Posts Tagged ‘Marriage’

What To Do When “The Honeymoon is Over”: Making A Marriage That Works

Posted on January 20th, 2011 by Mandy. 5 Comments

Mandy
Wedding Date: May 29th, 2010
Bio: I am currently in the process of of living happily-ever-after with my amazing spouse, Bek; brightening up our drudgery of grad school and non-profit administration by camping, traveling, drinking on the balcony, and planning the expansion of our family! Our recent projects have included throwing the best New York City wedding EVER.

Apparently, according to statistics, the highest rate of divorce is in the third year of marriage.

*Not a real fight!*

Eeeeep. We just started our third year last month! And you know what? Even though we don’t have any real problems in our relationship right now, I kind of understand why the third year is where things get tricky.

The high of getting married can only last so long, then it’s followed by the exciting new adventure that is being married. And then you just are married – it has a little less novelty, is a little less shiny, and things start to normalize a bit. It’s the “honeymoon is over” stage. It happens, and it’s pretty normal.

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Blissed Out!

Posted on December 8th, 2010 by Michelle. 11 Comments

Michelle
Wedding Date: November 10, 2010
Bio: I'm a teacher, reality TV addict and avid theatre nerd. My fiancée, Deborah, and I met during a production at a local theater a little over three years ago. She pretty much tap danced her way into my heart. We are planning a slightly off-the-wall but mostly traditional wedding in our hometown deep in the heart of Texas.

Just married! (photo by Chelcey Smith)

Sunday, November 21 was an amazing and beautiful day full of epic amounts of love and happiness. With friends and family gathered around, we said our vows, exchanged rings, fasted hands and became wife and wife!

Squee! Wife and Wife! When we were introduced as Mrs. and Mrs. Campbell-Greene, people told us we were smiling so big even our eyebrows were smiling!

To those just engaged, congratulations!

To those about to get married– hold on to your hats! And bring a handkerchief! Seriously! No one warned us about the happy tears!

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Marriage & Officiants

Posted on June 11th, 2010 by Sar. 7 Comments

Sar
Wedding Date: June 26, 2010
Bio: I'm an east coast transplant from the midwest, and a graphic designer by trade. When I'm not working I love to read, play video games, and do crafty things like sew and silkscreen. I love The Office, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and I am a huge LOST nerd.

When Nic and I got engaged one of her cousins was so excited that he offered to perform our ceremony after being ordained online for a friends wedding. We were so overwhelmed by his enthusiasm for our ceremony that we decided to take him up on his offer! We as a couple are not super religious and we wanted our ceremony to be lighthearted and fun. He is a super funny guy and thought that he would be perfect! He was so excited when we told him we wanted him to be our officiant.

Months later he came to us and explained that because of his jokester personality he felt as though he wouldn’t do our ceremony justice. We were crushed, at first, but the more we thought about what he said the more it made sense to us. The ceremony should be serious and heartfelt as we were standing before our friends and family and committing to a new life together. He made us look at the ceremony in a new light.

For a long time it seemed like marriage was something intangible, and just outside of our reach. New Jersey has civil union laws, but we had just watched as our state court presented their cases for same-sex marriage and then promptly voted it down. We felt defeated, and saddened that our marriage as we were hoping it would be called by the time we said our vows would still be considered a civil union by law. I can’t tell you how many discussions I have had to have after we announced our engagement that started out like this… “you’re marrying Nicole? Is that legal?”

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5 Takes: Why Marriage?

Posted on June 3rd, 2010 by Alyia. 8 Comments

Alyia

photo via flickr stream hebedesign.

I grew up next door to one of the smartest, kindest, most down-to-earth women I’ve ever known. In high school, I would get up extra early, leaving the house before 5:15 am, so that I could ride into Downtown with her, and we had many lively conversations driving along the Monongahela river as dawn crept up. I have a distinct memory of one in particular, in which she told me that when you got right down to it, marriage was a financial agreement. She believed that a piece of paper filed at the county courthouse was far less important than the way two people felt about each other, and I have no doubt that although she was legally married to her husband, they could have been quite happy just non-legally cohabitating for the rest of their lives. Throughout my adolescence and young adulthood, I agreed wholeheartedly that if you really loved someone, if you really wanted to grow old with them, you didn’t need to stand in front of a minister, rabbi, priest, or judge and declare it. The two of you just knew, and that was enough.

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