When I was in New Hampshire earlier this month Ben and I attended an art exhibit that my grandfather had a few pieces in. While I was admiring the vivid colors in one striking picture of crows, the artist came up and introduced herself. When she found out my husband was at the gallery with me, she promptly informed me I don’t look nearly old enough to be married –Ā (thanks, I had no idea).Ā Her next question surprised me, coming from a woman I’d met two minutes earlier. She took my arm, leaned in, and in all seriousness asked, “Well, are you happy?”
The short answer, which I gave the aging artist, is, “Yes.”
The longer one is that we’ve been married for almost three years, and those three years have changed the word happy for me. Not only am I so often “happy,” like I was before we got married, but my capacity for happiness, for joy, has increased.
As we drove back to Ohio from New Hampshire, I put on some songs from our wedding playlist, and let us reminisce. I love looking back to our wedding day, to the start of our road together. We were so innocent. I knew so little about what I was getting into, but I was better prepared than I could have guessed. The songs take me back to that newlywed love, that pure immature devotion. I love Ben more now than I did that warm August evening dancing to Lee Brice, but I love him differently – more wholly, but maybe less blindly.
side note: Ā A childhood best friend and photographer gave me the very best wedding gift: a disk of 800 images from our wedding Ā about a month and a half later. She captured some of the candid moments my photographer missed and I love this second perspective of our day. All pictures (with two exceptions) Ā from her.Ā
^^Its a little blurry, but it reminds me of the giddy happiness from that day
^^I wore my mother’s wedding dress
^^smiling for pictures had never been so easy
^^my favorite part of the dress is the button enclosures on the back
^It looked too pretty to eat, but tasted even better (layers of white almond pound cake between moist chocolate cake, all lined with chocolate fudge filling).
^^in between pictures before the reception
^^dancing to “I Loved Her First” (see playlist below)
^^beautiful flowers around the grounds of the Boston temple
^^I love this shot of my parents she captured
There is little that can take me back to those few weeks leading up to the wedding and the magical day itself than the songs we’d send back and forth while we were apart and the ones we danced to surrounded by friends and family. We spent the five and a half weeks before the wedding two thousand miles apart (and it seemed like a lifetime!), and with different schedules, we relied a lot on Facebook. I loved waking up to the words of a poem he’d written the night before or a loving response to the song I’d sent. Part way through that month him a CD which better described the loving and missing him than my words could (it may or may not have included “Kiss Me Through the Phone” – I don’t include that on our wedding summer playlist anymore ;).
Here’s a playlist that takes me right back to the summer of 2011:
First Dance: I Thought I Loved You Then
Daddy-daughter Dance: I Loved Her First
Our Song: Ben re-worked the lyrics to “A Drop in the Ocean” and sang it while playing the piano at our reception.
Compensation was provided by Spotify via Glam Media. All opinions in this post are my own, naturally, and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Spotify. Thanks, as always, for supporting the brands that support this blog!
12 Comments
Wow, these photos are great! I love reading about other people's weddings and love stories… probably because I love talking about my own, haha. My favorite photo you posted is the one of you, 7th one down; you look SO glowingly happy and in love. š
Our first dance song was "At Last" by Etta James, and it was also the first song we ever slow-danced to together. Thanks for sharing your playlist and your pictures!
I can't listen to "I Loved Her First" without bawling. My husband and I have songs for each other–I always say that the song that makes me think of him is "Smile" by Uncle Kracker. š
Beautiful! I have been missing the blog world and am so glad today I choose to read and saw this post š We need more posts about edification and adoration for our marriages today!! Thank you for sharing, girl.
Your pictures are so gorgeous. And how nice of your friend! We are going on 2.5 months married and still don't have our pictures (it's slowly killing me). Love your playlist too! Perfect mix of genres š
What a sweet post!! My husband and I celebrate our 2nd year anniversary this Summer and I really did not think I could love him more than I do today… each day grows my heart. Life together with someone does that š
I'm such a music lover so Nick and I have so many songs! I even had a Spotify playlist with all 50-ish of our songs, haha. "I'm Yours" is one of ours too š
You are really just the sweetest!!! These pictures are amazing! Always such a happy day, weddings. (Unless your on Game of Thrones lol) My husband and I are heading towards our first anniversary and I just can't wait for all the rest of them!! Thanks for your sweetness!!! Heather
Awwww…..this is so sweet. I just love weddings and marriage and love! It looks like your wedding was simply beautiful and amazing and I'm so happy you're so happy 3 years later–just as it should be! š
Wow, these photos are great! I love reading about other people's weddings and love stories… probably because I love talking about my own, haha. My favorite photo you posted is the one of you, 7th one down; you look SO glowingly happy and in love. š
Our first dance song was "At Last" by Etta James, and it was also the first song we ever slow-danced to together. Thanks for sharing your playlist and your pictures!
I can't listen to "I Loved Her First" without bawling. My husband and I have songs for each other–I always say that the song that makes me think of him is "Smile" by Uncle Kracker. š
I love all your pictures. You can definitely see in the photos that you are *really* happy. No fake or posing smiles there!
Beautiful! I have been missing the blog world and am so glad today I choose to read and saw this post š We need more posts about edification and adoration for our marriages today!! Thank you for sharing, girl.
So fun that you guys got married in Boston Temple! That's my temple district for back home too! And super, super pretty!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
Your pictures are so gorgeous. And how nice of your friend! We are going on 2.5 months married and still don't have our pictures (it's slowly killing me). Love your playlist too! Perfect mix of genres š
What a sweet post!! My husband and I celebrate our 2nd year anniversary this Summer and I really did not think I could love him more than I do today… each day grows my heart. Life together with someone does that š
I'm such a music lover so Nick and I have so many songs! I even had a Spotify playlist with all 50-ish of our songs, haha. "I'm Yours" is one of ours too š
You are really just the sweetest!!! These pictures are amazing! Always such a happy day, weddings. (Unless your on Game of Thrones lol)
My husband and I are heading towards our first anniversary and I just can't wait for all the rest of them!!
Thanks for your sweetness!!!
Heather
This was such a joyful post to read. What a beautiful wedding day, and an even more beautiful marriage.
Those pictures are stunning! Such a beautiful wedding š I just found your blog! I'm a new follower and i can't wait to follow along!
xoox
Brianna
http://www.endlesslybeloved.com
Awwww…..this is so sweet. I just love weddings and marriage and love! It looks like your wedding was simply beautiful and amazing and I'm so happy you're so happy 3 years later–just as it should be! š