Today marks a very special day for my husband and me: We are one month into marriage, and celebrating five years of dating! On this very day in 2007, a dear mutual friend introduced us on the lawn of our alma mater (one day before classes started our freshman year of college). We locked eyes, grinned the grin of mutual attraction, and a few hours later, Drew asked me to go for a walk (which started it all). I ran back to my dormitory late that evening (frantic, having missed my mandatory floor meeting) and wrote in my diary that “something magical is happening.” My foresight (or rather 18-year-old idealism) saw that Drew was not just a passing player in my life but a permanent fixture, and here we are five years later, one month into MARRIAGE. MARRIAGE!!!!
This past month has been full of so many adventures: Saying “I do” and walking down the aisle, embarking upon the trip of a lifetime (an 11-day excursion to Mexico — more on that to come!), moving into our first home together and merging lives, two birthdays, and a new career.
It’s been nuts, it’s been fun… and both like and unlike what we expected. I can definitely tell you that the experience of working a wedding is COMPLETELY different than having your own wedding. When people told me it would fly by, I was like, “Yeah, right.” But at our wedding reception, at one point I grabbed my bridesmaid Laurajean and asked her to help me change into my getaway dress “Although it’s so early…” and then realized it was 30 minutes until our departure!!!! We seriously only got to see maybe a third of the people who came (cons of having 230-250 guests), and it was over so fast! I also didn’t get to try but the teensy rectangle of cake we cut… SAD DAY.
Transitioning to married life has been lovely and wonderful and perfect (just like the wedding) but also imperfect and challenging and just DIFFERENT. I love living closer to town (and work). I love living with Drew. I love decorating and keeping up our home. But it takes time and work and dedication and investments. Oh, the juggling!!!
Here’s another thing that’s a little odd: No longer planning out my future wedding! I knew that would be weird, a change of thought patterns (since 80% of my brain-world revolved around wedding plans pre-July 21), and major life change. And it is. I’m not mourning the end of it by any means (nor our honeymoon even), but I do occasionally think about if I did it over what would maybe be different. Would we pick different colors, a different wedding month? Have any different priorities? I would definitely eat more cake if I could do it all over. I might have worn bug spray (or gotten some kind of natural, non-bug spray smelling bug spray), since I got eaten alive by mosquitos while we were taking pictures. I definitely would’ve ripped the stays out of my dad’s suit coat (whoops!). I also probably would’ve tried harder to get my escort cards done in advance, since I ended up finishing them the MORNING of our wedding. But besides that? I’m content. It was perfect and lovely and happy and filled with love, which I wanted more than anything. Plus, we’re married now! That’s the best part! I guess I’ll stick to anniversary party planning if I ever feel like I’m missing out having already gotten married. :)
So let’s raise a glass (of coffee — let’s be honest; real life still hasn’t slowed down enough to catch up completely on sleep!) to a month of married marvelousness, and five years of being with the one I love the most.
Happy Planning, y’all!
~ Kelly
By Kristine Neeley.