Tijs & Julie — A wedding under one umbrella

To Tijs and Julie —

It rained on your wedding day, which here in the Pacific Northwest is less a forecast than a guarantee. The good ones don't fight it. You didn't fight it.

You had one umbrella. Clear. The kind that lets the photograph happen anyway. You walked into the woods together and the rain stopped being a problem somewhere around the third frame — it just became the texture of the day, the small audible thing that filled in around everything else.

The forest was darker than you'd plan for. Your dress was lighter than it had any right to be. The two of you stayed inside the small dry circle the umbrella made, the way couples do for the rest of their lives if they're lucky — both of you, one small piece of weather you'd agreed to share.

— Stephanie