Forgiveness is a powerful thing. In fact, I believe it’s what will bring our world together more because forgiveness is an act of love that we all need. You see, I made a mistake. A pretty big one… never made this mistake for our business before. When Baillie and I were texting each other about confirming locations, she said, “Callanwolde and downtown Duluth.” Now, I clearly remember reading it and even typing it back. But, my brain for some reason processed it as “Cator Wooldford and downtown Duluth.” So, I communicated this with Craig and we got everything set with those two locations. Fast forward to the night before, I texted Baillie just confirming the meeting location and time and I told her, “Looking forward to seeing you guys at Cator Woolford at 6:45pm!” She replies back with, “We are meeting at Callanwolde though right?” My heart sank. “Oh no! Why is she saying this?” is what I wondered. I quickly looked through our text thread and oh no… it wasn’t her mistake. It was MINE! Ah!!!!!!!!!!! I started getting a bit pale and I could feel my blood pressure dropping. My heart was racing and then Craig came into the room. I said, “Um… I made a mistake.” I told him what was up and he said, “WHAT????!!!!!” He then calmed down and then we looked online to make sure there were no events at Callanwolde during their shoot time. Because we have shot there many times before, we knew what steps to take. So, the next morning, we had to call just to make sure everything was good for us to shoot there. I took a few minutes to just settle myself down and then tried to figure out the words to reply back to Baillie. There was only one thing I could say, and it was to just honestly say “I’m sorry.” I mean, what excuse could I give? What could I do, but apologize? I made the mistake, had to own up to it and just make it right was all I could do. Then, the best part of this story happened… she was so forgiving. She was so graceful with her words back to me and was so sweet. I read her text over and over and I felt relieved mentally and physically. I now just had to wait til the morning to confirm with the venue. Craig took care of all that for me too as soon as 9am hit the clock. When we found out that everything was a-ok, I couldn’t wait to text Baillie. When I did, she was happy which of course made us happy too. Can you say, “whewwwwwwww!” I felt like all stress left me.
Evening came and when we were driving to the venue, Craig kept making fun of me saying things like, “Wait, where are we going again? Cator Woolford, right?” And, I kept giving him the evil eye. :) Baillie + Harrison were right on time and as soon as we met, we talked about it and laughed about it. We told each other what we were feeling and thinking and just let it all out. Now, it was funny! But, 24 hours ago, it was not!
The shoot couldn’t have been better…. They looked so happy and perfect with their outfits. The photos were coming out flawlessly. Absolutely loved their style and with their great personality on top of that made the evening flow so easily. Their chemistry with one another and behind the camera was as if they modeled professionally for years. Even in downtown Duluth, it was so fun. They were having a festival, so it actually worked out even better because Craig got to use some of their stage decor for their pictures at the end (Scroll all the way down for that image!). It turned out to be one of the best nights.
Baillie + Harrison, you could’ve made the choice to not understand, but you didn't. You chose to understand. You could’ve replied back with harsh words, but you didn't. You chose to be patient, kind and forgiving. And for that, I’m very grateful. Thank you so much… I truly appreciate it greatly. I contemplated over sharing this on our blog, but I realized that it’s ok to be real and honest. I have so much respect for the love that you have for one another even more now. Marriage is not easy and there are many obstacles to overcome for everyone, but you guys will do well because of your forgiving heart. Your hearts are so beautiful and you’re going to have a beautiful marriage. Thank you for being a great example to me as an individual and to us as a couple. It was a pleasure getting to know you guys more and spending the evening with you as we captured your engagement season. We hope that you love your photos!!!!
With much love,
Craig + Unchong
