maureen&drew {happily ever after}

I photographed Drew's sister's wedding a few months ago, so I was able to reconnect with he & Maureen. They still had the newlywed glow & were loving marriage!

I hope you guys have many more happy years like this first year!

Tell me about your wedding:

1. What was your most memorable moment?
Maureen: Walking down the aisle – it was the first time all day I had gotten nervous! And then I had a rush of emotion when I saw Drew for the first time.
Drew: The entrance to the reception. Was awesome because the nerves from the ceremony were gone, & everybody was supporting us & cheering.

2. What were the inspirations for your wedding? Themes? Why did you pick this time of year?
I (Maureen) started off with two bird figurines that I owned that I thought would be cute cake toppers, so we kind of went with a lovebird theme. I just liked the idea of an evening wedding with lanterns & lights all over. Ironically, we couldn’t find the birds in question for the cake topper so we had to substitute at the last second. We picked this time of year because we had been together for 8 years & were ready to be married, & September was the soonest that worked with the venue.

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?
Maureen: Drew was overly concerned about the carbonation on his homebrew.
Drew: Maureen obsessed a bit over the song she was to walk down the aisle to… we must have listened to the same 3 songs about 10 times & gone back & forth several before aligning on something.

4. Any advice for those planning now?
Maureen: Take your time; it’s ok to have a longer engagement. It gives you more time to plan. Choose what is meaningful for you, & don’t stress about the rest.
Drew: Get married, go on your honeymoon, then just come back & throw a kickass party! Or, elope. It’ll be much cheaper & much less stressful in the long run. And just as fun! Not that I’m not happy with what we did!

Tell me about married life

1. What has been the easiest and hardest part of adjusting to married life?
Drew: Hardest: recognizing that we are now the most ‘official’ we can possibly be, & that means additional responsibility to the relationship. I can no longer retreat to my computer & play video games all day. Easiest: The transition from engaged to married. We’d been together for 8 years, already lived together, so the only real difference was an additional weight on my finger.
Maureen: Hardest/most annoying: having my name changed. It took way longer, & way more effort that I anticipated. Easiest: What he said!

2. What’s been the most surprising thing you’ve learned about each other?
Maureen: I didn’t realize how much of a planner he was. Planning out what to buy & when to buy it, when to buy a house, when to get a dog, when we might be ready to have children, etc. etc. Everything has to be planned before it can happen!
Drew: The realization that no matter how hard I hope & try, she will never have the same amount of interest in video games as I do. And that’s ok.

3. What do you guys do to spend time together? Do you have weekly dates? Something nightly? Monthly?
We like to eat, & we like to drink. We tend to go play bingo at the local whole foods every Tuesday, followed by tacos. We go play cornhole at a local brewery a couple times a month. We like to sit & watch a couple of late night talk show hosts together. We like looking through model homes or antique shops to scout out things for our home. We always go on a schmancy dinner at a specific restaurant (Wink, in Austin) once a year for Valentine’s Day. We also enjoy hosting family & friends for get togethers.

4. What did you do/what will you do to celebrate your one-year anniversary?
Well, since our anniversary is on a Monday this year, we are doing an extended weekend of events leading up. Saturday: schmancy dinner. Sunday: hang out with family at a local brewery for a fun, relaxing Sunday. Monday: make dinner together after work & have our one-beer anniversary beer, & read our advice cards from friends & family about marriage.

5. Any plans for the future? Or rather, what would you like to have done/seen/experienced in the next five years?
We’d like to go on a really big trip, whether to Europe or Asia or a big cruise, so something similar that we’ve never done while we can. Get a dog! Probably start a family. Fill out our new house with furniture. See some of our friends get married, since we are still alone in that respect…