Even after well over a decade of telling stories, it's such a surreal and funny feeling writing about your own. It's equally strange spending years helping couples plan and prepare for their weddings, now to be on the flip side of that paradigm. It's been a crazy season planning for our own day thus far, but I want to take a second and reflect back on how our current chapter began.
So much led to this moment — me and my best friend standing on the dunes looking out onto Lake Michigan, me with Zack's late father's ring in my pocket, and my team hiding behind some tall grass and trees. Between a pandemic, a couple of rounds of long-distance, house hunting, you name it, we had already been through so many seasons together. I knew without a shadow of a doubt this was the person I wished to spend the rest of my life with.
After talking with Zack's parents, taking a month and a half to plan everything out, carefully constructing a reason for us to drive across the state to end up at the beach without him suspecting a thing, slipping a lapel mic on in the bathroom before hiking 15 minutes out to the water, finally getting to "the spot", I was just about to get down on one knee when he looks over at my collar and asks, "Are you wearing a microphone?" I laughed so hard. The jig was up. I gave him a playful shove as he laughed, bewildered yet catching on real fast. I took him by the hands, gave him a kiss, and then proceeded to get down on one knee.
As they say, the rest is history, and this film tells the rest of the story far better than I can myself.
I am so incredibly thankful to be able to do life with this man by my side, and what's more, I can't wait to adventure through every new season with him. Over every mountain top and through every valley, I am blessed to call him my person.
- Love you, Zackary William Tyler Skinner, to Proxima Centauri and back -
-Matthew
Contributing Vendors
Photography & Cinematography: Shadow Shine Pictures
Destination: Saugatuck Dunes State Park
