Strangers were commenting about their day.

The manager of the ballroom, having seen 10 years worth of weddings, told Kathleen’s dad he wished he’d been in the crowd experiencing the evening. He said the love in the room was evident, not just between the bride & groom, but between everyone who was present. The program was rooted in faith & family, sweetly sentimental but also loud & rambunctious, as memories were shared & made together.

I don’t think there was a dry eye in the place, to be honest. Kathleen’s brothers had everyone in stitches one minute and tears the next as they moved the program along. Friends & family spoke words of encouragement & gratefulness over the newlyweds, trying their best to portray the depth to which these two have influenced their lives.

I’m one of those people now, having known Jesse before Kathleen & then having lived with Kathleen for their entire relationship.

I’ve had countless fits of laughter on the living room floor with them, glasses of wine to celebrate nothing at all, & have witnessed their ridiculous goodbye routine (it involves smoker baby voice – if you know Kathleen you know how delightful it is) for years.

But I’ve also come home to the two of them deep in conversation on the couch, learning how to communicate. Learning what it means to stay. Learning to understand where the other person is coming from.

Learning how to become fluent in choosing each other.

Ask anyone and they’ll tell you how beautiful this couple is. We all have stories of Jesse & Kathleen welcoming us with open arms, enveloping us in love, sharing themselves over coffee tables. They are not surface level people; they build trust & open up their hearts to walk through the gritty parts of life with others. They are unafraid of the awkward and unafraid of getting their hands messy in this thing called life.

They don’t settle for what’s convenient. They challenge each other – and their friends – to rise above the clutter of our culture. They are always fighting for what is good & worthy of celebrating – and then throw the best parties to rejoice in the victories.

Amidst the craziness of schedules & school & staying connected to family across the country & attempting to get enough sleep somehow amidst all that, they keep trying to be Christ’s love to the world over & over & over.

Jesse & Kathleen; the newlywed LeBlancs.

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