Mary Dudley and Trey.

It’s pretty rare that I show up on a wedding weekend having never met the bride, the groom, or any of their friends and family. Leave it to Mrs. Mary Dudley to search the globe (the Southeastern United States) and find my wedding portfolio during the start of a pandemic. After having to Google search the “Mississippi Delta,” and a quick phone call to hear about her wedding vision, I was immediately drawn to Mary Dudley and her desire to have the small moments captured on her wedding day. (And I couldn’t wait to meet her mother, Mrs. Kim whom she said had quite the eye for photography as well.)

And she didn’t disappoint. The wedding weekend I walked into was a little glimpse of the community of people who’ve prayed for both Mary Dudley and Trey since they were little. Prayers that everyone agreed had been answered because of the evidence of the Lord at work in both of their lives. A pair of kids who grew up just across the highway from each other yet didn’t meet until Trey’s sister rushed in the same sorority as MD and took it upon herself to have them meet and fall in love - although Trey is the one who really took matters into his own hands and asked her out before the final “OK” from his sister that MD would be interested. Good choice, Trey!

Just a year and some pennies later and they were engaged, Trey moved in with his future in-laws and helped them with their family farm during a trying season of the pandemic, and I’m sure there were a lot of great times with them in the Pillow home. From my wallflower point of view, these two families couldn’t be happier to have a marriage bring them closer together.

Mary Dudley. She could give the most stunning soft gaze into the camera, and then immediately fall into a fit of laughter and confused faces as though she were clueless as to how great she wore the title “bride”. From what I can tell, she is humble, kind, quick to seek out others who are in need of friendship, and a beautiful picture of the Lord’s grace in her life. Trey gave me quite an impressive first impression as he stood up at the end of the rehearsal dinner - at a little bit of a loss for what to say - but chose to praise his parents for their investment in his life and their desire for him to choose Jesus. I had tears in my eyes as I listened to the words that reverberated in that room, a plea for their guests to be reminded of how good God is, and how important it is to walk with Him every day. If there wasn’t anyone else there who heard it, I definitely did and the authenticity of that toast has rung in my head each time I think of the Bozeman wedding weekend. The next day I finally got to witness the sweetness of their relationship and I loved capturing their love! They would giggle and fall closely into each other, wrap each other up and enjoy the closeness. A+ from me.

Small town Mississippi, big time celebration. The Pillow and the Bozemans know how to have a good time!