marriage on my mind: Marigold Road

happy wednesday to you! hope the middle of the week is treating you well.
i am so excited to have Mindy from Marigold Road here today to share for {marriage on my mind}

I'm Mindy, bride to my high school sweetheart, and mother to Wilder & Story. I launched my blog, MarigoldRoad, 4 years ago to chronicle my first pregnancy. Now I write to motivate women to embrace their self-worth. I also blog my motherhood journey in real and applicable ways, whilst including baking/craftiness for the visually intrigued. My Etsy shop offers handmade wool felt headbands, hoop art, yarn wreaths, and jewelry, most of which incorporate vintage materials, and are crafted in the wee hours of the night. You can also shop there for kitschy mid-century vintage decor & housewares.

what was your favorite part of your wedding day?
My favorite part of the wedding day (8.5 years ago! we were 21 and 22) was getting to see Shawn right before the ceremony, for our couple's pictures. I was really nervous and frazzled, until I saw him. It didn't "jinx" anything for us. It calmed me down so I could walk down the aisle less nervous.
what made your wedding uniquely you?
a bright blue wedding cake!
if you could plan your wedding again what would you do/not do over again?
i wouldn't have done such formal photos; would've let the bridesmaids pick a dress they could REALLY wear again; would've done a receiving line (the pastor talked us out of it); would've had a shorter ceremony; would've had gift baskets for the out-of-town guests; would have EATEN that day!
what advice do you have for a bride planning her wedding?
invest in a quality photographer that is going to put an artistic spin on the photos; make sure the photographer does some fun outdoorsy pictures for the wonderful natural lighting. Also make sure you have comfortable shoes for the reception. And do your makeup the way your normally do it, just with extra sparkle. A random friend did my makeup and it just didn't look like "me".
what advice do you have for a newly wed couple?
go with the flow, roll with the punches, make all you do be about giving your partner the best day ever (every day), don't keep record of wrongs, be respectful
i love your cake so cute! thanks for sharing Mindy!
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be sure to come back next week for more marriage and wedding talk!

marriage on my mind: luce

hello friends!
today we have our second guest sharing for
{marriage on my mind}
please welcome ashley!

Hey there!!! Hey lovelies! My name is Ashley Marie Wilson, I’m a wife, an artist and the girl behind Luce.

First of all...Congratulations to Amber, the beautiful bride to be! I am so excited for her and I was super excited to guest post. I'll be honest though when she e-mailed me, I had to write her back and ask her if she was sure she wanted my story... since it wasn't the big traditional wedding story. She said she did and here it is...

You know how every girl has a fairytale wedding in mind? I had the man of my dreams but never really the wedding part. Me and my husband wanted to married more than anything, we are people who don't like to be the center of attention and 100% prefer simple things. So what did we do? We got married just the two of us. And I couldn't have been happier.

Now that you have a little of the back story, the answers to the following questions will make more sense.

What was your favorite part of your wedding day?

Saying "I do" and realizing that I would get to have my best friend and love of my life forever as my husband...offically ; )

What made your wedding unique you?

That we followed our hearts and did what we knew we wanted to do. It was just us. There was something organic and intimate about that to me. I could really be in the moment and focus and then enjoy the rest of the day together.

If you could plan your wedding again what would you do/not do over again?

I wouldn't change a thing.

What advice do you have for a bride planning her wedding?

Do what makes you and your husband happy. This day is about you guys. Don't get lost in going over the top or trying to please everyone else. If a fairy tale wedding is everything you desired. go for it. If a quiet wedding of 10 people on a beach is what you desired, go for it. Whatever it is, go for it. There is no rule for what a wedding HAS to be, so be free and enjoy everything!

What advice do you have for a newly wed couple?

Never take each other for granted and enjoy every season you are in. This is the time of your life, soak it up and love hard.

thanks so much for sharing Ashely!
be sure to come back next week for more wedding and marriage talk!

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!

favorite engagement pictures

starting tomorrow i have an amazing line up of women sharing about wedding prep and marriage. i am super duper excited about it i am calling the series
{marriage on my mind}
i mean i do have it on my mind... a.l.o.t.

so to kick it off i am posting some of my very favorite engagement pictures! taking pictures was so much fun.
it was c.o.l.d. good thing we are fond of each other so we were able to snuggle and keep warm
we stayed on campus to take pictures and i'm so glad we did because it is where we met, where we got engaged, and where we are getting married.the campus is so beautiful.
trees everywhere, a small river running through it, and old brick buildings i really love this guy and i am super excited that i will get to call him husband soon!
be sure to come back tomorrow and every wednesday for the next few months
to read about wedding prep and marriage.

adventuring we will go

i love spending time with clint.
it doesn't really matter what we are doing we always have fun together.
over the holidays we were able to spend time together e.v.e.r.y.d.a.y. and it was fantastic!
it was great talking about the future, looking back on our past two years together and enjoying the stage we are in right now, engagement. i loved waking up and being able to have morning coffee together.
i am so looking forward to that happening so much more once we are married. i loved being able to enjoy the stillness the country side with him after having the crazy hustle and bustle of christmas. we were able to go exploring after a fresh blanket of snow. there were so many critter and deer tracks. we even stumbled upon a deer resting but it ran away as soon as he saw us. i have the best exploring partner ever.
i love you clint and can't wait to be your wife!

i hear wedding bells

its friday!!
when did this happen??
friday means insta friday and let me tell you this week has been an amazing whirl wind!!
i've taken a few instas but there is one that tops them all... I GOT ENGAGED THIS WEEK!!

the story

Wednesday was my birthday and so Clint and i were going to be going to my mom and step dads for my family birthday dinner. So the sweet man came out on tuesday so we could celebrate my birthday just the two of us! He got to my place around five and we went for a walk to catch up on whats been happening since the last time we saw each other (two days ago). I don't really remember what all was said because i just remember what happened next. The sun had already set so it was very dark out but we were passing under a light and he pulls out a letter. It was the sweetest letter, he wrote about memories from when we first started dating and other super sweet stuff, he also drew pictures (he is an artist!!) in the letter. i loved it! at the end he drew a ring and asked if would marry him and i just started hugging him and squealing. so he wasn't able to get down on one knee, heeee heeee, but he pulled out the real ring and i whipped off my mitts and of course said YES!! i proceeded to squeal with excitement the rest of the evening as we went out for supper and as i called family and friends to tell them the exciting news!!

have a great friday!