marriage on my mind: The Pless Press

hello friends!
today is the kick off of the new and exciting series.
{marriage on my mind}
as many of you probably have figured out by now i am planning my wedding.
so of course i wanted to hear stories from other women about their engagement,wedding planning, wedding day, and married life.
i have a fantastic bunch of women sharing!

today amber from the pless press is sharing her story.
we met in the bloggy world and she is such a sweet girl.
i am thrilled that she is sharing today.

Hello there all you lovely brides-to-be!
My name is Amber from over at The Pless Press. I am a newlywed who is just trying to find her way through cooking, crafting, and becoming the best wife I can be. My husband's name is Corey, but you will notice in this post and throughout my blog I just refer to him as "C". I would love to have you if you ever want to stop on by and check us out!

I just want to first say thank you to Amber for allowing me to share some of C and I’s stories and ideas for beginning the journey of marriage. I cannot wait to read all of the stories that everyone submits.
Weddings are my absolute favorite!

So let’s start with back about the age of 5. I know I am not alone here, but I had dreamed up every detail of my wedding since I was a little girl. Well, every detail except for the boy part of it (kind of important). So when we got engaged, of course I began telling C all about these great ideas I had and visions I could just picture now with a groom included. Little did I know, HE HAD IDEAS TOO. My first thought was, “Wait, you mean to tell me that boys think about weddings and marriage too???” I had never realized this before. It took me a second to realize that a wedding and a marriage cannot take place if it only has one person. I knew in that moment that my five year old dreams were now going to be even better than I had imagined because it was no longer about me, it was about us.

Now, let’s talk the actual wedding details. When you begin meeting a photographer, the first thing they will ask you about your wedding day is if you want to see each other before or not. I had always dreamed about the moment when I walk down the aisle and that being the first moment that my future husband would see me. But, something seemed so intimate and special about a first-moment picture before the wedding. It meant we would have time to look into each other’s eyes and without a ton of people around we could share this time to just appreciate one another and the day that was before us. Not only that but seeing C that day with just the two of us just swept away any nervousness I had. Our first moment pictures are my absolute favorites. That moment is engraved in my mind and my heart and I can tell you most definitely that was my favorite moment of the day. I strongly encourage you to consider that time.

What made C and I’s wedding unique is that everything was handmade. We made the invitations and the programs, we arrange the flowers, we decorated the cupcake tree, we wrote our own vows, and we had friends and family who made signs for us and our cupcakes. My sweet mother even made my dream dress come true by taking a simple dress we found and making it exactly what I imaged. I love looking back and knowing that we came up with every detail of our wedding day and put it into action. It made it very personal for us and very special to those who joined us in celebration that day.

I will honestly tell you that there is not one thing I would change about my wedding. My two best friends as our musicians, C’s father’s best friend as our officiant, my close high school friend as our videographer, our location at the university we both attended that brought us together, all of our friends and family by our sides throughout the whole day, the details, the décor, the memories from that day are perfect. I strongly believe that is because we made it completely about us. We tried to have a wedding that just expressed our personalities and everyone who attended felt it. I would strongly encourage you to remember that this wedding is about you and your fiancé becoming one. The tiny details that reflect the two of you will be what makes the day all the better. You will not regret a single thing about it if you focus on that.

The advice I have to all of you future brides is to keep that in mind. Do not try to please every guest who will be there, do not try to have the most outlandish wedding, and do not try to be a couple that you are not. Make every detail of the day surrounded by hints of each of you. It will make it perfect. What is even more important, though, is to remember that you are not just planning a wedding. You are planning a marriage. At the end of the day, that is what matters. Use your engagement time to go to pre-marital counseling, to read books on marriage and becoming a husband and wife, and talk with your fiancé about what that looks like for the two of you. Marriage is amazing, difficult, uplifting, and hard. It is every emotion all at once. You should be putting more effort into preparing your relationship for marriage than you should planning out the wedding details.

Just remember, once that day is over, the real married life begins. The biggest piece of advice I would give you is the pick your battles. If you let every second on the floor, every whisker from that boy’s face that is all over the sink after he shaves, or every cup left in the sink instead of put in the dishwasher drive you crazy and spark a huge fight, then you are going to close off something that can be so beautiful. Be prepared to compromise. Married life is the best. I would not trade it for anything. You will come to love all of his quirkiness. Enjoy it!

I hope this helped you in any way. If you cannot tell, this is something I am very passionate about. Planning the wedding and the marriage is one of the best times of your life. It pushes you to truly think about the future and all of the memories to come with that person you chose to stand by your side through it all. I could not imagine a better person for me than C. He is amazing! I hope you find a person that brings out the best in you and you bring out the best in them. When you do, do not let it go. Spend every day working to build your marriage and strengthen your relationship with that person.
You will not regret it.

Thanks so much for sharing with us today Amber!
Be sure to come back next wednesday to for more wedding and marriage talk!