Picture of Marine and Bride Praying Before Wedding Goes Viral

Photographer Dwayne Schmidt snapped a moving photo that has gone viral on social media.

Schmidt was in Haywood County in the western North Carolina mountains, working as the photographer for the wedding of Marine Corps Cpl. Caleb Earwood and Maggie Edwards. Prior to the ceremony, Earwood decided to take a moment to pray with the love of his life.

To maintain the tradition of couple’s not seeing each other before the altar, the two faced away from each other and held hands. Earwood’s words struck emotional cords as he had tears in his eyes and Edward’s hand covered her mouth in clearly a very emotional moment.

“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,” Earwood told Today.com in an interview. “I prayed to God for my beautiful and intelligent wife that he blessed me with and the amazing family I was marrying into.”

Schmidt uploaded the photo onto Facebook on Saturday. Since then, the photo has accumulated over 45,000 likes. The photo particularly struck the hearts of Americans as the U.S. prepared for Memorial Day.

“It’s just been incredible,” Schmidt said of the photo going viral. He also claims to have heard from veterans thanking him for capturing the image.

“This has to be one of the best things I have ever got to see," reads Schmidt’s caption of the image.

According to Today.com, the Earwoods met while growing up in Asheville and plan to live in Jacksonville.