Monday Musings Vol. 22 // One Year Later
Yesterday was our one year anniversary! I can’t believe it’s been a year of wedded bliss. What a year it has been! In the past year we've moved across country, both started new jobs, been world travelers, and had the most fun any one could ever imagine. This Monday I’m musing a little bit about married life, our wedding, and all things in between.
The Wedding
My favorite Registry Items
Registering is totally overwhelming to me. As an older couple, we weren’t right out of school with nothing to our name. I’ve had a fairly set-up kitchen for a long time. However, one thing I did do was to go through everything and decide what I wanted to replace, figure out what I just had singles of, and identify what I had on my wish-list.
Since we got married close to Christmas, we registered for ornaments (we also had people sign ornaments instead of a guest book). This was the best!! This year when we put up our tree, we had a ton of little reminders of all the special people in our lives. We also registered for Christmas plates! It’s so fun to register for stuff you’re not going to want to spend the money on in the future/things that might seem frivolous.
My most used registry gift is our ramekins from Food52. I use these almost daily. Use this link for $20 off! I also love, love, love my measuring cups and spoons. I know it sounds dumb, but I’ve always bought cheap ones in the past, and these are worth every penny! Plus, I love that when I use them I get to think of the people that gave them to me, and that person had a key part in baking all of my childhood cakes and sweets growing up!
Some of my other favorites include our bar set, silverware, and wooden chargers. I love that we were gifted so many of the beautiful things we asked for / needed to set up our new home. Most of the stuff we use daily, and it’s a wonderful reminder of how blessed our lives have been by the people we’ve shared it with.
My favorite Things from the wedding
Planning a wedding is a mix of being overwhelmed, super excited, and just annoyed 70% of the time. I was so happy I had my wedding planner template, it was a perfect tool to keep me fairly stress free. There were a lot of things I just passed on and a lot of things I made sure happened. For the most part, it was the perfect day, and I wouldn’t have traded any of it for the world! There were a couple of things I was adamant about…
The overall vibe
The food
The cake
The florals
I wanted everyone to feel like they walked into an evening at a french-country side vineyard. I knew I had to have the room filled with tapper candles and beautiful votives. I wanted greenery EVERYWHERE, and the only flowers I wanted were in my bouquet and my matron of honor’s bouquet. I wanted it to feel relaxed but romantic. I knew I had to have a cake that took center-stage, and I wanted the food to be delicious and enjoyed. We opted for breakfast for dinner, and it was a hit… duh. Who doesn’t love a pancake bar?! As far as venues go, Magnolia Halle wasn’t what I had in mind at first, but it ended up being the perfect location to make our evening perfect!
I was a little crazy when it came to fonts, signs, paper goods, etc., but it is who I am… so I was just happy my family obliged. We hand-dyed and individually monogramed 200 or so napkins… so there were definitely moments of insanity. I think the biggest take-away is to be kind to your tribe, and I’m so thankful for mine. I had a team of people (my family and friends) that were there and willing to do anything to make it perfect. Be thankful for those people… I know I am!
Our First Year
My favorite Moments from our first year
This year has been filled with so many memories! We moved and established our new home in Richmond, VA. I love that we were able to move, together, as a married couple. This place feels like OUR home, not an apartment that someone moved in to. It’s a space that defines us. There’s a lot of elements of me, but some of him in here too… It’s so important to incorporate you both, and make it feel like your home, together.
One thing I’m really glad we did, and I think everyone should do, is wait to go on our honeymoon. Obviously, we had a lot going on right after the wedding, so it was more of a timing thing for us, but I’m honestly so glad it worked out that way. If you ask me, just doing something low-key for the first few days following the wedding day, and then going on your grand adventure a few weeks/months later, is totally the way to go. It allows you to find get used to each other as husband and wife, and spreads out the excitement / fun. We opted for a night at Hotel Emma, and then a few nights at my family farm. Then, later in the year we headed to Morocco for a restful, adventure-filled vacation. It was the perfect way to celebrate our relationship. (more on our trip coming soon!)
The other thing, the more difficult thing, was being away from our family. This part was really hard, when we decided to move, we knew it was a selfish decision. We didn’t have to move, but really wanted to be back in VA for a time. It is where we fell in love and where a lot of our great memories as a couple are located. Because of this, we were able to cling to each other and establish our relationship. It’s been hard at times, we both love our families so much and miss them constantly, but it makes the time we do get to spend with them, even more special.
My favorite recipes from this year
We rarely eat out, and I do a ton of cooking. I love being in the kitchen, and I love cooking for us. I’ve tried a bunch of new recipes this year, some I’ve shared, some I don’t really have a recipe for, I just make up as I go, but I’m getting better at tracking ingredients and steps, so hopefully 2020 will hold more recipes! Here are some of my favorite things I’ve cooked this year.
