It doesn’t matter if you are a Democrat or a Republican, a liberal or a conservative, a Christian or a Muslim. This photo of a bride-to-be and her groom praying before their wedding reaches into our hearts and warms us, and that is the reason it went viral.

Photojournalistic Wedding Photograpy Problem

U.S. Marine Cpl. Caleb Earwood wanted to meet with his bride, Maggie, and pray before they got married in Asheville, N.C. But the couple also felt it was important to maintain the tradition of the groom not seeing his bride before the ceremony.

So the photojournalistic wedding photographer, Dwayne Schmidt got creative and found a way to make that happen. Schmidt, guided the young Marine next to the cabin where the bride-to-be was doing all those last-minute things that brides-to-be’s do.

The Solution

The final photo shows Caleb on one side of the cabin and Maggie on the adjacent side. The couple’s arms are extended toward one another, their hands joined. The bride-to-be is trying to contain her emotions while the groom offers a prayer.

The bride told ABC News today,

“They hid me in a room and he stepped up on the stairwell and he stuck his hand out and I grabbed his hand. It broke me down to know that we felt the same way about God. It just made me happy. There were no dry eyes in the room.?

Schmidt engaged in a bit of photojournalistic wedding photography?and spoke about the experience.

?As soon as their hands touched he started getting emotional. The whole room was full of emotion. I tried not to cry and focus on what I was doing.?

Photojournalistic Wedding Photography Goes Viral

The couple’s photojournalistic wedding photographer posted the photo on Facebook – bridging the gap between spontaneous reality and cyber journalism. He talked about it going viral,

“So many people are emailing me saying thank you for sharing this. It’s what America is supposed to be about.”

Caleb’s prayer was for a wedding strong enough to be an example to all couples. It looks as if that prayer has been answered.