A Valentine's Day Story

Jeremy and I originally planned to have our wedding on Valentine's Day. We were that couple who felt as if the entire world should share our love on the day that symbolizes love.

But, just like many other things in life: our wedding didn't quite go down the way we planned and we ended up being married on December 23rd (two days before Christmas and without no more than a week's notice) instead. We were okay with that, and given the choice now we would never have had it any other way.

Because there was very little notice for our wedding, we opted out of inviting anyone except immediate family and had our reception on Valentine's Day instead. It was very low-key: we ordered pizza and ate wedding cake and I made all the decorations myself. It was a great time shared with our family and friends.

Every Valentine's Day I look back on that day and smile, and I still brag that I'm one of few brides that got to wear her wedding dress twice.

But today I want to share a different story with you: the story of our wedding night (bow-chica-bow-wow - not). See that photo above? This photo was taken in the emergency room just hours after we said 'I do'.

My wonderful grandmother, who as many of you know is more like a mother, grandmother, and best friend to me, fell the night we were married (there was about 2 inches of ICE on the ground), busted her head, and had to have stitches almost directly after our wedding ceremony.

The kicker? She sat through our celebratory dinner (pizza, again...do you see a trend here?) acting as if she was totally okay while holding a towel to her forehead. Immediately after we ate, my new husband and I insisted that we take her to the hospital. We were there the rest of the evening, arriving back at her home (and ours for the next few months) in the wee hours of the morning.

We were all exhausted.

I always get tickled thinking of us walking into the emergency room, me in my wedding gown, Jeremy in his tux, both with blood stains. The best part was that a nurse working that night gave us a sprig of real mistletoe that she had shot (apparently this is how it's done?) out of a tree. It still adorns the top of our tree every single Christmas.

I suppose I could get upset about spending our wedding night in the E.R., but to tell you the truth, I actually really loved it. Jeremy and I talked and laughed and joked about how we would tell our children one day about that night. And we did. And do.

Sometimes things don't go as planned, and in the end, you end up with a better memory than you could have ever even imagined.

Happy Valentine's Day, from us to you!

Our Story

Jeremy and I will have been married five years this December. Time really flies! I don't think I've ever shared our story, and I have tid-bits in my 'about me' section about us spending our wedding night in the emergency room, so I thought I would share with you all how 'he' and 'she' became us.

Hang in there, cause this could get a little lengthy...

Jeremy and I met in April of 2008. A friend had introduced us after they had been talking for a short while, saying that 'I am SO wrong for you, but I have a friend who is PERFECT!' Boy was she right. We were inseparable from the day that we met. Literally. I can count on two hands the amount of days we have went without seeing one another in the past five years.

I fell in love with his silly charm and his love for his family. I knew that one day this man would make an awesome husband and an amazing father. They say that some people just know that someone is 'the one' when they meet. And well...Jeremy and I just knew.

We were engaged on August 8, 2008 after dating for just four short months. In that four month time period, one of us would make the hour drive every day to either Miamisburg or Covington to see one another. Sometimes we would even make it twice. We knew we wanted to spend forever with one another, so Jeremy took me out to lunch and a movie, then to a covered bridge where we had frequented a few times before, got down on one knee and proposed.

It was probably the sweetest thing ever, and I of course, said yes.

We began planning our wedding right away and Jeremy was involved in every single decision. We paid for everything but the cake ourselves, so we budgeted the best we could but the expense of it all was overwhelming to us. We set our date for February 14, 2009 and printed out, sealed and addressed invitations. We weren't going to be able to go on a honeymoon because of school, so we started trying to plan our honeymoon during spring break. It was all overwhelming, prices sky-rocketed for hotels and such during that time, and with the cost of everything wedding-related, we just didn't see how we were going to be able to afford it all.

With all things considered, one Thursday evening we decided to throw everyone for a loop and just do it

We called our pastor and asked if he would marry us that next week. We told him that it would just be a very small ceremony, family only, and he agreed with the exception of marriage counseling beforehand.

Did I mention that this was just a few days before Christmas?

In a couple of short days, we found Jeremy a tux, ordered flowers, went to counseling, made hair-appointments, and told our family of our plans. We didn't have a photographer, so my brother clicked a few photos of us on the day of. This may be my one regret. I so wish I had professional pictures from our big day.

Either way, on Tuesday, December 23, 2008, we were married in front of God and our immediate family.

We were so happy.

There were inches ice and snow on the ground outside, and we decided to celebrate that we would go out for pizza with the family afterwards. While getting out of the car, my grandmother slipped on the ice and fell, hitting her head on the concrete. She sat through dinner like a trooper, although we all kept urging her to let us take her to have it looked at. Finally when we had all ate, she agreed.

So that's where Jeremy and I went. Instead of going to the hotel that we had booked in Cincinnati for the night, we headed to the emergency room, grandma in tow. We spent the entire night there, both dressed in our wedding attire, while my grandmother had the place on her head glued back together. One nurse even gave us a sprig of real mistletoe as a wedding gift. It is one of our most cherished ornaments on our tree each year.

We celebrated Christmas with our families, basking in the thought of our very first Christmas together being just two days after our wedding. Our pastor announced our marriage at church the next Sunday. It was so fun to see all the surprised looks on so many faces, especially since Jeremy and I spent our 'bachelor & bachelorette party' going Christmas caroling with the church the Monday before.

Because of there being less expenses, and because we were on winter break from school, we were able to take a week long honeymoon to Florida. I wouldn't have traded that alone time with Jeremy for even the biggest wedding. I was so happy we decided to do things the way that we did.

When we got home, we still celebrated with the friends and family that hadn't made it to our actual wedding. We had a reception on our original wedding date, and it was so nice because it gave us all a chance to just relax and have a huge party - not only to celebrate our love, but to celebrate the love of everyone there.

I could go on and on about details about when we were dating, planning the wedding, married and so on... but this is the big picture. I love my husband and I love our story, it's my absolute favorite because it is ours.