There were little pieces of Adalie and David everywhere you looked on their wedding day. Old boarding passes saved from trips they had taken together. A timeline filled with photos from their first year. Train cookies because David loves trains. A crossword about their relationship. Childhood photos of their Maid of Honor and Best Man tucked into the wedding program.
And before the ceremony, David sat inside Bethlehem Lutheran Church opening a gift from Adalie. A railroad map and an engraved passport holder. It was pretty clear these two plan on seeing a lot of the world together. Which is fitting, because their story began with quite a bit of distance between them.
Adalie was living with her sister in Connecticut when she decided she was ready to start dating again. She wasn't having much luck on the East Coast, so she changed her Hinge location to somewhere she thought she could possibly see herself moving someday. She picked Illinois, and somehow, David from Wisconsin appeared instead. She saw his profile and knew she wanted to know more about him. They matched, started talking and began their relationship long distance.
On January 31st, David traveled to Connecticut to see her. The next day became their first official date. Adalie said that when they finally met in person, she just knew. "I knew right away he was going to be a part of my life for a long time and so did he." And she was right. They started collecting places and memories together. Madison. Milwaukee. Niagara Falls. Zoos and botanical gardens. An airshow. Flights, road trips and all of the ordinary days in between. By January 2026, Adalie had moved to Wisconsin, in March, they were engaged, and on August 15th, they stood together at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Sun Prairie and became husband and wife.
One of the sweetest things about Adalie and David's wedding was how much it felt like two entire families were gaining each other. At one point, Adalie said something to her dad that stopped me for a second. Her dad had raised daughters, and now he was finally getting the son he had always wanted, and for David's mom, who had raised sons, now she was finally getting a daughter.
I don't remember Adalie's exact words, but I remember the feeling in that moment. It was so much bigger than I'm marrying this person. It was we belong to each other now. Watching their parents throughout the day made that even more beautiful. The pride on their faces, the way they watched their kids, the hugs and little conversations happening when nobody was paying attention. A wedding makes a marriage, but sometimes you can actually see the moment two families realize they're becoming one. I felt that with these two.
Adalie and David describe what matters most to them pretty simply.
"Faith, family, and friends. Without God, our support, and community we would not be standing here." Their wedding felt like a reflection of exactly that.
Before the ceremony, I photographed a quiet moment between Adalie and Pastor Ben Leeper as he prayed with her. Her mom sat just behind them in her pink hanbok. There was so much happening around them as everyone prepared for the ceremony, but for those few minutes everything felt still.
Later, Pastor Ben stood with Adalie and David at the altar as they exchanged traditional marriage vows and then shared personal vows they had written themselves. Their ceremony included scripture, prayer, Amazing Grace and a unity hourglass. And then they stopped to honor the people who brought them to that altar.
Adalie's Korean heritage was woven beautifully throughout the wedding. Her mom wore a traditional hanbok in soft pink and white, and her sister Lydia wore a beautiful pastel blue hanbok. The soft pastel colors carried throughout the day and connected beautifully with the traditional Korean wedding colors represented by her family.
During the ceremony, Adalie and David bowed to both sets of parents and then turned and bowed to their guests. It was one of my favorite moments. There is something incredibly beautiful about standing in the middle of your own wedding ceremony and intentionally turning the attention away from yourselves for a moment to honor the people who raised you, loved you, prayed for you and helped you become the people standing there.
Their reception tables carried another little piece of Adalie's heritage. Each centerpiece included a thank-you written in both English and Korean, thanking their guests for traveling from near and far to witness their marriage.
It felt especially appropriate for a couple whose own relationship had already crossed so many miles.
There's also a part of this wedding story that most of the guests probably never knew. I wasn't originally supposed to be Adalie and David's photographer. An unexpected change left them searching for someone pretty last minute. David's mom posted in a Sun Prairie community group looking for a photographer. I live in Sun Prairie too, happened to see it, commented, and that's how I found myself walking into Bethlehem Lutheran Church on August 15th.
Then another unexpected change happened after their rehearsal. Suddenly they needed someone to coordinate the wedding day. And their friend Joyce Chan stepped in. I genuinely would never have known this wasn't what Joyce did for a living. As a photographer, I work closely with whoever is coordinating the day, and she was an absolute dream. She kept everything moving, knew where everyone needed to be and somehow made the entire day feel easy. Joyce, if you're reading this, I'm still serious. You may have accidentally found your calling.
But I also think there is something really beautiful about both of those things happening around the same wedding, because Adalie and David said their community is one of the reasons they're standing where they are today, and when things changed unexpectedly, their people showed up
The ceremony and reception were both held at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, and I loved the way Adalie and David chose to spend the time after they were married. They didn't rush through their guests to get to the next thing. After the ceremony, families, couples and individuals came up to take photos with them before everyone settled into the reception.
Dinner was catered by Buck & Honey's. Adalie and David shared their first dance to the wedding version of "Ordinary" by Alex Warren, followed by dances with their parents.Lydia, Adalie's Maid of Honor, and David's Best Man, gave speeches.
There was also a bouquet toss that resulted in some of the sweetest photos of the night. But one of my favorite things they did was serve their wedding cake. They took slices from table to table themselves. It gave them another chance to stop at every table, see their people, talk to them and make each little group feel like part of the day rather than simply guests watching it happen. That was something I noticed over and over again. They made time for people, and maybe that's what I'll remember most about their wedding. Not one big moment. All the little ones.
Adalie's mom watching her daughter get ready, Lydia helping with her sister's veil. Pastor Ben praying with Adalie before the ceremony, David opening a gift from the woman he was about to marry, a dad realizing he was gaining a son, a mom realizing she was gaining a daughter, parents absolutely beaming as they watched their children get married, a bride and groom bowing in gratitude to the people who raised and supported them, a room full of people being thanked in two languages, and two newlyweds carrying plates of cake around their own reception because spending time with the people they loved mattered more than staying at the center of the room.
Those are the moments I love photographing. The ones that tell you who people are.
I keep thinking about the beginning of their story. Adalie wasn't looking in Wisconsin, she wasn't even living anywhere close to Wisconsin, but somehow David showed up. She took a chance on the guy who wasn't supposed to be in her search, and eventually the distance between Connecticut and Wisconsin disappeared. Wisconsin became home.
And on August 15th, the people who had loved Adalie and David separately gathered together inside a little church in Sun Prairie and watched them become a family. There are still boarding passes to collect, more train routes for David to find, more stamps for that new passport holder, more places they haven't seen yet, but now, wherever they go next, they get to go there together.
Congratulations, Adalie and David.
It was such an honor to unexpectedly find my way into your wedding story and get to document the beginning of this next adventure for you both.
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