Okay, so remember how I was supposed to post all these wedding pictures and stuff? Well, obviously I haven’t done that yet. So, to give myself a kick in the pants to get going, I decided to copy Sam, who copied the people she mentioned in her first WW post, who probably copied some other trend-setting blogger. Don’t you just love how we’re all such little thieves in the blogging world? But at least I give credit where credit is due, right? Right. So here is what will happen: below you’ll find a list of various wedding- and marriage-related topics that I will discuss within the next several weeks (every Wednesday). Are you all excited? Good. Because this is the only way you’ll hear about our wedding otherwise.
So here are the topics:
1. how it all began: how you met, first date, first kiss, how long did you date? first picture together…..etc.
2. when you knew he was the one: self explanatory.. but how and when did you know?
3. proposal: how it happened, how long were you engaged for? was it a total surprise? pictures of that… etc.
4. the ring: tell us about it! did you pick it out? did he? pictures! tell us about his ring too!
5. engagement/bridal pictures: let’s see em!
6. the colors: show some of the flower and colors you used
7. the dress: was it what you always imagined? did you have it made for you? white or ivory?
8. the little accessories: you know, veil? shoes? jewelry? what did your bridesmaids wear?
9. the reception: where was it at? show us some pictures! what day did you get married?
10. the cake/food: i love food. so tell me about what you had at your wedding!
11. your song and/or the first song you danced to at your wedding: share a music video or lyrics if you can!
12. favorite part of the day and least favorite part of the day: can be anything.
13. honeymoon: where did you go? was it good? 😉 haha…jk.
14. thoughts on marriage: what is the easiest/hardest part? if you could change anything, what would it be?
15. first place that you lived together: pics if you have them!
16. kids: do you have any yet? if not, when do you plan on it? how many do you want? any tips on good/bad birth control?
17. most recent picture of you and your significant other and what you love most about them 🙂 and any other thoughts.
All right, y’all should first know this: Matt and I have known each other since high school and have been part of the same friend group for about 7 years now. We also took numerous classes together in high school (including choir for several years and advanced body conditioning). So the above pictures are NOT the firsr pictures of us two technically. They are, I believe, the first pictures that are ever taken of just the two of us.
There were, however, several pictures taken of the three of us (Matt, me, and The Dean) on our choir trip to Washington D.C. senior year of high school, but…that’s a long story. Maybe I’ll blog about it someday, but probably not. So you’ll all just probably never know.
But what you all REALLY want to know is how it all started. Well, Matt’s and my story is longer than most (just because we knew each other for longer than most couples before we started dating), but I’ll try to just stick with the good stuff (or at least the remotely interesting).
Like I said, in high school we all ran around with roughly the same people. But, as so often happens, there began to be *gasp!* drama within our little group. Basically what happened was people started to like each other (I know, earth-shattering, isn’t it?). Matt and I were no exception: while Matt was head over heels for one of my best friends, I was dating one of his best friends. The more I got to know Matt, the more I actually began to develop a bit of a crush on him, but nothing ever happened at that time.
Until Matt got home from his mission. Because he was the oldest of all of his guy friends, he was just about the only guy in our circle of friends who was home. And since the aforementioned friend of mine whom he had crushed on for so long had gotten married in the two year interim of his mission, he was basically just stuck with me and Kayla (Matt’s and my mutual best friend). That’s when the first two pictures were taken: just after Matt got home.
Then followed a very long two year dating-game thing, where I basically ran off and dated a bunch of people and Matt kept his love for me a secret (yeah, Matt is definitely the likable hero of our story, and I’m just the clueless girl). And sadly, every time he tried to divulge said-secret, I started dating somebody else. It just seemed destined to never happen. Especially when, in fall 2009, when we actually HAD started to date a little, I announced that I myself was going away to serve a religious mission for 18 months. Although I’m sure Matt was a little devastated, he never wavered in his support for my decision (although I know he wanted me to stay home and marry him–more on that later).
We did kiss though before I left on my mission. But I was keeping my options open and dating a couple other people at the time, so nothing more happened before I left. Something I can see now though as I look back with more perfect hindsight, I’m really grateful for all those years we had just to be friends–he was the one I learned to trust to talk about everything (even my breakups with other guys), and I always knew he would be there to lean on no matter what. So even though our journey together probably seems excruciatingly long and roundabout, it really helped us have a solid foundation to build from.
And that my friends, is where I’m going to have to leave my story until next week, since the rest has to do with how I knew Matt was the right one for me….dun dun dun!!
(And for more picture overload, here are a few pictures taken of us before my mission, either from dates or just from friend outings):
(I just noticed that I always take these kind of pictures from the exact same side. I need to make Matt do this once in awhile to break up the routine…)
