Today marks our 29th wedding anniversary.
When we started out, we had no idea where we were going, where things would lead us; what our life would look like.
I didn’t have grand plans, ’twas just moving forward as things came.
At 23 I just wanted to have a secure life. A family. A partner. To be loved. Some groceries in the fridge. A content, quiet home and family.
What one would call functional as opposed to my dysfunctional upbringing.
What a fun ride it has been. Shortly after our first anniversary, we moved across the country as just the two of us, set up a home and jobs in Texas, then a few years later we did it again AZ, then came back to our home state with two beautiful little nuggets 5 years later.
The early days of raising our girls were just a blur, but what a beautiful blur it was; thank goodness for pictures.
We’ve done more traveling in the past few years than we’d ever dreamt of doing.
We’ve made so many friends around the country; it blows my min and we still have a lot of the same friends we had when we met 35 years ago.
Make new friends, but keep the old…one is silver and the other is gold…
There are way too many good things to say about my husband. He’s a genuine gem; full of goodness and integrity. I like to think that if the world were full of men like him, the plantet would be different all around.
But today I really want to focus on our wedding day because I know you’re wondering.
We didn’t have much money; we were 23 and 25. My father pitched in here and there. Coach’s parents helped out a little here and there. We scraped together what we could; we both come from humble beginnings.
We married in a church that we had been attending; they had the cutest chappel and we just loved our minister. He would be the same one we would call two years later to help with my dad’s eulogy.
I believe this was the second dress I tried on when my childhood friend and I shopped.
In case you thought I was one of the Kardashians, I did my own hair and makeup.
I wore a real pearl necklace that my Mom was able to accidentally buy because an ad was placed in the paper showing the wrong and really cheap price. Beverly for the win.
For our reception, we struggled to find a place that would fit all our family and friends on a low, low, low budget.
The Elks Lodge around the corner it was. In hindsight, it was a hideous venue. But it was affordable and I don’t think anyone thought anything of it at the time.
The old Suzanne didn’t really give it much thought. We were throwing a par-tay.
Our bestie Kelly did all our flowers and I found a ‘practicing’ photographer through a friend.
I think we ended up with almost 250 people. We ran out of the chicken dish that we stettled on, but the kind Elks people found some prime rib in the fridge; my Dad was one that wasn’t getting food nor did he have an actual seat to sit in.
Wedding planner who? Wedding planner Suz.
I laugh at myself because if I were planning an event/wedding/Sunday dinner for 2020: “we need some a crisp sauvignon blanc, a bold red, some sparkling & flat water”
1991 Suz; a few kegs of beer and headache-inducing cheap champagne? Sign.me.up.
We did have a DJ. He wasn’t that great, but I remember a lot of people dancing. That might have something to do with all the kegs of beer we went through.
Y’all we had a dollar dance. We sold ourselves on our wedding day.
Later when we got to our hotel room on our wedding night, we counted all the money.
Priorities!
We did have a great honeymoon; coach’s Mom gave us her timeshare week and we used it in Palm Springs, CA for five days. Coach’s Dad purchased our airline tickets as our wedding gift.
We had such a fun time together seeing all the sights and enjoying nice dinners; we were bonafide adults damnit.
Our next adventure had us driving to San Diego and we met up with our dear friends Don and Kelly; who we still travel with all.the.time.
We saw the sights around San Diego & LA for a few days and then the four of us flew to San Fran for four days to end our CA trip.
By this time we were running low on funds; we should have charged more money for our dollar dance so the four of us shared a hotel room.
Hey, it was a NICE hotel room, but yes we shared a room.
Now that I think about it, that was funny, but again, when you’re young and poor you don’t worry about such things.
This might have been my longest post ever; but it was fun for me to relive it all.
So, if you feel inclined send me some $$, I’ll dance for you.
Happy anniversary to my best boyfriend ever!
Busy Bee Suz 
Happy Anniversary! I enjoyed all the pictures and memories. So fun! Love you guys!
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Thank you. XOXO
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Happy Anniversary! Those photos rock — my faves are the ironing board gift and the subtle balloon drop! And your caption “We still drink our coffee like this every morning.” People spend waaaaaay too much money on weddings these days, I think. Simpler is better!
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I agree. It is a very special day, but doesn’t need to extravagant.
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Happy Anniversary!!! Love the photos and your wedding memories. I’m pretty sure I got an iron and an ironing board as a wedding gift. We still have them so they came in handy!
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I think the one I have might be from our wedding….I don’t get it out very often these days. 😉
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Congratulations and happy anniversary! I hope the two of you have many more years and memories ahead.
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Thank you George.
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I LOVE this ‘how things got started’ post. I am laying on my deck in the sweltering sun so I look forward to checking out the photos more closely later- tough to see them in the sun but I am SO HAPPY it is sunny out I don’t wanna complain. I chuckled as I imagined your intwined coffee drinking pose. So fun that you still have friends from way back who you travel with. 29 years- congrats!
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Thank you! We have a lot of good people. Enjoy the sunshine.
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Happy anniversary to the love birds! I adored seeing all these pictures.
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Thank you Gigi.
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OMG – I just came back to see the pictures better – I could not see the balloons before, but now I gotcha. Subtle, no doubt. Your honeymoon photos are awesome too. Sharing the hotel room – hilarious. Ah, to be young.
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Young and dumb; there’s a time and place for both.
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Happy Anniversary! So sorry you lost your dad so soon after the wedding. But such a lovely look back.
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Thank you
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I love it! Happy anniversary. Those are some great photos and great memories. You are just the cutest!
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Thank you Nicole.
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I love this so much. I grew up in Ohio and weddings all looked like this. Dollar dance, Elks Lodge, and so on. So I felt like I was actually there even though I wasn’t.
Also, I had a bow like that on my first wedding dress. Bows on the butt were a THING.
Also, the balloon drop was FANCY for back then, I am jealous. 🙂
Happy Anniversary! I’ve never met you both but feel like I’ve known you forever.
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Who knew we had an Ohio wedding?
You might be the only one jelly of our balloon drop, but I’ll take it.
Big hugs my sweet friend. XO
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Your photos are wonderful. You looked beautiful. The balloon drop was a thing, wasn’t it? I like all your bows– and your beau. Happy Anniversary.
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Thank you Ally.
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I barked with laughter at your “subtle balloon drop”. I feel like the great thing about getting married is, no matter what kind of venue you do it in, it will look tacky and dated by the time you’re twenty-plus years in. And we traveled with friends and shared hotel rooms all the time as a married couple (although I guess not on our actual honeymoon). Man, you guys do love the hot hot states, don’t you? Happy anniversary – congrats on the marriage part, which as we all know is the real trick to pull off.
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