Two years ago this week I was in the shoes of the brides and brides-to-be. And I was looking forward to wearing my gorgeous wedding shoes! I had just wrapped up my big golf tournament event for work and I was finally able to take one week and completely focus on planning our wedding and nothing else.
I was born a planner, so planning our wedding was a dream come true for me. I planned events for work, but I wasn’t able to do everything I wanted and I was always on limited funds. We definitely had a budget for our wedding, but it was ours. We could splurge on food and other things if we wanted to.
I was so excited to have all of my family and friends and Todd’s family and friends together in one venue. It’s such an amazing feeling. That never ever happens again– having all of your loved ones gathered in one space to celebrate.
ah, we were so carefree! (photo by Kelly Moore Photography from our engagement session)
Before we got engaged, I hoped that my extreme need for control wouldn’t turn me into a Bridezilla. And it didn’t. I was a surprisingly go-with-the-flow kind of bride and let a lot of details roll of my back. I was excited to marry my best friend and to spend the weekend with our loved ones. There were no fights and no falling outs with vendors. I had a few freak out moments when I felt like people weren’t doing things at my pace and following the standards that I thought a wedding timeline should follow, but I never let out those frustrations on anyone.
My big “thing” that I wanted was to have the wedding get published either on a blog or in a magazine. Because we had such an amazing photographer, that became a reality when the wedding was published on the Southern Weddings blog and later in their magazine.
But there was still a big let down after the wedding planning was over. Todd and I were completely enjoying being newlyweds, but I missed having such a fun project to work on. Well I’m not sure how much I prayed for a new project, but the Lord gave me a big one. Five months into our marriage, on October 15, we got the surprise of our lives when I took a pregnancy test after not feeling well for a few days. I was at least four weeks pregnant, I knew.
Our life was flying by right before our eyes and there was no way for it to slow down. We would officially be forced to grow up and put ourselves last. Wedding planning became a distant, but fond, memory. As the months of sickness and baby preparation flew forward, the obsession over the details of our flowers and invitations seemed silly and unnecessary. I’m not saying that these things aren’t important at the time of wedding planning. But everything was coming into perspective for me.
Now, here I am, two years later. Todd and I are about to celebrate our two year anniversary and in a month we’ll celebrate the end to the best, most challenging year of our lives. I will still say that planning our wedding was one of my favorite life experiences and I have zero regrets about the whole thing. We ended up with some beautiful photos and great memories. It was a fantastic party, but it was also the day that I committed to love and honor my wonderful husband and be the kind of wife that he needs.
We’ve gone through so much since that day and any worries that I had get more and more fuzzy every year.
Those worries were replaced with worries over how much food to feed my newborn boy and how to get him to get enough sleep for him and for us. But when he was a few weeks old I stopped worrying and started praying and turning it over to the Lord. I’m confident that there will be more struggles, worries, projects, and things that I exaggerate, but that’s all part of completely experiencing life.
Next week we’ll celebrate two years from our wedding day and look back and remember the people that were there, the laughs we shared, the music we danced to, and how much it meant to us for everyone to be there.
Then we’ll remark on how far we’ve come since then and thank God for never failing us.
our little family when Hudson was 5 months old* (photo by Tracy Turpen Photography)
*We’re due for some new family photos. It’s hard to get a picture of the three of us together because one of us will pose with Hudson while the other holds the camera. And no, we’re not so good with the timer feature on my camera. We’re meeting up with Tracy Turpen again on June 9 for some new family photos!
So sweet!!! Thank you for sharing! And great pics btw!
Beautiful – and so true. It’s hard to see outside of the moment when you’re in the midst of something big – wedding planning, pregnancy, the newborn phase – but once you’re beyond it the view definitely changes. It’s amazing to see how quickly time goes by once you can see it in your child’s growth… Everything else fades away. Happy almost anniversary – what a crazy two years y’all have had!
What a truly beautiful post.
Erin, this was a beautiful post. And thank you so much for letting us walk this road with you and your family. Ya’ll are precious and I just love your spirit and love your blog. Have a wonderful anniversary!! 🙂
Such a sweet post. And my feelings exactly. I was so consumed with what napkins to use, and now I worry about a who new realm of things that seem so much more important than my wedding plans. Happy (almost) two year anniversary. That boy of yours is so cute, he just melts my heart!
Great retrospective!
Can’t wait to see your next set of family photos! You always have the best pictures!
I just love these pics. The first one is such a cute pose of you!
