Jerly and Matthew’s Saint Augustine engagement session is on the blog! These two adorable people are getting married in January and we could be more excited to document their special day!
When we first discussed locations for their engagement session, Jerly really wanted to shoot in Saint Augustine since that is where Matthew proposed. I love that she chose such a special place and we had so much fun walking around the Lightner Museum and downtown Saint Augustine!
Here are the images from their Saint Augustine engagement session:
Do you want to see one of our Saint Augustine beach engagement sessions? Click here!
Jerly and Matthew’s Love Story – Told by Jerly
For anyone feeling despair and loneliness being single, I hope that you take heart and hope that God has plan for your love story. Throughout my twenties, I was the “always a bridesmaid, never a bride” since I had been either a Maid of Honor or a Bridesmaid in over 10 weddings throughout those years. I had learned the joys and struggles of the single life all too well and went through a few heartbreaks along the way.
Even though love and marriage are incredibly beautiful, my fiancé and I are humbled and grateful for our journey together to this point but know that ultimately our only real happily ever after is to enjoy eternal life with our Savior in Heaven, for “to fall in love with God is the greatest of romances.” – G.K. Chesterton.
Our love story starts on an early Friday morning at 6:30am. Yes, you read right, 6:30AM! I had gotten a promotion at work, which changed my work schedule to work from nights to mornings and only left time for me to attend Daily Mass during the weekdays at 6:30am at one of the Catholic parishes near my office. Typically, when attending Daily Mass so early in the morning, there are far and few young people in attendance, so the day I first laid eyes on one young man (who was unbelievably handsome), I was a bit curious. My first thought was to not get ahead of myself and focus on the Mass, since I did not think I would find my future partner so early in the morning at Daily Mass. Little did I know that I would meet the amazing man who would become the love of my life: Matthew.
When I first noticed my now fiancé, Matthew, there was this pull that I had to him that made me want to just observe him whenever he was there to attend Mass, too. So, within 2 weeks of my new schedule, I admired Matthew from afar. We would exchange a cordial smile whenever we’d cross paths, but nothing more. I could tell there was sweetness about him, and from being my creepy self, observing from afar, I found out that he was a regular attendee since he knew quite a bit of the other regulars from having quick conversations with any one of them when Mass was finished.
One morning after Mass, I went to the Adoration Chapel to continue praying for a few minutes before leaving for work. Matthew did the same routine but would normally leave sooner than I would. I had an overwhelming sensation while in the chapel and thought to myself (as I was being creepy watching Matthew from afar lol), “Goodness, that guy seems so incredible, any woman would be so blessed to have him as her husband. Whoever that woman may be for him, I pray to God that they find each other soon.”
I could start to tell that Matthew was starting to notice me in a different way and could sense that he was planning to come up to talk to me after mass. One Friday morning, he finally did! Right after mass was done, I saw him leaving his pew to come towards the back, and since everyone else was leaving out the doors in the opposite direction, I knew he was making his way to me. Trying not to freak out, I tried to gather my belongings, and by the time I managed to stand up he was next to me and asked with the cutest smile, “Are you new to the area?” We continued talking outside the church and had a sweet introduction.
After that day, the whole weekend, I could not stop thinking about him. I was a little annoyed since I did not want to get ahead of myself in thinking he would be interested in me romantically, so I just kept trying to convince myself that even if he doesn’t at least I made a new friend.
The following week after we first met, we exchanged 2 quick, short conversations after Mass. After those conversations, I could tell he was interested in me romantically. In less than a week from the day we first met, Matthew came up to ask me out on a date!
He did not waste any time right after mass to come up to me and before I could even stand up to get out of my pew, he rushed over to me and nervously came close to my ear and softly asked, “Do you have any plans this weekend?” What was so funny was that right when he was trying to ask me out on a date, a woman with her 2 other family members sharply interrupted us and completely ignored the fact that we were in the middle of a conversation all so she could ask him if they knew mutual people from the company he works for. Since Matthew is an engineer and was wearing his company polo with their logo that day, they both established that they know the same people. As she was asking him more questions and with me being so nervous that he was trying to ask me out on a date, I wasn’t sure if I should leave or wait for them to be done, so since I was cornered against the wall and didn’t leave much room for me to slyly excuse myself past them, I decided to stay, and I am so happy I did!!
After they left, Matthew was finally able to formally ask me out on a date. I love to tell people that he asked me out in church in front of Jesus in the tabernacle! To me, it was so sweet, and so perfect. Whenever we reminisce about it, the whole situation of how he was rudely interrupted in the middle of him asking me out makes us laugh so hard! Matthew likes to tell his side that he had to build up the confidence to ask me out and had a song, “Somebody Else Will” in his head to give him the courage to go through with it, since the song’s message is that “somebody else will” get the chance with me if he doesn’t try.
Since then, we have fallen more and more deeply in love with each other as each day passes.
God has truly worked through our ups and downs throughout our relationship. We have faith that living out this Sacrament of Marriage the way God intended has truly blessed us as a couple. God’s plan for us so far has been so good, rich in beauty and grace. We are constantly encouraging and supporting each other to be better than we were yesterday and keeping God at the center of our relationship has allowed us to fully love each other in ways we never could have imagined possible.
With the blessings God has given us, we are excited to start this journey of Marriage to spend the rest of our lives together as husband and wife.
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