These emotional photos of butterfly memorial at a wedding will leave you speechless

There’s a common belief that our loved ones sometimes visit us as butterflies after they pass away. When she photographed a wedding a few weeks ago, Jessica Manns captured the moments when butterflies were released to honor the groom’s late sister. However, instead of flying off, they stayed around during the entire ceremony. Jessica captured the scenes so moving that I doubt it will leave you without tears in your eyes.

Jessica is a Pennsylvania-based photographer and she photographed the wedding of Max and Lydia Van Gorder at Fox Hill Farm, Honesdale. While it was a joyful occasion, there was a poignant moment of tribute for Max’s sister Vanessa. She had tragically died in a car accident a few years ago, so the groom and his family decided to release butterflies during the ceremony to honor her.

When you release butterflies, you’d expect them to fly off, right? But it didn’t happen. They decided to stick around, clinging all over the family and the guests throughout the entire ceremony. Jessica writes that they even stayed on their bodies well afterward into cocktail hour.

The especially moving moment was when one of the butterflies landed on dad’s finger. Jess explains that the same butterfly stayed on his finger the entire ceremony, and then flew onto Lydia’s bouquet after the recessional. “Lydia, the bride, even walked down the aisle with two on her dress,” Jessica added in a Facebook post she published after the wedding. “Then a few hours later during the speeches, another butterfly somehow got inside the barn and landed on Lydia’s neck and remained there for all the speeches.”

If our loved ones indeed visit us as butterflies, then these magical moments Jessica captured are a perfect example. I must admit that I’ve got something in my eye right now, so I’ll leave you to see the rest of the images below. You can check out more of Jessica’s splendid work on her website, Instagram and her Facebook page.