jennifer&daniel {happily ever after}

Happy first anniversary to Jennifer & Daniel! What a beautiful wedding (in all the ways!) & beautiful couple.

Tell me about your wedding:

1. What was your most memorable moment?
Jennifer: I have too many favorite moments to count! My sister (& maid of honor!) gave a hilarious, scene-stealing toast, which I wish had been recorded for posterity. I also got teary-eyed hearing my friends Cara & Jessica perform All Glory by Vertical Church Band; it was such a beautiful, heartfelt moment. Having our dear church friends so involved on our wedding day made it incredibly special.
Daniel: Besides our officiant NOT saying “you may now kiss the bride” in the ceremony? I also really appreciated spending time before the wedding back in the groom’s suite. It was so good to be able to hang with my guys (including both my brothers), & to be encouraged & prayed for.

2. What were the inspirations for your wedding? themes? Why did you pick this time of year?
We had lots of individual ideas & sources of inspiration that gelled together perfectly somehow! I hadn't considered any other colors besides mint & peach; when we decided on a spring wedding (because we didn't want to get married in the Texas summer or wait a whole year for fall to roll around again), that color palette immediately came to mind. Daniel & I both love music & literature, & we got to incorporate that into our centerpieces & the runner on our head table, & it turned out splendidly!

3. Was there anything that was not worth fussing over? In other words, did you have a bridezilla/groomzilla moment over something that was insignificant?
Jennifer: To be honest, I was extremely stressed out for the majority of our engagement, so I’m sure my inner bridezilla came out from time to time! I can't recall any specific diva moments, but in retrospect, I did have quite a few moments afterward when I thought, “Why did I ever doubt that vendor X would deliver on Y? S/he did amazing!” When you do the upfront work to pick solid vendors, you just need to trust them. All my vendors were amazing, so it was silly that I wasted emotional energy worrying & over-thinking things prior to my wedding day.
Daniel: I felt busy & pressured, but don’t distinctly remember a groomzilla moment. Though, to be fair, I do remember spending a couple days in the last two weeks trying to track down some presentable cocktail napkins for the happy hour. Not really anything dramatic, just the occasional unnecessary fixation. (Pssst... Jennifer did freak out a bit about not finding the perfect wedding dress… after, if I remember correctly, trying on about four.)

4. Any advice for those planning now?
Jennifer: Hiring a day-of wedding coordinator is one of the best decisions we made! I am so glad we didn't try to handle all the nitty gritty details ourselves. Dani and Britt from Fringe Events & Design saved our sanity in so many ways. Also, it is so worth it to hire the fabulous Emily, of course. I know friends who had a random uncle take their wedding photos & regretted not actually having any usable pictures to look back on afterward. We have zero regrets about having chosen Emily; she owned it, & our wedding photo album is amazing! Lastly, I recommend writing thank you notes as the gifts come in; I procrastinated so much on those, & it was a pain to let them pile up!
Daniel: A good day-of wedding coordinator should be a non-negotiable. There are so many last minute details that you don’t have the bandwidth to handle. Being able to enjoy the couple of days before with family was worth every penny we spent to have someone else worry about organizational stuff! Beyond that, do your homework, & get a system together. We used half a dozen google spreadsheets to organize invites/RSVP’s/gifts, expenses, vendor quotes & contact information… really, you pretty much just need to keep track of everything. Oh, & we used www.costofwedding.com to give us some realistic expectations of what we would be looking at.

Tell me about married life!

1. What has been the easiest & hardest parts about adjusting to married life?
Jennifer: The easiest part has been getting used to living together—funny enough! We didn't live together before we got married, & people have warned us that the transition can be tough, but I was struck by how surprisingly normal it felt right away. We were already cooking & planning meals together while we were dating; being married just made things so much easier when it came to that & all the other aspects in which we were already sharing our lives.

The hardest part has been facing my laziness & selfishness. I’ve never been particularly disciplined about doing chores, but of course, in a marriage, it's important that we both carry the load of doing housework. I'm guessing that a hard aspect for Daniel has been having to talk about our feelings & deal with my emotional side. XD

Daniel: The easiest part has been that our lives have been greatly simplified really. Meal planning is easier, I have less driving to juggle, & neither of us have too many weirdly specific quirks about mundane household things!

Hardest part has been learning how to sacrifice & be selfless. Being a lawyer, I have somewhat unrealistic approaches to communication sometimes, particularly in resolving conflict. Turns out that a very different approach is needed with my wife, particularly when the problem is, eh, less than logical. =)

2. What's been the most surprising thing you've learned about each other?
Jennifer: I was surprised by how affectionate Daniel is. I thought I had an inkling, but really, I had no idea! He doesn't want people to know that he's warm & cuddly on the inside! :p
Daniel: That Jennifer continues to blow my cover on this topic. =P

3. What do you guys do to spend time together? Do you have weekly dates? something nightly? monthly?
Most nights we eat dinner together while watching Netflix. :) Even if we have separate items to attend to afterward, we always prioritize sharing mealtime with one another. That also means we enjoy shopping & cooking meals together still, even if we kind of cheat by cooking for several days at a time.

For date nights, we like to go to concerts, museums, or the movies. Daniel loves to drive, so taking day trips is always fun. Aside from that, as part of our daily routine, we also try to end our day by reading the Bible before bed.

4. What did you do, or will you do, to celebrate your one year anniversary?
As of this writing, we haven't decided yet, but I am sure we'll think of something fun & low-key. That tends to be how we roll.

5. Any plans for the future? Or, rather, what would you like to have done/seen/experience in the next five years?
Jennifer: I'd love to go on an international trip somewhere in Europe or Australia! Daniel has never been out of the country—ever. We need to remedy that. :)