We got married!
After being together for 17 years and 2 months, Dave and I finally got married on November 14, 2020!
You can head over to my LinkedIn Article on how I used a Lean tool called the A3 to help us get married to learn a little more on why. Short story is…
After 17 years together, we knew we couldn’t imagine life without each other and we were in it for the long run (haha runners…get it?!). We didn’t care about being married before having kids but it is important for our family. I know some of you might be thinking I must be pregnant already but I am not!
We are at a point in our life we don’t really want a big wedding and the pandemic has offered so many opportunities to have a micro-wedding.
We wanted to have something good for the year 2020!
We were aiming for a wedding around our 17 year anniversary in September and purchased my dress and his tux in preparation for that. Work got pretty busy for Dave and same for me so we got a little distracted from planning. We started to shift our goal to be by the end of 2020. I knew I had to stay on top of it for this to actually happen. For some backstory for some of you who may not know me as well…I mentioned to Dave that I’d like to be engaged by our 10 year anniversary and I was willing to propose to him if I had to. He said he wanted to propose. Our anniversary soon passed and I gave him to the end of the year. Generally I don’t think giving deadline is really a great thing for something like that, but after being with him for 10 years…I felt it was reasonable! He just barely made the cut, proposing to me on December 26th, 2013…I knew if we were going to get married, I had to keep things moving.
And here are the details of what we ended up planning…
The dress and tux
I wasn’t sure if I was going to get a long dress or not but Dave went and bought a tuxedo so I figured why not. I knew I wanted something really simple, somewhat form fitting with a little bit of sexy. I liked a few dresses at BHLDN so went there to try some on. I wanted Dave to love the dress just as much as me so we went together and I tried on about 5 dresses. It was between the Willowby by Watters Brannox Gown - BHLDN Gown and the Jenny by Jenny Yoo Tana Gown. I liked the Brannox the most when I tried it on in the store but Dave was torn. The dresses I tried on were not my size, so I ordered both to have a better idea of which one I liked most (they had a 30 day return policy). Once we got them, Dave said he loved the Brannox and it made such a difference seeing it on me in my size. I was glad because I knew I just felt great in that dress. I kind of loved the tulle train more than I thought I would. I didn’t picture myself wearing it the majority of the time but wanted it for a few photos.
Dave ordered his tux from Bonobos and was excited to get a nice pair of shoes (TLB Mallorca). Now he really has no excuse to not go to the next ball or gala that we get invited to in the future!
The Guests
Although we would have loved to have all of our loved ones at the ceremony, we decided to only have immediate family there-this meant Dave’s parents, brother and aunt. We wanted to keep it small in general but also because we are living in a pandemic! We didn’t tell everyone about our plans. There had been many false starts for our planning so we figured we’d wait until it actually happened this time around! We knew most of our friends just wanted to see us married and didn’t care how we did it at this point! We hope to use this as an excuse to travel and see some of our friends and celebrate with them once travel is a little safer.
The Venue
Food is generally such a big part of our travel and experiences. We were looking for a restaurant to have a celebratory dinner. We had a few options lined up and landed on Pammy’s in Cambridge because they were able to offer up their indoor space prior to opening to the general public. They also have a gorgeous interior that seemed timeless and great for photos. We felt very safe in the indoor portion because it was spacious and saw that the staff was very safe and respectful to the precautions that should be taken given COVID.
The Photography
We knew that we would want to capture some of the moments of this big day. Our first thought was Lindsay Hite because she took our engagement photos and we loved both her style and that she just is an amazing human being that we felt so comfortable with. Getting your photo taken can be such an awkward experience so it can make a huge difference if you are comfortable with the photographer. Our family mentioned that they loved Lindsay’s energy and was extremely impressed with her (and this is without even seeing her photos yet!).
The Vows and readings
Dave’s vows made me laugh so big. He incorporated inside jokes and humor which is so much of what our relationship is about. His dad also wrote something that got me emotional. He mentioned that the time I was in the hospital for an unexpected surgery was the moment he realized that I was more than just Dave’s girlfriend-he thought of me as a daughter. Dave’s mom read Love is Patient which is so true of our relationship. Dave also mentioned in his vows how he appreciated my patience with him (with our engagement, our wedding and just everyday life with him). He knows I generally like to do things fast and don’t like to postpone action…so I must really love him!
final thoughts
Dave and I loved our wedding experience and are so glad to call each other husband and wife! We are excited to experience life together (good and bad), run many more marathons and have endless laughs together.
Thank you for reading our story! Below are some of our favorite photos from the day!
All Photography by Lindsay Hite
