I realize that it’s almost March, and that we’re putting out our favorite wedding photos of 2014 a little later than we’d like, but it’s important because it was a big year and this modest collection of photos means a lot to us.

2014 was such a wonderful, stressful, exciting, uprooting, perspective-shifting and energizing year that I don’t even know how to write about it other than to throw down a bunch of adjectives. But, really, that’s just lazy.

We plunged ourselves into the deep December of 2013 when we left our life in Florida and moved to Durham, North Carolina. We went all in, selling our fantastic house, quitting the very good jobs we had each had for more than a decade as photojournalists for the Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers and most difficultly, saying goodbye to all the friends who had become family over the years.

We have big dreams for our new life here and goals to reach to help us get there. It’s been more difficult than we anticipated, and things have moved more slowly than we had imagined, but we’re patient and determined.

We had photographed weddings together while living in Florida. It was something that we did only occasionally, but we knew that we would be welcoming the opportunity to photograph more people on their wedding days when we moved here. Thankfully, we’ve had that opportunity because of some good people who have helped us out.

It might seem strange to include a few paragraphs about how our lives have changed this year along with a gathering of our favorite wedding photos from 2014 … but when we look at those images, we see more than wedding photos. We see the people who are helping us live our lives in the brightest and most vibrant way we know how. We’ve still got lots of growing and learning to do, but just like the couples in these images, we’re starting off down a road we’re committed to following and we’re looking forward … all the time.

There are so many people who helped us with our wedding work in this first year. We would not be near close to where we are without them.

Coco Rosenblatt-Farrell & Noah Rosenblatt Farrell – our dear friends who planted the seed to move to Durham. Noah and I (Alex) have worked on photography projects together, and I had the chance to be the second photographer for a wedding Noah photographed in 2014. Coco and Noah have known Kallyn for more than 25 years, and since this post is about weddings … Noah was the officiant at our wedding.

Ivan Weiss & Stephanie Weiss – our cousins who we are so happy to be around and who continue to inspire us. Ivan is part of Rock Fish Stew, a documentary company working to craft previously unknown stories in a unique way. Right now, Stephanie is doing field work in Mexico while finishing her anthropology doctorate at Duke. They also connected us with their friends Nikki & Brian, whose wedding we will be photographing in 2015. Ivan and Steph were married in Durham in late 2013 and it was shortly after their wedding that we moved here. Their wedding was photographed by the two folks below…

Courtney Potter Cook & Justin Cook – About 75% of the wedding photos seen above in this post were shot while working as second shooters for Justin & Courtney. They are friends and talented photographers who have helped us out tremendously and selflessly shared their knowledge.

Courtney is also part of The Birth Collective, a group of photographers specializing in maternity, birth, and newborn photography.

Justin works as a photographer for INDY Week and as an independent photographer in his “off” time. His great work can be seen here.

Ryan Helsel & Sadie Tillery – Ryan and Sadie are two big cogs in the crew that runs the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. Ryan helped us dive into the community by inviting us to volunteer on the photography team for Full Frame even after the volunteer sign-up window had closed. They later asked us to photograph their wedding when they got married in October.

And of course, the love and support of our families is the current that flows beneath it all.

Thank you.