Ryann + Mike | Engaged | Chicago

Courtney + Chris | Married | May 21, 2011

A few months ago a old friend introduced me to a famous Chilean poet named Pablo Neruda. I fell head-over heels in love with his work and have been patiently waiting to incorporate his "love sonnets" into my wedding blog. I realized on Saturday, while I was listening to the priest read aloud the love letters that Courtney and Chris had written to one another that their love is the type of love that Neruda was always writing about in his poetry. This unmistakable, undeniable love that is experienced between two people. The beauty that they find in each other and the tiny idiocrasies that make each of them unique. The I love you because.....Love Sonnets XVII. Because I know no other way than this:

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,

or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.

I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,

in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms

but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;

thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,

risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.

I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;

so I love you because I know no other way than this:

where I does not exist, nor you,

so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,

so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep. "

— Pablo Neruda

Jean + Andrew | Married | The Drake Chicago |