Our Journey To "I Do"

For anyone who missed the memo (or who doesn’t follow me on Pintrest - ) Guess what!? C and I are engaged!!! As a Pintrest addict (like – if this was a diagnosis, I would be the poster child for 'Pintrest addiction'...) I regress...  – as an avid pintester, I was surprised by myself that once we were officially engaged, I had no interest in having a wedding.

I have nothing against them. They are fun and everyone deserves to have a special day. But never once have I heard a bride say “planning this wedding was so relaxing, gosh, I was never stressed once!” Never.

Again, this is just how I feel personally, but I do not want to be the one to stress and become a bridezilla. And I am pretty proud that we are homeowners at 21 and 23 years old -  with that said, the idea of spend $30,000 on one day when we could put that number towards a chunk of our mortgage – it just blows my mind!

I personally, would be over the moon to take a walk down to town hall and tie the knot with the man I want to spend the rest of my life with. It’s the marriage that I am passionate about. But to my fiancé, a wedding and celebration of our love is important. I so appreciate him and that he is making sure this is a special occasion and that we'll have no regrets in acknowledging so. And I value this love so much, I am more than happy to celebrate it.

We spent a long time going back and forth with wedding ideas. Finally, we came to a decision.

New Hampshire is our mecca. It’s our safe space. It’s the most beautiful place I have ever been and I feel so lucky to have grown so much of our love in those mountains. So where better than within the forest trees to wed ourselves to one another? We plan to marry this summer at the summit of one of our favorite hikes with our parents and siblings. Later in the day we will invite friends and family to the yard in New Hampshire for a wedding celebration. 

Low key – high love. These are the values I am so excited to bring into our marriage.

I Said Yes!

The calendar was marked "date night." But by a turn of events, it became our engagement night. I said yes! 

I said yes long before he bought a ring or got down on one knee though. Somehow, nearly six years ago, when I was just shy of sixteen years old, I knew I had found the one. 

I said yes through the silly, young fights we had. I said yes through his enlistment in the military and through basic training. I said yes throughout chronic illness. I said yes through new jobs and high stress. I said yes through vacations and endless adventures together.  I said yes throughout a deployment. I said yes throughout the start of new chapters. I said yes through college. I said yes through grief and loss. I said yes in our first home purchase together. I said yes through depression. I said yes in bringing home our first fur-baby together. I will never stop saying yes to marrying this man. 

That to me, is how true love works. Somehow, at an age when I didn't know how to drive or balance a check book, I knew about him. I knew he was the one. I knew, despite the military, despite our young age, despite any of the challenges we faced then, what we would face as young adults, and the ones we haven't faced yet - I knew he was the one for me. I could not imagine the rest of my life without painting him into the picture. I cannot imagine a day when we are not sharing this love. I cannot wait to keep saying yes to being his wife.