Celebrating 10 years of wedded bliss!

Today is a really special day!!  My husband and I are celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary!   Hard to believe it has been 10 years – in some ways it seems like it was just yesterday and yet, I can’t remember what life was like not being married to my husband.

So just for fun (and because I got all sentimental the other day and pulled out our college/dating/wedding albums and snapped a few pictures of the pictures since they aren’t digital) let’s take a walk back through time.  I will share the short version of our love story with you.

My husband and I met over 14 years ago at our local church.  He is a few years older than me, had done a few semesters of college, and was at home working.  I was attending my first year of college away from home and when I came home for the weekend or on break, I would attend the Singles/College age Sunday School class at our church.  We talked just in passing during my first year at college, but when I came home in May, things began to happen.

He started asking me all about the college I was going to, telling me what he felt God wanted to do with this life, and all the sudden I started to see what a tender heart he had and the fact that he was incredibly handsome didn’t escape me either.    At the end of May, he asked me out on our first date and we haven’t stopped dating since. 

He came to college with me in the fall and the above picture would have been one of our first dates at college together at an annual picnic.  We dated all through college until both of us finished 3 years later.  So many good memories of our dating years – double dating with many friends at school, home on weekends and summers together, and just falling in love with each other and planning our future life together.

And 10 years ago on a beautiful day in June, in our home church, we said, “I do” . . . forever, for always, for better or worse, in happiness and sadness, till death do us part.

I didn’t have the big “Pinterest “wedding that everyone has today because I had honestly had no decorating clue back then and Pinterest didn’t exist.  I picked my wedding cake out of a cake book and my mother-in-law made it, browsed free wedding magazines for ideas, frequented Hobby Lobby’s wedding aisle, and tried to do things as pretty as I could but as cost effective as possible. 

I guess my DIYing started a bit back then as my veil was homemade, my dress was a $99 clearance find, I made my bridesmaids jewelry, ring bearer pillow, and more.

I would definitely decorate and do a different wedding theme if I was to do it all over again.  But what matters is the person I married and I wouldn’t change that for the world!!

We left the church after the reception and went to this small park nearby to take pictures.  So glad that we did because I LOVE our outdoor wedding photos! 

By the way those kisses just got better over time – turns out the millionth one is even better than the first. 

I am not a gifted writer and even if I was, I don’t think I could express how thankful I am to be walking hand-in hand with this man through life.  He is EVERYTHING to me, my best friend, my support, my co-dreamer, my lover, my encourager, my protector, a wonderful provider, and so much more!   All I ever wanted, dreamed of, and prayed for growing up was to have a loving marriage and a happy home.  The Lord answered that prayer in my husband and in my marriage.

No, our marriage and life is definitely not perfect but it is GOOD!  We have had good times and bad, happiness and sadness, lost jobs, fun times and really hard times, and more.  But we have always had each other, our faith in God, and strive to make sure our marriage is guarded as the most important thing on earth.

I love every minute I get to spend with him and yet, they never seem to be enough even 10 years later.

Love this picture the photographer inadvertently captured as I collapsed on a bench while he was doing some shots of my husband.  Now that is the theme I would choose for my wedding today – rustic with traditional wedding glam mixed in.

Sorry, ladies, he is all MINE!    And he makes me happier than I could have ever imagined.

We are away for the weekend celebrating being married for 10 years and just enjoying being together.  And dreaming, planning, and looking forward to the next 10, 20, 50 years ahead!

Have a great weekend!