I submitted my So You’re EnGAYged blogger application on January 22, 2011 and my first blog went live on March 21. It is crazy that almost 8 months have gone by since I started detailing my wedding plans here. And now, I am posting for the last time. Sad times.
But, what has not been a sad time is connecting with all of you and getting your advice from what should go in our water glasses to questions of tradition and etiquette. It was also cool to get married; for real and all kinds of legal.
Well, before I get to the my wedding planning/blogging experience precis, I thought I would share some honeymoon pictures and thoughts.
We went to Aruba for our honeymoon and it was amazing. We had a room right on the beach and there was a hammock right outside of our room. The water was warm and the sun was warmer. It was the perfect type of vacation after months of stressful planning.
Dave of course needs a good book to read when traveling, and Betty White’s bio did the trick!
This is taken from the lounge chair right outside our room. Dave does have a good eye for pictures!
If you remember my post about our Long Island Thunderstorm, this is the handmade cabana outfit my childhood neighbor made us. Dave has a coordinating one!
One of the coolest things about Aruba is that the sun sets at approximately the same time every day of the year, right around 6:30 p.m. This was one of the best parts of the trip; grabbing a cool drink and watching the sun set.
The north side of the island is very rocky and has a desert feel. We went horse back riding along this area and along the beach. It was, for sure, a highlight of the trip. Although the trotting does damage a boy in a particular way that lingers.
Yes, yes, the perfunctory write-in-the-sand-to-mark-the-occasion picture. But, hey, when in Rome, or whatever.
When we got home from the honeymoon, the last thing we promised ourselves is that we would go out to a nice dinner to bookend the whole experience. This was nice, because we had enough time away from the stress of it all to really reflect on the whole experience. Dave looks pretty hot, and relaxed, right?
My Final Thoughts
To change the tone here a little bit, I wanted to talk about some more serious final thoughts about our wedding and marriage.
First, one thing I never did talk about here, was right before I started blogging, we lost our dog, Mandy. It was sudden, and we planned to have her in the wedding in some way. She was there though, in both spirit and in picture. Often when I wrote blogs here I did open up about my feelings on a variety of issues, but understood that people really wanted to hear about things connected to the wedding planning process. But since I feel a bit more connected to you all now, I thought I would share a tribute video we made for her. I think in part I did not talk about her because of how much it still really hurts to not have her in our lives.
Our Mandy Baby
Beyond the fact that I LOVE this picture, I also think it sums up all of our reasons for having our wedding: to be surrounded by the ones we love. Save for one nephew, this is the totality of both of our families. I am not sure I can fully appreciate nor articulate what it meant to us to be within and around so much love, and not just for that day.
Photo by Calypso Rae Photography
But the reality is that we are now onto the married part of the wedding planning. I read/heard the following the other day that went something like “people should put more thought and planning into their marriage than their wedding day.” This is so true. Because it really is just one day. One amazing, beautiful day, but still, just 6 or so concentrated hours. It is the happily-ever-after part that I think people forget to worry about. And it ain’t easy, for sure.
Dave and I are lucky that we found each other and we have worked on our marriage, and settled into our life, well before we got married. I am sure marriage advice abounds, but if I could offer one, succinct thing, it would be this: find the reason why you fell in love, and remember that in times when your present feelings of love might be otherwise. Nothing about the pairing of two people is easy. As a breed we tend to be selfish and unable to recognize another person’s reality. And while the idea of two people spending the rest of their life together is beautiful in the abstract, people have to be more practical in the specific to make it work.
What I think the below picture illustrates is what I think makes love and life work. To steal a scene from Love! Valoure! Compassion!: (said by Bobby, who is blind in the movie, from the back seat of Perry and Aurthur’s car) “I think…you love each other very much. I think you will stick it out, whatever. I think right now you’re holding hands. I think that when Perry has to take his hand from yours, Arthur, to steer in traffic, he puts it back in yours as soon as he can. I think this is how you always drive. I think…this is how you go through life.”
Photo by Calypso Rae Photography
So, I bid you ado, from this wedding planning journey, now onto our life fulfilling one. If you care, please follow me at My Parent’s Son, my blog I post to from time to time. You can also follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/MichaelMancini5
It has been what I can only classify as a pleasure to spend some time with you all.
Thank you.
