The media remembered Memorial Day this weekend by covering something beautiful: a Marine in prayer with his bride-to-be.
A photo of a U.S. Marine and his bride-to-be before marriage went viral over Memorial Day weekend. Moments before their wedding, U.S. Marine Cpl. Caleb Earwood and his fiancée Maggie joined hands in prayer around a corner to avoid making eye contact before the ceremony. Dwayne Schmidt Photography captured the scene on camera, and posted the photo to Facebook where it got picked up – by the media.
The Facebook photo by photographer Dwayne Schmidt now boasts more than 40,000 likes.
“I have photographed alot of weddings,” Schmidt wrote for the photo’s caption. “This has to be one of the best things i have ever got to see much less photograph..Before the ceremony and before they saw each other Caleb said a prayer for their marriage and lives. AWESOME !!!”
I have photographed alot of weddings. This has to be one of the best things i have ever got to see much less...
Posted by Dwayne Schmidt Photography on Saturday, May 23, 2015
The couple, located in Asheville, North Carolina married May 23. They discussed the photo with NBC.
"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 Earwood, 21, explained. "I prayed to God for my beautiful and intelligent wife that he blessed me with and the amazing family I was marrying into."
Maggie, 22, expressed similar emotions.
"When I first grabbed his hand, he was shaking really bad, so I knew he was really nervous," Maggie, 22 said. "It relieved me to know the person I was getting ready to marry felt the same way about God."
"So many people are emailing me," Schmidt told ABC News, "saying thank you for sharing this. It's what America is supposed to be about."
Several mainstream media outlets gushed over the story including ABC and NBC. USA Today heralded the “emotional” shot while the Daily Mail called it “touching.”
IJReview noted some backlash from Facebook users complaining that Memorial Day shouldn’t be about a wedding.
In response, the groom’s father wrote his own comment.
“I am seeing a lot of different opinions on here, which is great; it’s that protected freedom we have called ‘freedom of speech,’ he said. “And that uniform you see my son wearing is a big reason we still have that freedom today among many others.”
“We are a military family,” he added, “and if you knew Caleb and Maggie you would know they would never do anything to disrespect Memorial Day in any way.”
