About 10 years ago, I sat in my first Conversational Chinese class at the University of Iowa.  I had plans to go to China that summer so I was bound and determined I was going to learn a piece of their language so I could show my desire to understand them and their culture better.  My heart was in it and I was so excited!  Turns out, Chinese is HARD, but there was this kid in my class who sat a few rows back who was clearly just there to have fun!  Fun he was and fun he is.  This kid was Josh.  I didn’t know it at the time, because I didn’t even know Stosch then, but he was a good high school friend of my future husband!

Josh and Stosch were buds all through high school, so when I met Stosch, I had the pleasure of re-meeting Josh – while speaking English this time!  Josh is one of the most fun and genuinely kind people you will ever meet – so his meeting Elana, another fun and genuinely kind person – was a match we couldn’t have been happier about!

Josh and Elana are both devout Jews and their wedding was full of beautiful traditions and unparalleled celebration!  I’m pretty sure I was grinning the entire wedding day!  Their wedding was beautiful for all the reasons you would expect – the decor, the dress, the flowers, the delicious food, but it was also beautiful in a way that I hadn’t truly expected.  The beauty of pure, unrelenting joy. Their families and friends didn’t just come to watch the ceremony and eat some cake, they were there to bring their energy, love, and joy to this beautiful union.  All of the guests were involved in making this day truly a day to remember.

To top it all off – their wedding favors were the BEST wedding favors I have EVER seen!  Each person received a small envelope with their names on it that told them which table they were to be seated at and on that card was a personalized link to a website that contained a PERSONAL audio message to that individual!!  Josh had beautiful things to say about us and our marriage, but so many beautiful words about my incredible husband, Stosch!  It had me in tears!  Can we make this a new tradition, please?!?

Please find the joy in these photos from their beautiful wedding day.  It was SUCH an honor for us to be able to photograph these moments!