So I’m back from a hiatus…an unplanned one, but so much has happened.  For one, I married the love of my life!  If you’re panicking thinking that you missed out on wedding planning posts, you didn’t.  I didn’t blog about our plans to get married.  I didn’t share with all of my friends or my co-workers.  We told our families a couple weeks from the date and just did it!

The Ceremony

We went to the courthouse in D.C.  with 15 family and friends and we got married!  I opted out of the wedding dress look because it just isn’t me…at least in this stage of my life.  Who knows, maybe 15 years from now I’ll want to wear a wedding dress and we’ll do it again, ha.   The ceremony was about 10 minutes and we ended with a group prayer.  From there, we took some photos and headed to Happy Hour!  It was simple, beautiful, and practical…exactly what I wanted.

The Reception

A few weeks later, we had a party…exactly what my husband wanted!  I’m kidding, I wanted a party too.  It was a chance to celebrate with friends and family over food, drinks, and music.  We didn’t blow the budget, we kept it simple, beautiful, and practical.

The Getaway

Not too long after our celebration, we stamped our passports to celebrate our friends getting married in Cancun.  It was our unofficial honeymoon and our first trip away without Bean.  We connected with each other and with other couples celebrating love.

Two Months Later

We’re two months into marriage and there are two questions that I’ve gotten more than any other:

Q: Does it feel different being married?

A: It doesn’t for me.  Bean’s Dad and I have been together for 4 years.  We’ve been consistently simple and practical which is beautiful to me.  After 8 months, we decided that it made sense to live together because we were ready to take the next step and it didn’t make sense to pay two separate rents when we were usually at one residence anyway.  We were clear in our intentions that moving together was a step toward marriage.  It made sense for us and we learned so much about each other throughout the process.  Our engagement solidified our intentions, but we’ve been family for years.  So, it feels very much the same.  It is a blessing to live life with the person you love.  I do get a kick out of seeing him wear his wedding band!

Q:  Why so private about the ceremony?

A:  Admittedly,  this was more of a question that I asked myself in the weeks leading up to the ceremony.  I’m pretty much an open book…hence the blog.  Sharing details about our upcoming wedding ceremony felt different for me.  Why?  It took me a while to pinpoint the reason behind my decision.  Primarily, I did not want the unsolicited advice about how we should get married.  While I know most advice comes from a place of love, we wanted simple, beautiful, and practical.  Too much outside influence takes away the simplicity, beauty, and usually, practicality.  There was also an element of jitters (for me).  Marriage is a BIG deal.  I had to keep reminding myself that our love is BIGGER than my jitters.  Additionally, marriage is a HUGE step and I want to protect our love and keep it a reflection of us and our values.  So, it made sense to keep it close to our hearts.

So here we are, two months in.  I can confidently say that, as usual, we did it our way!  Simple, beautiful, and practical.