The CONNECT Retreat | Rome, GA

Happy Friday! Fridays tend to be the slowest day of the week on the World Wide Web, so we truly appreciate you reading this today!

Last month we had the incredible opportunity to go to a very special and unique retreat in Georgia. It’s a retreat hosted by a husband and wife photographer team for married couples in business together. Here in Central Arkansas, we just don’t have a lot of people who can really identify with us where we are in life. And that’s okay! But we had no idea how much we needed to have a support system of friends who really get us. We also had no idea when we registered for this last year how badly we would need it when the time came. If you haven’t been following along with us for very long, first of all, welcome!! To catch you up, we just sold our house and moved to a new house in a new city, all while in the process of rebranding and designing a new website and blog (thanks to the brilliant Jason Toeves with 2BlokesDesign!) AND all of that was during the height of engagement session season! And we both work full-time day jobs. Holy.Cow. (Siri just tried to autocorrect that to Holy Cal. She needs to brush up on her southern slang!)

Even though it was super stressful leaving for the retreat 2 days after our offer on our new house was accepted, and there was lots to do like, you know, PACK, we knew that we needed a break. When you have that ridiculous amount of stuff going on all at the same time, there’s not much room left for your marriage. And that is not okay.

We split the 8 hour drive up over 2 days so that we could relax and enjoy our time on the road. When we arrived at the WinShape retreat center, a few of our biggest mentors and influencers in the wedding photography industry were there waiting to meet and hug us. Before we could even walk away from our cars, we were already meeting people and making friends. To be surrounded with like-minded couples, who only want to strengthen their marriage and encourage new friends to do the same, is a feeling that can not be imitated. It was a huge breath of fresh Georgia air.

The next 3 days were unforgettable. The impactful quality time spent away from the computers as husband and wife, the deep and genuine life-long friendships formed, the ah-ha moments experienced during the relationship-building games, the heartfelt and emotional testimonies told by the speakers, the beautiful worship music… every aspect of this retreat was soul-awakening. Refreshing to the core. Life-changing. And we can not wait to go back next year.

Unlike most trips, we didn’t take many photos. We wanted to focus on each other, building new friendships, rest, and relaxation. However, there was time set aside on Wednesday afternoon for session-swaps, so we had a little fun 🙂

 

 

One of the new friendships we made was with Ryan & Alyssa Nichols. They are incredibly talented photographers who so graciously agreed to a sunrise session with us. “Dreamy” does not even begin to describe the atmosphere that morning. The cool and crisp Georgia air, the fog floating over the water, the golden sunlight slowly starting to bathe the trees in its magical glow- it was nothing short of perfection.

Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts, Ryan & Alyssa for the gift of your friendship. It means the world to us.