Yes, weddings are wild because they have become an “industry” and at times it feels like there is so much expectation to live up to when planning one, but you know what? It is a grand event that is worth completely halting the day-to-day routine and norms for because it represents one of the most self-sacrificial and unifying acts possible, somehow wrapped up into an agreement finalized with two simple words composed of three letters.

I’m not saying it’s grand in a way that I understand the large amounts of money sometimes spent on weddings or that a person’s wedding needs to look or feel a specific way. I am simply saying that the covenant of marriage that God created—and it’s always fun to note that Jesus’ first recorded miracle happened at a wedding—is a glimpse of Christ’s love for humanity, because it is predicated on putting others first, something I desperately need to remember on a daily basis.

Heather and I were married inside the sanctuary of the church we grew up in. I kissed her passionately and then we marched out triumphantly, 

I dipped her over the edge of a small waterfall to “capture the moment” for our photographer—the first of many times she has had to trust me. And the next day, we transitioned from her coming down the aisle to grasping hands to start down a new runway of life.

It has been challenging, it has been painful, it has been exhilarating and more rewarding than I could ever imagined (sometimes all in a single day!), but when I look back at my wedding day I see two quite imperfect people surrounded by a squadron of people who loved us deeply, who would be there for us in our mountaintops and valleys, and wanted to let us know that something good and beautiful was indeed taking place.

Call me a sucker, but whether it’s a bride and groom at the courthouse or hundreds of people cheering for newlyweds in a historic church at a destination wedding, something that symbolizes unconditional love deserves a moment of appreciation, or in this case an entire issue of a magazine to celebrate.