Behind the lens of Phocus & Co Photography are Tim & Audrey Sewell, the Spring 2026 Coastal Couple. Together, they’ve captured brides, grooms, and marryers’ life long memories. After 11 years of marriage, the Sewell’s have been through the ups and downs of marriage but continue to fight for each other and strengthen their relationship through love and communication. Coastal Weddings is excited to share all they have learned through their journey!
Q: HOW DID YOU MEET?
TIM: We met when I was 11 and she was 12, and it was at church. I always tell the story like a movie scene. I walked into the room and there was these spotlights moving around. I kid you not, they literally all stopped on Audrey the moment I walked in the door, and I was in awe. I was like, oh my God, she’s beautiful. And so that was my first impression.
AUDREY: I did not really give him the time of day at first. I was kind of new to the youth group, and everybody loved to be around him. So I was kind of intimidated by that at first. But yeah, it was a slow burn.
TIM: A seven year slow burn.
AUDREY: But it was worth though, right?
TIM: Of course it was.
Q: HOW DID YOU KNOW YOU WERE IN LOVE?
AUDREY: For me, it was just gradual like over time. We just got closer and closer. So we started off as friends and then we became best friends. And then we’re like, hey, I like you. You like me. Then we courted. Then we dated. And I just kind of knew, like when we told everybody at 18 or 19 we were going to get married, they were like, oh my gosh, you’re crazy. And we’re like, no, this is my person. I know this is who I want to do life with.
TIM: So it was like 50/50. Half of them were like, oh my gosh, you’re so young. And then half of them were like, well, yeah, y’all have been inseparable. So for me, on my side of that answer, I knew we were in love just when I was constantly, anytime we were apart, I wanted to be right next to her and spend as much time as we could together. Her stepdad was like, y’all, this is not real life. You’re not going to be able to be together all the time like this. And here we are, self-employed, getting to spend every day together. So we proved you wrong.
Q: WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE MEMORIES?
AUDREY: There’s so many but I honestly have to say having Ellianna. Ellianna has been one of our favorite seasons because we got married at 18 and 19. We spent ten years together, just the two of us. And then having our son, Enzo, was a big part of our relationship. And then right now, seeing him in that dad role is just one of my favorites.
TIM: Yeah and also right in the middle of all of that season, which was our vow renewal. That was by far one of my favorite things that we’ve done together. We went to Italy for our ten year anniversary. We did our vow renewal. For our wedding itself, we didn’t know to hire a professional photographer. And so for the vow renewal, that was the one non-negotiable. Like we had to have a great photographer. Shout out to Sarah Coleman. She did our photos. Her and her husband Bryce came with us, and it was just magical. Like everything that could work out on that trip, it was just perfect. Like in the movies, when they get the the free upgrades on the flights and the suite is, you know, the best, the biggest suite they have. Like all those kinds of things happened that whole trip and it was just amazing. We went during a time where there were no crowds. So we got the whole city of Positano to ourself. And it was just amazing.
Q: WHEN DID YOU GET MARRIED & WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE PART?
AUDREY: We got married January 25th.
TIM: What year, Audrey?
AUDREY: Oh gosh, 11 years ago. We got married in 2014. I always go back because I’m like, okay, I graduated in 2012. What was my favorite part of planning? We actually have a lot of reversed roles. So as like a bride typically plans the wedding, Timothy actually planned a lot of the wedding because that’s just not my creative. So I was pretty much just like, okay, I’ll get the dress, I’ll show up. And then I just trusted him with everything else.
TIM: My favorite part of the wedding was probably, I’d say, getting our photos done like a couples session. We still got that time alone, which was really fun during the wedding day because the rest of the wedding was very stressful, which we learned a lot from that. That’s why the vow renewal was so much greater. But getting that little moment together was really good.
Q: IF YOU COULD GIVE YOUR MARRIAGE A SLOGAN, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
TIM: I would say the thing that sums up our marriage would probably be you either laugh or cry. We have been through some things. And, you know, the almost 12 years we’ve been married and we’ve just chosen to keep picking ourselves up together and pulling ourselves closer. And we’ve had moments where we’ve definitely had to cry. It was not necessarily optional, but I think the laugh part is like not just sitting there and laughing about it, but choosing to see the bright side of the situation. That pretty much sums up our whole marriage is just in those hard times. We have chosen to say, either way, we’re going to laugh about it or we’re going to cry about it. And yeah, we’ve done both.
Q: WHAT IS YOUR #1 TIP FOR A SUCCESSFUL & LOVING MARRIAGE?
AUDREY: I feel like it’s each literally giving 100% and always thinking about the other person. We try to just think of each other first. It doesn’t work if one person does it. But if you have both people giving 100% effort and thinking about the other person, I feel like that’s been very successful. Timothy is a very good communicator and my family is not the best at communication. So when we first got married, it was a lot of learning how to communicate and just being open and honest with each other.
TIM: I would say the world is full of plenty of reasons to pull your marriage apart. It’s just life in general. So I’d say the thing that’s been best for us and I think what I would advise is to keep fighting for each other and to pull each other in, even though everything else might be trying to pull you apart.
Q: WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST STRENGTH?
TIM: I think the phrase dying on a hill. There’s not really a lot of hills we are going to die on. You know, at the end of the day, there’s just nothing that is worth more than us being together and us being in love with each other. None of it is really ever worth the result of, oh, I won that fight, but now we’re not together. So whether it’s a fight or a trial or a challenge that we’re facing, at the end of anything, no matter what the result is, it’s you and me at the end of this.
Q: DESCRIBE A SIGNIFICANT MOMENT THAT STRENGTHENED YOUR MARRIAGE.
TIM: I would definitely say losing and having our son Lorenzo, that was an immediate moment that I knew we had a split second to decide if losing our child was going to break our marriage or if it was going to make us stronger. I decided immediately, I said, this is not going to be the thing to ruin 16 years of a relationship. Thankfully, Audrey had the same mindset. And so we pulled together we got through and we made the most of that. And six months later, we got the celebration of having Ellianna on the way.
Q: WHAT DO YOU LOOK FORWARD TO IN YOUR LIFE TOGETHER?
AUDREY: For me, just growing our family. For us, time is so precious and valuable, and life can be taken away in an instant. So we’re going to live in this moment and we’re going to love where we’re at. Right now we’re buying a house, and we have Ellianna. We’re just truly taking in every single moment together.
TIM: I think what I look forward to the most is being present in as many moments as possible. That is truly where richness comes from in life. Even just having our daughter, we got to stay home the first 2 or 3 months together, and just live in those little moments. It’s just those little things. So a lifetime full of little things is what I look forward to.