These two met as camp counselors and overcame long distance for nearly four years to make it happen. When Samantha and Zachary decided to make it official, they brought us along to capture everything, and it was such a fun day!
Let’s see how these two came to be (from their questionnaire):
“Zack and Sam had met at a church camp called the Antiochian Village in Bolivar Pennsylvania. Both went to camp as campers, however there are 4 different sessions that you can attend and they always went to different ones. However, they had both been accepted to work as counselors in the year 2013 alongside both of either siblings. We hadn’t really talked much throughout staff training, but we got our first cabin assignments, and we were brother-sister cabins! Throughout those two weeks, we talked a lot, shared our struggles with campers, learned more about each other and a bond grew from there on. Come the end of the summer at camp, Zack and Sam decided to make it official that they would start dating. The real struggle of the relationship was the distance between them. Samantha is from the Detroit area while Zack is from the Grand Rapids area, it made it very difficult for them to see each other frequently. Two and a half hours between them. They would text, talk on the phone and FaceTime to keep the spark alive. For nearly 4 years they lived across state from one another, but after Sam had graduated from college, she made the move here to Grand Rapids to FINALLY be within minutes from seeing each other. June 23rd was Sam’s move date, and our proposal date was July 7, 2017, a total shock to Sam! Zack had took her to one of the docks out of Reed’s lake, a place they had visited before and Zack got down on one knee with a photographer there ready to capture the moment.”
We really love the intro our editor, Josh, put in this film; with the audio from their ceremony at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church that slowly fades into romantic atmospheric piano. Samantha looked absolutely stunning in her gown from Bianka Bridal, and we loved Zack’s plaid Leo Bullian Custom – the pocket watch was the best touch!
Cascade Hills Country Club made the perfect backdrop for their colorful reception. The whole room was full of enormous palms, lush pink floral, and glowing with candle light. Events by ICandy truly outdid themselves with this event. This was also one of the most wonderful best man Toast’s we’ve ever heard! What a loving family these two have!
As always, it was a blast working alongside Kelly Braman as always to capture the event. We had such a wonderful day with Sam and Zack. Congratulations on a lifetime of love you two!
