Those Who Stood

It was not a crowd. It was not a ballroom. It was not rows and rows of chairs filled with noise.

It was those who stood.

Right under an arch I had found that same morning.

When we checked in the day prior, I asked where we could get married, and they showed us a very small waterfall. It was tucked away and sweet, but all night I kept thinking about it. How would we look standing in front of that tiny waterfall? We would look huge. I started spiraling a little. Maybe this is not it, maybe we need a plan B.

I was discussing it with the photographer all morning. She was local to Santa Fe, and we were brainstorming places that would photograph beautifully behind our vows. My husband was googling, calling, trying to help solve it. I needed a break. I needed coffee. It was still early I thought to myself.

We were staying at Las Palomas, a tiny village style hotel in Santa Fe where everything required stepping outside. I walked out my door, turned my head to the left, and there it was.

The arch.

An arch made of leaves and branches, grown together like it had been waiting. Natural, quiet, perfect. I just stood there for a second. That was it. That was the place. The place where we promised forever.

Right before it started, Pastor Manny asked, if we were ready. And My husband looked down at himself and realized he was still wearing a black and white checkered shirt. It suddenly felt too dark for the moment. He ran inside to change into white. Clean, simple, ceremony ready. The second we kissed and said “I do,” he changed right back into his black and white shirt. Which honestly worked out perfectly because we were able to get those solo bridal shots in before he came back the second time.

Santa Fe held us in that courtyard like it knew something important was about to happen. Pastor Manny stood beneath the arch facing us, the way a pastor does when he is about to bind two people together before God. My husband and I faced each other the entire time. We held hands so tight. His hands were shaking. Mine were clammy. I had little pearls of sweat on my upper lip and I kept thinking, “am I going to look sweaty in these photos?”

Pastor Manny was so soft spoken that the camera shutter was louder than his voice. All I could really hear was the clicking. Click. Click. Click. The sound of moments being captured while vows were being spoken.

The second Pastor Manny opened his mouth to begin, the photographer began shooting. She did not miss a single second. She moved quietly from side to side, behind my brother and his wife, careful and focused.

My brother Thy  stood catty corner to my right holding my two year old. She was so calm, so quiet. Almost like she understood something meaningful was taking place. She just watched. Fully invested. Witnessing.

It was me, My husband, My toddler, Thy and Cilly, Pastor Manny, and the photographer.

Those who stood.

We were so locked into each other, so wrapped in what God was doing in that moment, that we did not even notice my brother recording. That is how quiet they were. That is how intimate it felt. No performance. Just covenant.

We said our vows, we kissed, everyone cheered. My husband opened the champagne and it sprayed so high into the air, we laughed like children and watched the cork fly high. We said cheers. The photographer kept capturing every second, even the champagne mist hanging in the sunlight.

Then we hugged Pastor Manny, we said goodbye to the photographer after she offered to follow us to dinner. I could cry thinking about that part. We said no, we are just going to eat. As if dinner was not also part of the story.

We walked away married, with very little footage of what came next because apparently I thought we did not need a photographer to eat.

But that morning coffee walk, that arch, and most importantly, those witnesses is why I made this piece.

Three white pearls in the center symbolize me, my husband, and our toddler. Because at the heart of it, it was us becoming one.

Two turquoise pearls to the right symbolize Thy and Cilly.

Two turquoise pearls to the left symbolize Pastor Manny and the photographer.

White for purity. Turquoise for the sky above Santa Fe and the calm that covered us.

Those Who Stood is not about a guest list. It is about presence. It is about the ones who physically stood there and the God who stood between us holding everything together.

Some weddings are large.

Ours was intimate.

And this beadwork carries that moment forever.