PHOTOS BY WE ARE THE RICHARDS

Gina Caputo and Jeff Schallick’s love story involves numerous missed connections.

Jeff graduated from the University of Pittsburgh just before Gina began her freshman year. Gina attended the same church Jeff had while in school and went on the church’s annual mission trip to a foster home in Arizona — the only year Jeff didn’t make the trip.

Finally, mutual friends attempted to set them up, and Gina and Jeff met in person at a church event after Jeff moved back to Pittsburgh. They went out to lunch later that week, and after three hours eating and talking, neither one of them wanted to leave.

It was fitting that in his vows, Jeff talked about how fortunate he felt that they found one another.

“I remember him talking about how lucky he felt that everything lined up the way that it did for us, if one thing had been different in our story that we wouldn’t have met — we wouldn’t be together,” Gina says.

According to The Knot 2021 Real Wedding Study, 47% of couples wrote their own vows, putting aside the traditional “to death do us part.” Gina says she initially didn’t want to write her own vows to profess in public, but her friend who served as their wedding planner gave her a nudge. She ordered notebooks for them to write down their vows from Etsy with their first initials and wedding date inscribed on the cover.

“Once we got to the ceremony, it was just a really special moment,” she says. “I’m glad we did it that in the end … that everyone else could share in that with us was so special.”

Laura Phillipsie loves to write, and she and husband Derek Dibrell have been writing letters to each other ever since they met.

When they married in 2022 at Over Eden on the rooftop of the Tryp Hotel in Lawrenceville, Laura said it made sense that they shared their personal vows in front of family and friends.

“I knew that writing our own vows would be something that … I wanted,” she says.

Her vows included some lighthearted moments but also talked about how the couple had both lost their fathers, Laura when she was 24 and Derek in 2020.

The couple says their vows ended up being very similar to one another’s. Both mentioned it was hard to believe they were getting married just down the street from the spot where they had their first date almost six years to the day.

They also both mentioned the fact that Derek is a professional photographer, and Laura hates being photographed.

“I remember saying when I first met him and he told me he was a photographer I cringed because I am pretty shy by nature and I don’t like my photo being taken,” Laura says.

But as they dated, Laura became more open to Derek taking her photo; he also helped her to have courage to re-learn how to ride a bike, and they both mentioned in their vows how Laura has become more courageous over the years.

Derek says the couple inadvertently ended up speaking their vows with no microphone, which ended up being a good thing.

“It was more special because it was like I was just sharing it with her,” he says.