Jessica & Jason | September 22 Is A Holiday

September 22, 2017 | Uncategorized

We really kind of stumbled upon it, but September 22 is a holiday for the Morales family.

On September 22, 2010, I took Jessica out on a date to Sonic and asked her to be my girlfriend. 1.5 years later, I proposed to her on Morris Avenue in the rain.

morris-avenue-engagement-photo-session

We started wedding planning and soon realized, after looking at the calendar, that September 22, 2012 landed on a Saturday. How perfect! Only one anniversary to remember… our wedding date would be our dating anniversary. Who doesn’t love a Fall Wedding? And, besides, as you read a couple weeks ago, Fall means a lot to us. 4 years later, Jessica and I found out in August 2016 that we were chosen to adopt Brighten but her bio mom would be induced and they weren’t sure what day the birth would land on. As the story goes, Brighten was born on September 22, 2016. Jessica and I spent our 4th anniversary dinner in a glorified Dairy Queen called Freddy’s Frozen Custard in Houston while the hospital filled out paperwork with her bio mom. So today when Jessica and I celebrate 7 years together, and 5 years married, we have a 1 year old’s birthday to celebrate.

I think you now see the significance. We love this day.

If you’re reading this blog, you already know this, but weddings are expensive. In 2013, CNN reported that the average wedding in 2012 cost $28,000. Ours didn’t cost that much, but it’s because we did a lot of DIY. Pinterest had just come out and Etsy was booming and my mother-in-law is a creative teacher who was off for the summer, so that was the perfect ingredients for Jessica and I (mainly Jessica) to plan a lot herself with the help of her family. When it came to photography, Jessica was adamant about wanting to use a guy that she went to church with in Destin and he did fantastic work. But, a fantastic photographer costs some major dollars. So the video budget got cut. It’s OK though because as someone that makes wedding video, I thought “why pay someone else to do what I can do myself?” So I reached out to a buddy filmmaker who does incredible work and hired him to film the day. I would edit the wedding video myself.

Famous. Last. Words.

The problem I found is that I either wanted to work, which provides for our family, or not work, and spend time with my family. Editing my own wedding video couldn’t find it’s our category. I just didn’t bring myself to finish it, or even start it. Jessica and I joked over the years that “maybeeeee by our 5 year anniversary I’d find the time to finish it” and as each anniversary went by, no video. There was even a point, a few Christmases ago when we made a website for Jessica’s sister and her husband’s photography business, that when we revealed the website to the family, Jessica thought I would be surprising her with the video. About a month ago, I decided that maybe the best surprise would be the one she has been joking about for the last half of a decade.

I don’t recommend doing what I did… in hindsight, I probably should have hired it out. Please, learn from me because only now, 5 years later, that video is finally making its way into the world. This was the hardest, most sentimental wedding video I’ve ever made. Usually when I make a video, I can tell that the people who will watch it will cry. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t tear up a bit while putting this video together. Wedding videos truly are a powerful medium. If you’re reading this and unsure about whether you’re going to get one, please do.

So, Jessica Morales, this is my anniversary gift to you. Enjoy.