In April of 2017, we shot our first free wedding film. It was exhilarating to bless an amazing couple with a wedding film that captured their God-sized love story.

We knew we could do more.

We knew we had to do more.

In October of 2017, we launched the #BlessABride Contest. Dozens of couples wrote in from around the country, sharing their love story with the hope of winning free wedding photography, free wedding videography, and free invitation design from our award-winning team of Artists. We were overwhelmed with the weight of the beauty of the stories that came in, and were unsure how we could pick a winner out of so many amazing love stories!

When we read Eduardo & Jasmine’s story, something stood out to us, right from Jasmine’s opening line:

“Jesus is writing the most beautiful and unique love story for Eduardo and I.”

As she unfolded their story of how they met and why these gifts would bless them, our hearts lept. “Eduardo is from Brazil and he is here in the U.S. on a student visa.” Jasmine explained. “The process of obtaining a spousal green card is certainly pricey. We are trusting that God will provide every single penny that we need to cover the expenses, but it would be miraculous if the money we would use for photography, videography, and invitations could go directly towards his green card costs.”

Are you kidding?! Not only did we have a chance to bless this sweet couple on their wedding day, we had the ability to help Eduardo on his quest for U.S. Citizenship!

This was amazing!

There was just one problem.

Eduardo and Jasmine weren’t engaged yet. We knew in order to pick them as our winners, that would need to change. The next day I called Eduardo to find out just how serious he was. Not only did he assure of his intentions, he went out the NEXT DAY and bought a ring. At that point, he and I set out together to pull off one serious epic engagement surprise for Jasmine. (Side note: TOTALLY recommend clicking that link and reading their proposal story when you’re done here!)

Here’s what’s even more amazing: we reached out to some of our vendor friends to tell them what we were doing, and they wanted to find ways to help too! Amazing people like Melanie Shough of Weddings by Melanie jumped in to help out with the wedding planning, Kimberly Evans of Fully Alive Florals helped bring the couple’s floral vision to life, and Paul Whittinghill jumped in at the last minute post-wedding to capture a powerful a cappella recording of Jasmine’s friend Phoebe singing “How Great Thou Art,” which Jasmine came down the aisle to, for their wedding film!

Over the past 8 months, our team has been blown away by this couple. Their heart for God, for each other, and for the world around them is simply magical. It is an honor to share the images and wedding film from their special day with you now!

The Square 8 Team

Photography: Rob

Cinematography: Zach, Michael, Jacob

Invitation Design: Mary

The Vendor Team

Coordinator: Weddings by Melanie

Venue: St. Ives Country Club

Florals: Kimberly Evans, Fully Alive Florals

“How Great Thou Art” Vocal: Phoebe Mathius

“How Great Thou Art” Recording: Paul Whittinghill

DJ: DJ Philly Phil

Hair: Kesha Whitaker

Makeup: Shree Hayes

Cakes: Sweet Caroline’s Cakes

#blessabride #wedding