When I reflect on Blake and Emily's wedding day, the word that instantly comes to my mind is:  surrounded. The word itself is salted with intensity and often makes me think of life's most fervent and acute moments. A baby, new and pink to this world, finds himself immediately rushed by people as he breathes his first breath of life. Faces of doctors and nurses and siblings with video cameras and grandmas and the shocked, worn, loving smiles of his parents surround him.Surroundedness, to me, is the sensation of diving under the waves in the ocean, lingering, and literally feeling an abundance of life swimming around you. The tingling of the bubbles, the movement of the water, the microscopic organisms you know are sharing the depth with you.The word surrounded also reminds me of the omnipresent nature of the Lord. He is constantly with us and through us. We are continually connected and filled by his love.The concept of surroundedness leads me back to Blake & Emily's engagement session, where the three of us stood on the lawn of the Stanley hotel in Estes Park and felt completely encompassed by the majesty of the Rocky Mountains, by the beauty of creation. Nature surrounded us.Surroundedness also triggers the image of a circle, of the circumscribing nature of marriage. Never ending.Weddings link together all these images of surroundedness. On the day of Blake & Emily's wedding, bridesmaids and groomsmen and cousins and aunts and college friends and childhood friends and parents physically surrounded them the throughout the whole day. They threw them (quite literally) into the air in celebration. They laughed. They cried. They celebrated. As their photographer, I felt completely immersed in a kind of loving water that seeped through every crack of their wedding.  My guess is that feeling was the Holy Spirit. That the Lord found a way to lovingly souse the union of this couple not only through the people in their lives but also through his tangible presence.  If you were there during their ceremony, you probably felt surrounded by the love of this wonderful couple. As you watched them put circles on each others fingers and share communion with their guests, you probably felt as I did, completely encompassed by community and new life. As you heard them say their vows, you saw them commit wholeheartedly to their marriage. You saw it in their faces, the promises they made to each other. I have no doubt when challenges encircle them, they will draw their strength and courage from their loved ones and from the Lord and fight for something bigger than themselves. When joys abound, again, they will surround themselves with the people they love and party hard.Blake and Emily, thank you for letting me a part of something way bigger than I could have ever imagined. Congratulations, and I wish you a lifetime of love, protection, adventure and surroundedness.Psalm 5: 11-12:  "...Let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you. Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield."