The Wedding Story of... Kyle & Samantha Hunsberger

Photos ByDawn Schaffer

Written By

Date

March 3, 2015

A Long Line of Love

When Kyle Hunsberger and Samantha "Sam" Lewis entered into the union of marriage, they did so with passion, friendship and a long line of love as their foundation. Forever marriages seem to run in their families. Both Sam and Kyle's parents, as well as all four sets of grandparents, have enjoyed long marriages-a total of 288 combined years to be exact. It appears that the sacred bond of marriage just runs in their blood.

Kyle and Sam's relationship wasn't one that moved quickly from friendship to dating to marriage. Instead, it evolved slowly over almost an entire lifetime. Their story began when they were both in 3rd grade. Although they went to different schools, they met while playing on the same summer soccer team. They continued to play together for a couple of summers and then ended up going to Northwood Middle School together. "We just started hanging out," recalled Kyle. "One thing that drew us together was sports. We're both really physically active and we liked doing pretty much everything together-soccer, running, biking-that's what really brought us together."

Although they were very close friends and spent a lot of time together, it wasn't until their junior year in high school that they officially began dating.

When asked at what moment they knew they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together, they both agreed there wasn't that lightening bolt instant when they knew. "We've just known each other forever and have a really strong bond," said Sam. "We've always been there for each other and I can't imagine ever being with anyone else." Kyle added, "I knew I wanted to always be around her because we had so much in common and I think with the strong bond we had built over the years, we just knew we wanted to be together."

Kyle and Sam had originally planned to get married this summer but found it nearly impossible to set a date with Kyle's training schedule in the Army National Guard. His return date was so uncertain that at the last minute, they decided to have the wedding before his training started. This change in plans allowed them more time for a honeymoon, but it also meant they had only six weeks to plan their December 20, 2008 wedding. "We were able to reserve the church and the hall and everything else just fell into place," said Sam. The couple decided on a black and white color scheme and added some of their creative touches to more traditional rituals. For example, instead of lighting a unity candle during the ceremony, they poured black and white sand into a vase and mixed it together. When it was time to cut the cake, there was no frilly cake knife in sight. Instead, the couple performed this ceremonial first task as husband and wife with Kyle's bowie knife. They recalled how, afterwards, many friends and family members commented that it was one of the best weddings they'd been to because it was so unique.

After honeymooning in downtown Chicago for a few days, Sam and Kyle moved to Georgia where Kyle is currently finishing his training. They're looking forward to moving back to this area later in the summer.