Five and half years ago I began the journey of opening Twirl. My little pink dream store. I was 29 years old and embarking on what would be the most rewarding {and hard} five years of my life. Little do some know that one month prior to opening the doors of Twirl, my husband proposed. Our marriage has grown right along with the business we work so hard to make successful. Both require lots of attention, nurturing and thought. If you let either one run on auto-pilot for too long you risk losing it. Some days are sometimes long, but the sweet years are oh too short. It is a requirement to put your heart and soul into loving your husband and we have worked hard to keep life interesting. So far we have survived the loss of a job while starting a new business, buying our first home together, moving four weeks before our first daughter was born, added a second daughter to our family and grown our little business to be pretty darn successful and rewarding! I am by no means an expert...but here are a few words of wisdom from me.
Wedding Day Advice
Our wedding day was magical. I broke down in tears of joy when it was all over because I was so overwhelmed with the outpouring of love we felt that day. I wish for that feeling for each of our brides that come through the doors of Twirl. It did not run perfectly smooth...and here is what I would do differently if I had to do it all over again {to the same man, of course}!
Do a first look. I understand it is tradition to not see one another before the big moment, but I cannot stress enough how special that time was for us. It was just the two of us {and our photographer}. We had time to share our thoughts and take it all in together. It made the ceremony much more relaxing.
DO. NOT. run late for photos!!! Our hair/makeup schedule got a little thrown off and that pushed us later for photos. We were all stressed and did not get the shots that I ideally wanted. All in all we have gorgeous pictures from our day, but it would have been much better had we planned a little better.
Hire a professional to run your day for you! If you cannot afford a full service planner at the very least find someone to do your day-of coordinating. Ours was a lifesaver!
Before you leave the reception ask your coordinator to pull your parents into a separate room so you can spend some time thanking them for all of their love and support. We had about ten minutes with our parents and it was priceless. My dad also handed me a little video camera of short videos he'd captured throughout the day. We took it with us on our honeymoon and laughed and cried at the special memories.
Have your coordinator/caterer pack food for your getaway car! We were starving when we got home!!
Enjoy. Every. Second. It truly flies by.
Advice for Married Life and Life with Children
We are still figuring it out day by day...but here is what we have learned:
Surround yourselves with great examples of love and learn from them.
Laugh with each other and relax. My husband keeps me grounded and knows when to tell me I am taking myself too seriously.
Go on dates. This gets harder with children, but those days or nights out with just the two of you remind you that it all began with just you all. Keeping each other happy is all that matters.
Pray together. I included one of my favorite verses in the picture collage. Proverbs 31: The Wife of Noble Character. If you have not read it. Take the time to do so. I am in constant prayer that I can be all of the things it mentions.
Celebrating
Remember to celebrate your anniversary every year. It doesn't have to be elaborate. Our tradition has been to order a new cake topper and enjoy LOTS of cake with champagne in our toasting flutes from the wedding. This year is a little more special, being our Happy Five and all! So, we are heading out to Asheville, North Carolina for a weekend away with no responsibilities...and we couldn't be more excited! Did I mention that my super thoughtful husband gave me a package of anniversary cards to open on our wedding day? I can't wait to open our Five Year card and see where he thought we would be at this point...
Thank you to everyone who has loved and supported us the past five years. We look forward to MANY more!!
