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Healing and Happiness A Spur Cross Arizona Destination Micro Wedding

Bridal, Elopement, Weddings

October 12, 2022

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Hi there! Welcome to the Fully Alive Photography blog, a journal about our clients, shoots, and my own personal life. Stay a while and say hello!

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Healing and Happiness A Spur Cross Destination Micro Wedding

Healing and Happiness A Spur Cross Arizona Destination Micro Wedding

Healing and Happiness A Spur Cross Arizona Destination Micro Wedding.

Either it’s my age, or something in the water, but I’ve noticed I’ve been photographing a good number of not only “micro-weddings” (aka a small intimate wedding of 50ish guests) but second marriage micro-weddings.

Ummm what is a micro-wedding you might ask? Brides Magazine says it’s defined as

“A micro wedding is an intimate affair, typically with no more than 50 guests. They still feature time-honored traditions that make a wedding but on a much smaller scale.”

brides.com

But the craziest part is, like I mentioned, most of them have been second marriages for very close friends! And I’m HERE for it! I featured my dear friend Ali’s wedding on HERE a few years ago, and then BOTH of my besties from colleges’ seconds weddings just this past year HERE & HERE. And now I’m incredibly honored to show off another micro-wedding for yet another dear friend!

I am pretty sure it’s my age and the season of life I am in.

Now in my 40’s with most of my friends there or approaching I have seen more divorce, more healing, and more happiness! I have watched my friends get married in their 20’s, struggle in their 30’s and say enough is enough by close to 40. And as such, my opinion on marriage has changed significantly.

What I have discovered is that love is love and ALWAYS worth going for.

The high divorce rate doesn’t mean you don’t get married or let it tarnish your wedding day with fear. NO! You LOVE with all your heart. You jump, you find joy, you live life. But if for some reason it’s not life-giving anymore…maybe it’s toxic and pulling everyone under, maybe it’s holding you or your partner back? Maybe it’s just sucking the very life out of you. Whatever the reason may be, if you have given it your all, worked on yourself and it’s just not there… well then it’s time to move forward.

You only have ONE life friends. ONE. And it’s worth healing, growing, and finding happiness of some sort!

So today I am SO happy to show off these life giving incredibly fun shots of my dear friend Nate’s micro-wedding to a fabulous lady I am SO proud to now call friend. This was such an incredible day for them but also for me.

To take a long story and attempt to make it short (which is VERY hard for a verbal processor like me)…

I have known Nate since 2002 when him and I met outside our first semester of art classes at Illinois State.

We were in almost every class together and of course with my spazzy friendly personality I called him friend immediately. He was the tall shy guy but we didn’t care. We brought him into our herd. Nate ended up getting married a few years later and they started their own photography company about the same time as I started mine. So naturally my Nate (husband) and I asked them to photograph our wedding. We spent the next 15 years as good friends, celebrating holidays together and even helping each other out as second shooters for our clients sometimes when needed. But then a few years ago things just weren’t going well for his marriage and it ended up in a sad rocky end. Nate wanted to escape Illinois and find a new life, so we welcomed him into our home with open arms one fateful spring. Then Covid happened. lol.

And we all ended up stuck together for MONTHS in our not that big 3 bedroom home.

Think 2 Nates working from home, me & my assistant, a super hyper ADHD 8 year old homeschooling and then between us all we had 3 cats… all stuck together though Covid in this house. Day in and day out for MONTHS. But we did it! So let’s just say our friendship got all sorts of close! We watched and hugged Nate go through the stages of grief after his divorce and watched him bloom when he carefully put himself back out there after that. I’m so proud of Nate and how he handled life. How he chose healing and chose a path of happiness after all that pain.

It’s crazy to look back and realize I’ve been friends with this man close to 20 years.

So needless to say I’m invested in his happiness and life! I couldn’t be happier that he met and fell in love with Brittany. This women is such a perfect fit for Nate. She is RADIATING with life and joy. So this wedding day was near & dear to my heart. And I couldn’t be any prouder to show off these photos.

My heart is warm just as I sit here and write this blog. Please enjoy and leave some love in the comments!

Healing and Happiness A Spur Cross Arizona Destination Micro Wedding

Healing and Happiness A Spur Cross Arizona Destination Micro Wedding
Healing and Happiness A Spur Cross Arizona Destination Micro Wedding
Healing and Happiness A Spur Cross Arizona Destination Micro Wedding
Healing and Happiness A Spur Cross Arizona Destination Micro Wedding
Healing and Happiness A Spur Cross Arizona Destination Micro Wedding
Healing and Happiness A Spur Cross Arizona Destination Micro Wedding
Healing and Happiness A Spur Cross Arizona Destination Micro Wedding
Healing and Happiness A Spur Cross Arizona Destination Micro Wedding
Healing and Happiness A Spur Cross Arizona Destination Micro Wedding
Healing and Happiness A Spur Cross Arizona Destination Micro Wedding
Healing and Happiness A Spur Cross Arizona Destination Micro Wedding
Healing and Happiness A Spur Cross Arizona Destination Micro Wedding
Healing and Happiness A Spur Cross Arizona Destination Micro Wedding

Healing and Happiness A Spur Cross Destination Micro Wedding

See More Wedding Features CLICK HERE

Pinterest Arizona Wedding Inspiration- Click Here.

  1. fullyalive says:

    AWWWW this is SOOO sweet of you! I just LOVE comments on here! Thank you for taking the time to leave me some love. I’m so lucky to call Nate a friend for so long!

  2. Kathy Bridges says:

    Tracy, your photos are incredible and depict the joy and happiness that was so evident on Nate and Brittany’s wedding day. And your kind words of true friendship brought tears to my eyes – thank you for being such a sweet friend to Nathan. ❤️

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I'm Tracy and I'm so happy you're here. This blog a journal about our clients, shoots and my own personal life! Stay awhile, leave a comment, or say hi!

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