Our Wedding Story

Seven years ago today I was a bride. I know I’ve been sharing The Story of us on Mondays, but it only seemed fitting to share this final installment today. Last week I shared Our Engagement Story, so if you missed that take a moment to go check it out. You can also re-visit parts 1-5 here, here, here, here, and here.

After getting engaged on that beautiful beach in Costa Rica we and our team crossed into Nicaragua for our ministry trip. Needless to say, we didn’t do a whole lot of wedding planning during that trip, but we did establish that we didn’t want a long engagement. Due to his job it’s all but impossible for my brother to take time off on a weekend during the summer. So, our wedding date options were limited to sometime before Memorial Day or after Labor Day. We didn’t want to wait until September, so we started looking at dates in early May.

When we came home from our ministry trip we jumped into wedding planning. May 12, 2012 was going to be our day. We chose venues (a botanical garden in my home town with reception to follow at the country club), designed invitations and programs, chose music, lined up catering and flowers, and nailed down all the countless details that go into wedding planning. I went dress shopping and chose bridesmaid dresses, and Kyle rented a tux and chose groomsmen attire. We packed a lot into our 4 month engagement, and there were definitely times when I felt super stressed. But, the principle we kept at the forefront of our minds as we planned was that the wedding was just one day; the marriage, however, is forever. With that in mind, we knew that as long as we ended the day married we could count it a success.

And our day turned out to be a dream of a day. We were absolutely blown away by all the love our family and friends poured out on us! It was truly a family effort, too. My mom and one of my sisters had been granted permission from several of Mom’s gardening friends to come and cut whatever flowers were blooming. So they did, and from them they crafted this huge floral kissing ball which we hung from a long ivy garland intertwined with white chiffon. We draped the garland all around the arbor we stood under. My mother in love and my other sister along with several nieces and nephews and siblings-in-love worked together to transform the country club into a thing of beauty! Two of my sisters-in-love, two of my bridesmaids, and I made the bouquets and the corsages/boutonnieres. I’m sure I’m leaving something out, but the point is that so many people contributed to our days. We felt so loved!!

And that is something that really hasn’t changed. And we did end the day married—we were officially pronounced husband and wife at 3:38:42pm on May 12, 2012. My husband’s great uncle wrote down the precise second we were pronounced and gave it to us after the ceremony. I didn’t know it then, but that was the greatest gift! Because now, no matter what difficulties or disagreements come up, we can always go back to that moment. We can always remember the joy, excitement, and anticipation of May 12, 2012. And, as long as we remember that, we can make it through anything.

So, to wrap up this Story of Us series, I’m going to share 7 things that have made our marriage better.

We say I love you, and we say it a lot.
We *try* to be quick to apologize and even quicker to forgive.
We surprise one another: whether it’s showing up at his work unannounced to deliver a special lunch or stopping suddenly on the sidewalk to steal a quick kiss, we always try to maintain some element of fun and surprise.
We dream together. We’re building a life here! An entire legacy! We want it to be worth something!
We try to fight with one another rather than against one another.
We know one another’s love languages and do our best to speak them fluently.
We pray together as well as for one another.

And that’s a wrap on the Story of Us!! Thank you for reading this whole thing!! Next Monday I’ll be starting a new series that I am sooooo excited about!! Check back to find out all about it next Monday!