Floyd & Carla Williams are the couple on the cover of my latest book, Always & Forever, Love, subtitled African American Success Stories of Marriages 20+ Years Strong. They talk about being married for 39 years and some of the things it took to get there.
Floyd and I met when we were in our 20s attending the Atlanta College of Art. It’s now the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD). We started a friendship that’s lasted over the years. I’ve been fortunate to be around him and Carla since the beginning. I’ve watched their relationship grow from a friendship to a loving lasting marriage.
When Floyd told me he was going to ask Carla to marry him I was not surprised because I thought they would have a long-standing marriage. I wasn’t prepared when he said he wanted me to photograph their wedding. I had left Atlanta just a few weeks prior heading back to Los Angeles where I lived. After explaining I didn’t shoot weddings he was very insistent that I shoot their wedding. I couldn’t say no because we were very close friends and there was no reason not to, except I was 2,000 miles away and had just gotten home and needed a job to rebuild my finances.
All that aside, I sold my car, picked up a car from an “Auto Drive Away” company, and drove back across the country to shoot Floyd and Carla’s wedding. I had planned to stay a week or so and come back home, but I found a job in Atlanta as a photographer’s assistant traveling the East Coast photographing interiors for Better Home & Gardens, Traditional Home, Bed & Bath, and countless other interior publications.
The week or so I planned to stay in Atlanta somehow turned into a year and a half of having a ton of fun and traveling doing what I had planned to do in Los Angeles.
Please stop by Building Successful Marriages to hear what Floyd and Carla have to say about creating a lasting, loving, and successful marriage that’s lasted 39 years!
Floyd & Carla Williams Celebrates 39 Years of Marriage
Also, take a look at the intro video and listen to some of the stories from some of the other couples there. (I have lots more videos to upload as I shoot More!)
