- Newlyweds Bekah and Tim Blakely-Savage decided to do a wedding photo shoot on the beach while they were in Hawaii.
- Bekah said they were prepared to get a little wet during the shoot but were taken by surprise when a wave crashed over them.
- Their photographer, Sunny Golden, captured the moment on camera, leading to a stunning image.
- Bekah posted the photo on Reddit, writing: “We didn’t necessarily intend on trashing the dress, but the ocean had other plans.” The picture quickly went viral.
- She told Insider that she and her husband had no regrets about the photo shoot and that they’d “do it all over again in a heartbeat.”
- Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Bekah and Tim Blakely-Savage are a newlywed couple from Texas.
“We met on Tinder,” Bekah told Insider. “He was one of the first people I matched with when I moved to where we currently live.”
After they met in person, Tim helped Bekah when her air conditioner stopped working during summer, she said.
“It was June in Texas, and the place was sweltering! Luckily, Tim came to the rescue with an extra window A/C unit he had tucked away in his garage, and also brought over a bottle of wine and two pints of ice cream,” Bekah said. “I knew he was a keeper!”
The Blakely-Savages got married in Alaska in September, but they decided to go to Hawaii on their way home.
“I used to live in Hawaii, but Tim hadn’t had the chance to visit yet,” Bekah said.
"We had a destination wedding in Alaska and found a great deal to pop over to the islands before we flew home, so we jumped on it," she said, adding, "I couldn't wait to show him all of my old favorite haunts."
They decided to take some photos while they were there, to contrast their wintry Alaska photos.
"It was actually my mom's suggestion that we take some photos in our wedding gear while we were there, as a juxtaposition to our wedding photos in chilly Alaska," Bekah said.
They hired Sunny Golden, a local photographer in Hawaii, and headed to the beach to take some shots.
The shoot started out great, with the couple posing near the ocean.
Bekah wore a two-piece wedding ensemble, while Tim opted for khakis and a linen shirt.
"We were definitely expecting to get a bit wet," Bekah told Insider.
But when they kneeled in the water, a large wave crashed over them.
"We didn't expect to be the pins knocked over by a watery bowling ball," Bekah joked.
Their photographer captured the exact moment the wave hit the couple, creating this stunning shot.
Bekah said she felt "elated" when the wave hit.
"My first thought was 'Man, I hope our photographer caught that moment!'" she said.
Bekah later posted the photo on Reddit, where it quickly went viral.
"Everyone was so kind," Bekah said of the comments she got on the Reddit post.
"People really seemed to enjoy the genuine joy in our pictures. We received nothing but glowing responses."
Bekah said the dress was a mess after the shoot.
"It sat in its bag - salty, sandy, and still damp - for nearly 72 hours before any real attempt at cleaning was made," as they were still on their trip, Bekah said.
Bekah took the dress to her dry cleaners in Texas. "Somehow they managed to return it to us as spotless and beautiful as the day I bought it," she said.
Bekah said Tim was "all giggles" when the wave hit them.
"He was laughing so hard he couldn't catch his balance, so we kept tumbling through the sand," she said. "It was such a fun experience."
"The picture-perfect shot with the wave crashing over us is amazing, but the sequence that follows is really our favorite part," Bekah said.
The couple's candid joy of being together shined through in the photos.
"I think of how lucky I am to be married to such a wonderful man who is always up for an adventure and who looks for the positive in every aspect of life," Bekah said.
"I am very grateful to Sunny for capturing the beginning of our life together," she said.
You can see more of Golden's work on her website.
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