Some might say that love is a revolutionary act. One North Carolina couple seem to believe so, as they made it official in the midst of the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests happening in the United States.

Across America, images of protestors fighting for their rights have been captured, some as they face terrible brutality as they make a statement for equality.

In between all of the anger, fear, and heartache shown at the protests, one photographer, Charles Crouch, caught a sweet, soft moment between a loving couple who were fighting for change side-by-side.

He posted his images on Instagram alongside the caption: “Went downtown to the protest against police brutality. I was blessed to capture this proposal in the midst of what would become chaos.”

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The man proposing, Xavier Young, spoke to E! News about this special moment. He told them that it had almost not happened as it was pictured.

According to Young, the pair were considering whether they should participate in the protest at all, since his now fiancée, Marjorie Alston, is pregnant and he had obligations elsewhere.

Despite these complications, the couple managed to make their way to the protest, before which Young packed a bag of essentials, including the ring!

They made their way to Raleigh, where the protests were taking place, and when the opportunity struck he requested that Alston and one of their friends stop on a sidewalk so he could have a sip of water.

The next thing Alston knew, Young was down on one knee. Luckily for them, a photographer was nearby!

Crouch told E! News that he had brought his camera along to document the protest for the company he works for. “I just happened to be standing right there when he went down on his knee. I began taking pictures,” he said.

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The loved-up pair hope to wed in 2021. Congrats to the happy couple!

Image: Instagram / Marjorie Alston (@sweet.mj_)

While the ongoing pandemic has caused many a cancelled wedding and much disapointment, one thing is for certain: it has also brought out the creativity in many. A Detriot couple made the most of it by posing for a pandemic-themed photoshoot in an abandoned building to keep with the times.

Matthew Engelke and Lilly Ayrapetryan (now Engelke), tied the knot on March 20. Their orginal plan was to marry at a courthouse in April, but their plans fell through as the pandemic intensified.

Instead, they brought their wedding date up and teamed up with their friend, photographer Scott Sprague, to have a pandemic-themed wedding and photoshoot. Not even coronavirus could put a stop to their nuptials, and they even incorporated it into their ceremony.

Sprague did an amazing job of capturing their special day. Photos show the couple wearing real gas masks, looking eerie, but still loved-up, in the creepy building.

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“My favorite photo is one with the gas masks and in between them reads a message that states, ‘What we need in the world is more love,'” said Sprague to the Daily Mail.

“I had this whole idea to pay homage to the American Gothic picture in my head, which has a couple wearing white and black, just like a wedding with a bride and groom.

“So we created this whole story with the wedding photos for art, saying this is where they now live due to the pandemic.”

Picture: Unsplash

In China, large gatherings including weddings remain suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic. Some couples are no longer willing to wait for the resumption of normal activities to follow through with their nuptials. One Chinese netizen couple, decided to get married in an online game called Final Fantasy.

The couple, who go by web names Jigen and Nora, planned their wedding for May 17. It should have been at a hotel in Shanghai. However, due to the COVID-19 complications, they decided that they would cancel the ceremony.

While their original plans were forced to be called off, they quickly decided on a new plan. They would get married on an online game called Final Fantasy.

“The idea of having a wedding as an online game was not sudden. We are crazy about games and many close friends also play games together, so after thinking for a while, we decided to celebrate our wedding online,” Jigen told Global Times.

On May 17, the online wedding commenced. They invited over 30 of their friends to attend and the entire thing was livestreamed using a Chinese broadcasting platform for those who were not account holders in the game.

Those attending the wedding were required to arrive at the cathedral in a timely manner. To ensure this happened, the couple assisted their guests in beating online enemies and took them to the cathedral in the game. Jigen joked that the real meaning of friendship is when people “risk their lives” to attend your wedding.

Once everyone had virtually arrived and the special moment came, the couple exchanged rings in front of their computers and played the ceremony out in the game.

“After spending two weeks preparing the wedding in the game, including buying costumes for game characters, my wife and I wore our pajamas sitting in front of two computers in the study, and she did not even have any makeup on during the whole ceremony,” Jigen  told the Global Times.

The pair have no intentions of having a “real” wedding in the future. Jigen told Global Times that a wedding simply symbolises a new beginning, and to him the Final Fantasy wedding did just that.

Picture: Screenshot from wedding video

Back in 2002, Anne McGowan was on her way to her mountaintop wedding in Arizona. But having to reroute to their spot because of wildfires, the couple realised they would have to hike up a mountain to get there.

“I wanted to get married on a vista because we rock climb and hike a lot so that was sort of our ideal wedding. The night before the wedding, the photographer called us and said there were fires and that they had to close off the access to where we were going to be married,” McGowan told AZ Family.

“I get out of the car, and we realized we were at a bottom of a mountain instead of like, on the top. I had wedding shoes on and a dress because initially, we were going to pull up into a parking lot and jump out and have the ceremony there. So we’re just looking up like, how are we going to get up this mountain? In tuxedos and sandals and a wedding dress?”

Lucky for her, a group of hikers passed them and a kindhearted lady offered the bride her hiking boots. She took the boots and was able to hike safely to the spot.

Now, 18 years later, McGowan decided to try and find the heroic hiker who saved her on her wedding day. On the day of her 18th wedding anniversary, she posted a picture taken of them on Facebook and it quickly went viral. Rhonda Nelson, the one and only hiker, eventually saw the photo, and contacted the bride!

Nelson explained the act of kindness: “It’s a hiking creed almost; you do good things for other people on the trail. What really moved me was that Anne really wanted to reach out and say thank you and that also, this meant so much to her,” Nelson said to AZ Family.

The two arranged a Zoom meeting to say hi, and plan to stay in touch.

Feature image: Unsplash