A full YEAR after our big wedding celebration, and I am finally getting around to sharing our wedding images & video!! They are not kidding when they say your day flies by – I thought I had an inkling after being in the wedding industry for a few years as a photographer, but it is totally different when it is your own wedding day! A huge thank you to our parents who made this day possible, all of our family & friends who came out to celebrate, and everyone who sent us warm wishes – it was truly a day filled with love & happiness. And of course, good food & booze!
Instead of reminiscing about the details of the day when writing this post and picking out the pictures to use, I found myself thinking back on the past year of being married to my best friend. So, you can read my ramblings about life being married below or feel free to skip straight to the pictures & video!
One question we get asked all the time: Is marriage as hard as you thought it would be? Whenever we get asked this, we both just kind of look at each other and smile & shrug. I typically respond with ‘It’s pretty much the same as when we were dating’ and I’ll either be greeted with an eye roll or a polite ‘Oh, that’s nice’. While I am sure some of that response is warranted and I might feel differently 10 years from now, here’s the real truth: not only is it similar to when we were dating, it is even better & in my opinion, LESS hard. I always try and downplay my answer, and I’m not sure why, but I don’t like to come off as bragging or giving an insincere answer.
When Alfred and I first started dating, we were in college and we lived about 50 steps away from each other – our apartments were right next to each other. We hung out with the same friend group, and basically spent 24/7 together outside of classes. By the time Christmas rolled around and we were a mere 3 months into dating, we both knew that we were in this for the long haul. 
After living steps away from each other for about a year and a half, we each had one semester left to go at Virginia Tech. Alfred’s roommates had all graduated, so we spent our last semester living in the same room in my townhouse with my two other roommates – four of us living in a 3 bedroom townhouse along with our two bunnies and our roommates chinchilla. It was cramped, but the perfect end to our college career! 
So when we finally got to go off and get our own apartment, it felt SO GOOD and we could not get over how much space we had to ourselves! We had been dating for almost three years when we got married (officially married – you can read about that blog post here) and being able to settle down and live together without roommates (or living in our parents house) was such a change of pace for the both of us. 
Obviously we have the occasional fight, and let’s be real, I can be known to nag from time to time – but overall, we are both pretty relaxed and really don’t argue much. Alfred likes to cook, and I like to eat. I like to take care of the finances, and Alfred likes to do the lawn work. It’s definitely a bit of a balancing act, but we go with the flow and figure it out as we go (did not mean to rhyme that, ha!)
I would be remiss if I did not mention that both of our parents have been married for 25+ years and were amazing role models for us. I distinctly remember rolling my eyes and yelling at my parents for slapping each others butts in front of me all throughout my high school years, which I am 100% sure Alfred and I will be doing when Ellie is in high school. 
I feel so lucky that I get to fall asleep & wake up next to my best friend every single day. We may be a *bit* dependent on each other (mostly me) but that’s just how we are and we are totally ok with that.

Whew, that was a long one; if you made it here thanks for reading all the way through!

Special shout-out to our AMAZING vendors who made our day so special:

Photographer: Rachel Wells Photography

Videographer: Rachel Bryner

Makeup: Glam by Jeet

Hair: Hello Darling Beauty

Venue: Jepson Alumni Executive Center

Florist: Carolyn Helfrich

Band: Bachelor Boys Band

Cake: Fat Girl Cakes

Invitations: Minted

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