Our Wedding May 19th 2012
Me and Chris finally got hitched! After 7 years of dating and 1 year apart, we made it official. We've come so far in our lives together and I can't believe I almost lost this man. I remember when I first saw him, it was my first day at Meijer in the housewares department. I saw this cute man stocking boxes and just HAD to know his name. Funny story really, I sent this co-worker of mine, Virginia to go get his name and she came back with Drew's name, who I ended up dating before Chris. We were the best of friends for a year while I lived in Hilliard and failed miserably in beauty school. We shared everything. He dated a co-worker and I dated Drew and we talked all the time about our relationships, and where we wanted to be and what we wanted out of life. Eventually our relationship with our significant others went south and we started spending more time together. Just the two of us!
I moved back to Shelby after dropping out of beauty school (yup, beauty school dropout!) He visited me there for about 6 months before the opportunity arose for me to move back to Columbus, this time to Bexley to live with my best high school friend Chelsea. Fast forward 3 years and a bunch of drama (not between us) and we decided to live together. We had our own cute little apartment with Todd (our first fur baby) and while rocky at times, for the most part had a great experience. Now, I don't know what got into me last April, but I just couldn't do it anymore. I wanted to be married, and have a baby (the real kind, not the kind with fur) and a house and a career! I wanted it all! And the way I looked at it, he wasn't giving that to me! Stupid, stupid, stupid. My family didn't love this time in my life, as they loved Chris. We took a break of sorts. It was hard, but I needed to figure it out. We were either going to end up together forever, or we wouldn't. I moved into my own apartment and he lived with his best friend and girlfriend. During this time, amazingly- I found out what I wanted was in front of me the whole time. He never left my side, he gave me space to figure it out and while he was scared what I would end up wanting, he let me figure it out on my own. And boy did I ever! I know what people say, and think about it. And that's fine. They don't live my life. But it was a true genuine wake up call for both of us. I think after 7 years, we just didn't make ourselves a priority. That's something we try to do now, everyday! This short summary of our relationship doesn't provide a full picture obviously but I wanted to include it to explain my title of this post. "I Won't Give Up" by Jason Mraz was our first dance, and now maybe you can see why. For deeper reasons than it's a beautiful song by one of my favorite singers! When I first heard it, which was the live version on youtube, I just knew, it was perfect! I never really gave up on me and Chris, I just was lost. I didn't feel deserving of him or his love. But I am, and he is of mine and together- we're unbeatable. We've been though our ups and downs and I truly believe it when the older generation says, you fall in and out of love throughout your entire relationship, but you stay committed and together in all aspects of life. And we're in it for the long haul. I couldn't imagine my life without him.
Okay- enough talk, here's some pictures of the best day of my life thus far with the best man I've ever met and am honored to share my life with!
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| Chris & I painting our gnome cake toppers :) |
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| Thanks Color Me Mine of Dublin! |
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| Prepping with my momma (look at that adorable face!) and sisters maid or honor #1 & maid of honor #2 |
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| Our wedding guests (small & casual ceremony in our backyard) |
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| My mom & dad |
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| During the vows |
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| Newlywed eskimo kisses! |
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| Us with our families and a few friends |
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| Mr & Mrs Graham |
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| Wish I had gotten a manicure lol |
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| Some flowers we planted to adorn the deck |
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| This speaks for itself! |
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| At our reception June 2nd 2012 |
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| My sisters with their new brother |
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| First dance, yes, I teared up |
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| I love this ;) |
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| Father/Daughter dance to "Daughter" by Loudon Wainwright |
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| Mother/Son dance to "Starlight" by Muse |
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| We were good, Chris hates getting messy! |
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| My Aunt Donna made these beautiful cakes |
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| Mr. & Mrs. Gnomey |
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| Olivia & I made these centerpieces from pre-lit trees, vases, black beans, cotton balls & moss! |
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| There were leaves for people to leave us messages and in the favor boxes were flower seeds for planting |
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| Finally married & it feels so right! I love being a Mrs. especially to this Mr. |
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I wish you all love & happiness even if the road leading you there is rocky and full of surprises!
