I absolutely loved working with Joy and Jonathan. Not only do we have a similar philosophy about travel and adventure (i.e. more is more), but they had obviously thought a lot about their relationship, what they value, and the life they are building together, which made for really interesting conversations.
I love their love story: South Africans who met while living in Berlin (still their home), and became good friends. Such good friends that it was with the feeling of an acrobat stepping out onto the high-wire that Jonathan made a brave declaration one holiday, on a secret Portuguese beach after a swim through icy waters.
“Being blindsided by love is the most wonderful thing in the world,” Joy told me.
With their very generous permission, I’ve included an extract from their ceremony script below:
If you ask Joy and Jonathan about marriage, they will tell you about the Tail-End Theory. It’s the perfect (and perhaps surprising) expression of their mutual pragmatism and the way they see the world. The choices we make, and how they reflect our love.
It goes something like this:
As human beings, we have a finite amount of time on earth. The Tail-End Theory looks at that potentially scary fact full in the face. If you only have a certain number of years left, how many holidays does that equate to? How many more hours will you most likely spend with colleagues than close friends? How many walks will you share with your parents as you catch up on the big and small happenings of your days?
Joy and Jonathan have calculated that if they eat one döner together every two weeks – and if they are lucky – they probably only have about 7410 döners to go until they cease to exist.
Morbid? Maybe. But not once you really sit with it – as they have obviously done. Because the truth it distills is this: time is indescribably precious. Which makes choosing the person you will eat all your remaining döners with so important.
As the writer Zadie Smith says: “Time is how you spend your love.”
As it turns out, love is how I’m spending my time these days – and I know I made this job up, but it still feels too good to be true.
I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of hearing your love stories – or your feedback as I help you tell them. Like this message from Joy.
“Aaannnnd cue the tears. We are SO happy – you have a gift with words and it’s special seeing how you’ve woven everything together so beautifully!
It’s been a fun and bonding experience and we now have a piece of work which we’ll treasure for a long time. Jonathan is relatively quiet and doesn’t go overboard with saying how much he likes things, but he’s mentioned that you have ‘done this really really nicely’ about six times.”
Photos by Phoenix Photography