The photo of a U.S. Marine holding hands with his bride as they prayed before their wedding ceremony has tugged at the heartstrings of the Internet.
U.S. Marine Cpl. Caleb Earwood of Asheville, North Carolina, tells Today.com that he wanted to pray with his soon-to-be wife, Maggie Edwards, whom he met in high school and had been dating for two years. Caleb says he wanted to say a little prayer in thanks for his beautiful wife and the journey they were about to go on together.
"We were about to take our first steps in life together, and we didn't want to take a step without it being in God's will," Caleb says. "I prayed to God for my beautiful and intelligent wife that he blessed me with and the amazing family I was marrying into."
The photo, which was posted on Facebook by their wedding photographer Dwayne Schmidt, shows the bride and groom holding hands with their eyes closed and their backs turned toward each other, in keeping with the tradition of not seeing ones future spouse before the wedding. With the help of the bride and groom's family and their photographer, Caleb was guided to his bride's room, where they joined hands just around the corner and prayed.
"When I first grabbed his hand, he was shaking really bad, so I knew he was really nervous," Maggie, also from Asheville, said. "It relieved me to know the person I was getting ready to marry felt the same way about God."
Schmidt, a professional wedding photographer, has photographed many weddings, but he says his picture of Caleb and Maggie "has to be one of the best things I have ever got to see much less photograph."
"As soon as their hands touched he started getting emotional," Schmidt says. "The whole room was full of emotion. I tried not to cry and focus on what I was doing."
The newlyweds did not expect their photo to become popular, but it has already garnered nearly 40,000 likes and was shared across Facebook more than 6,000 times.
"We're thankful that our picture is able to bless so many people and touch that many hearts," Caleb says.
The wedding was held on Saturday at Camp Daniel Boone in Canton, North Carolina. Currently, the couple is spending their honeymoon in Dollywood, Tennessee before settling in Jacksonville, North Carolina close to Camp Lejeune, the place where Caleb has been serving for three years.
