-We love marriage just as much as we love weddings. Take a moment to prepare not just for the wedding, but for the marriage-
“Never stop dating” is one of those great marriage tips I heard when we were engaged. As a matter of fact, it was offered to us as an engaged couple. Because wedding planning is a lot of work, while it is fun, it also can be all consuming. When Paul and I were engaged, it seemed like every time we were together we were doing something for the wedding. Paul’s good friend who had been married for a few years gave him this advice not just for after the wedding but for before too: to make sure that we spent time together without wedding planning. So we did. We tried to balance our time spent together between wedding planning and dates. One great way that we did this was when we set up meetings with vendors, we would go out on a date immediately before or after the meeting. This was not only great because we ensured we were having non-wedding talk, but also because our vendors were not all in our neighborhood so we got to do some exploring. And one of the things Paul and I love to do together is to find new romantic restaurants, places to walk around, and take pictures (of course!) So this was a great opportunity for us to do just that without letting the wedding to-do get too piled up. It was a huge blessing to our relationship and marriage, and one of the ways we chose to invest in and prepare for our marriage.
We took these photos during our engagement on one of theses dates. We went to Paterson Great Falls in Paterson, NJ after we met with our DJ.
Circa 2007.
Now we still take this advice and make sure that we have date nights without talking about “business ” (which does not just mean photography business, but also things like bills, chores, schedules, etc.) –Instead we talk about funny things our son does, the way God is working in our hearts, hopes and dreams for the future, and just joke around and do fun things together. – – We still have meetings and still need time to do work together so while our son is still with loving caregivers we take the opportunity to go out for a date after our time spent working on “wedding planning ” (now for others instead of ourselves!) and it is essentially the same thing – continually dating each other. Life gets busy, heck, life is busy and will be for a long time. So don’t let to-do lists get in the way of the most important relationship in your life. Ferris knows what I’m talking about…
*Carolyn
