My love story

All romances begin with a meeting.

The way I met my husband is pretty childish, whimsical and completely us. I was living in Germany at the time, but visiting my high school best friend in Lakeland, Florida where she attended college. Five college guys and five college girls hung out together on a regular basis. My best friend and Craig, my huband, were both apart of that group. In true Florida fashion, a downpour created a muddy mess on campus one afternoon while I was visiting. So, what were five college guys and five college girls, plus a friend suppose to do with these circumstances? Mud fight, of course!

And that is how I met Craig: slinging mud and running all over campus in the rain. Can you see us in the picture? We are the back two on the left.

Two years after this picture I actually started attending the same college. By that time Craig and Karen, my best bud were great friends, which made it easy for all of us to hang out. We went every where together, the three of us: the library, cafeteria, walks around the lake, camping in Key West. I liked Craig, he liked me and we both confided in Karen this truth. She would “fall asleep” on our outings or “have to leave” after we all were settled into a study group together. What  a good friend!

We began dating four months after I started attending college, six months later we said, “I love you” for the first time and nine months after we were “official,” he proposed. Some say that it was fast, but for us it was perfect.

The proposal is a wonderfully romantic story, but I’ll save it for another post. Let’s just say that in true Craig fashion, he was HUGELY romantic, surprised me completely and I looked like this for my proposal.

Even though I wasn’t adorable for the proposal, it was one of the best evenings of my life. Craig had become my best friend and I knew that life with him would make the mundane amazing. I mean, we met during a mud fight. How much better could this match be? And with all my enthusiasm for a new life ahead, it was time to start planning a wedding! We were going to get married the summer after Craig graduated, giving us six months to plan.

Enter the planning scrapbook. All of the things I liked, inspired me, struck my fancy were snipped from the magazine and glued into the scrapbook. Sometimes words escape me, but an image expresses my intent perfectly.  This book helped me share my ideas with others as I planned. Now, brides-to-be create boards on Pinterest or a wedding planner might create a  “mood board” for your event. Back then I had a glue stick and a pair of scissors. Look! I was ahead of my time.

I was only *gasp* 21  when we got married, so I was still honing in on my style. My mom was willing to help plan the wedding any way she could, but there was a huge ocean between us as I planned. My magazine clippings gave me an idea of what I wanted, but I struggled to make my DIY, handmade, vintage wedding come true. There wasn’t Etsy and Pinterest back then to show you amazing artisan ideas to do on a budget. And I wanted something different than the traditional wedding that all of my college friends were doing. I was in a dilemma for making my perfect wedding plans come true, but I knew I was in love and the marriage was more important than the wedding. I knew I had that part right, so I just went with what I had.

The next step was dress shopping! The dress had to be perfect.

{Stay tuned for more of the story about my dress, the photographer I chose, our engagement pictures and the wedding!}