Happy Anniversary to Us!

Hope you all had a great weekend! We're finally starting to feel better thankfully so we were able to make it to the Blink 182 concert last night. We got to sit in the first row too so it was really amazing!

Today is a really exciting day for us for a few reasons.

#11 It's our RSVP deadline day

#2 It's our 2nd dress fittings

#3 Most importantly it's our Annivesary! Whenever I tell people about it being our anniversary the first word that comes out of their mouths is "AGAIN?!?!" Ok it's true. We have quite a few that we recognize. This one is for our commitment ceremony. Kind of an important one, right? Oh and I can't forget that it's also a year ago today that we decided to go ahead and make this whole thing official :)

Oh how things have changed since then. Color schemes, bridal parties, photographers, musicians, florists, hair & makeup artists, rentals, wedding planners! Oh man, I remember once upon a time when things were much more simple. Turn back the hands of time almost 13 years earlier back to August 10th 1996. That was the day that we had a beautiful intimate commitment ceremony in front of 40 of our closest friends and family in Jen’s parent’s backyard. We were young, madly in love, had no money and not much taste and yet it was the most amazing day of my life.

This photo looks almost vinatage but it was 1996!

It was the most incredible day

Our parents and siblings played major roles in the ceremony, with each member reading passages, poems, and even singing songs to celebrate our love.

Jen's loving father. He's forever in our hearts.

Jen’s sister Jill was in a quartet at the time and they sang us a beautiful song called Secret Love. The words of the song perfectly describe our relationship and it was so touching to hear them sing it to us so beautifully.

The choir singing Secret Love

Once I had a secret love

That lived within the heart of me

All too soon my secret love

Became impatient to be free
So I told the friendly star

The way that dreamers often do

Just how wonderful you are

And why I’m so in love with you
Now I should it from the highest hills

Even told the golden daffodils

At last my heart’s an open door

And my secret love’s no secret anymore

I'm a lucky girl!

We didn’t have a wedding party but we did have our best friend Derek serve as our best man.

With our best man Derek after his toast.

Everyone there had an amazing time, we even did the Macarena! Now don’t judge, it was 1996 after all :) And people still tell me to this day that it was the most beautiful wedding they’ve ever been to.

The infamous Macarena

Cutting the cake

In the middle of all the madness that we’re going through now trying to plan this monster extravaganza, I think that we need to look back to that day and remember how happy we we were and how effortless everything was. We had no expectations. We simply wanted to celebrate our love in front of our loved ones. It didn’t matter what the linens looked like or what shoes we were wearing. I think our biggest splurge that day was a tray of shrimp cocktail from Red Lobster. The whole thing was totally no fuss. Although I do remember insisting that we have silverware and not use plastic utensils. I guess I was a bit of diva even back then :)

Ok I have to remember to keep myself in check and focus on what’s important. I’m getting to legally marry the love of my life and I’m going to celebrate it with 150 of our nearest & dearest in a way that reflects us perfectly. No complaints here.