dystopian world on the side. 

You can also check out her writing blog, Thinking Thoughts.

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