Thanks for this post Erin! My wedding is four weeks from today and although I’ve been a very laid back bride up until this point, I’m starting to stress out a little too much over things I have a feeling I won’t even remember a few years from now. Thanks for putting it into perspective for me and I’m going to enjoy this sweet time in my life a little more 🙂
Melissa
p.s. Love your blog!!
It’s so funny- “time heals all wounds” is true, but it’s really a little distance and perspective which allows us to realize that we can handle something, or don’t care about something. Great post shug!
I loved this. And those are great pictures too. Look forward to seeing the new ones this summer.
Um, I LOVE this post! What an amazing 2(3 if you count planning) years you guys have had. What a sweet post, this is defnitely one of those to print out and put in a book to come back and read later when years have gone by! You have been on a blogging roll lately!
What a great post, Erin! So fun to look back and reflect about all that’s happened in the past couple of years. I’m getting married in 3 months, and I’m knee deep in the wedding planning. I love it, but I know in a year from now, I’ll look back and laugh about how stressed out I was over the little things.
~Minnesota Girl
P.s. Hudson is ADORABLE!
Those photos are so cute! I love the way your husband is looking at you in the 1st photo! You can see that he adores you~it’s written all over his face. Best wishes for many more happy years!
great post!! love the pics!! isn’t it awesome to look back at all we’v been through in marriage and motherhood. wouldn’t trade it for anything! happy early anniversary! you are a wonderful wife and mom!
What an amazing post! I look forward to all of this, one day!
Beautiful post my friend! I love looking back and thinking about the past (almost) 2 years of my marriage. It’s amazing how much we change and grow in such small amounts of time!
Wow! I can’t believe it’s been 2 years! I started reading your blog right after you got married. Time flies! Love your pictures and can’t wait to see new ones!
What a great post! Isn’t it crazy to see how quickly your life and priorities can change? I think I’m a little too excited that you are getting another round of family photos taken… they’re always so great.
I can’t believe how fast times flies or how much things change. Every day I look at Cooper and want to freeze time. I can’t believe he’s almost four months, and how much my life has changed in those 4 months. It is worth it, though!
Hi Erin,
I can definitely see what you mean. Life is such a whirlwind! I really enjoy your blog and I’m usually a lurker but I thought it would be nice to comment and stop being so shy. I just started a twitter account and I found you too, so maybe we’ll connect that way sometime too. 🙂 All the best!
I read your blog faithfully and have only commented once before, but this post brought tears to my eyes. What a beautiful family you have. Thank you.
Just precious! I love the photos! It is hard to get one of the whole fam isn’t it!
Can you believe how quickly life has changed and flown by! SOrry I haven’t commented in forever! I’m a bad blog friend! 🙂
That’s so neat, we both found out the same day that we were expecting! Such a special and exciting day!
Being the planner that you are, I know you must be enjoying planning Hudson’s first birthday party. I’m planning my son’s first birthday party now, and I’m loving it, even though it’s a bit stressful. Who would have thought that I would be stressed out over this?
I can’t wait to see your new Tracy Turpen pics. My family is having our pictures taken by her on June 29! I took your advice about getting a photographer who can travel to take the pics (if you remember from your question and answer posts a while back). We just love her work. We are so excited!
Congratulations on two beautiful years together! Praying that each year is better than the next for you!
I just love the story. I cannot wait to see the new pictures. We had a very laid back wedding as well. But I definitely don’t miss the planning. 🙂
Congratulations on 2 years and your beautiful boy.
a list of things to tell Erin:
1. This is a beautiful post. Thank you for sharing it.
2. I’ve been reading your blog for a while, and it was a nice to hear you talk about the past two years and what you’ve experienced. (a little walk down reader-memory lane, perhaps).
3. I just celebrated by 27th birthday, and completed a list of 27 Goals for this year of my life. One is to work on being a better commenter – which includes delurking. I’m sure in the last couple of years of reading your words, I have left you a comment or two (or @ replied to your questions/comments via twitter) – but as often as I read your blog, I don’t join in your conversation nearly enough.
4. That being said, I wanted to say that I truly enjoy your writing style, your stories, and all that you share with us readers. Thank you for sharing what is precious to you with us. Thank you for setting good examples of honesty and strength with us. Thank you for constructing a place for good conversation. You are an awesome blogger, and I am grateful to have you in my reader and on follow you on twitter.
5. Happy Weekend. 🙂
What a great post. I really needed to read this because as you know, I am so struggling right now with my little one. But soon, we’ll be past this and on to something else and everything I’m worrying about now will seem so small… Just need to remember that til I get past this stage!!