Part 1: "Always" Advice for the Bride and Groom

For Drew and me, planning for our wedding day was all about us (duh?). No rules to follow or standards to meet. Throughout the months of preparation I read a lot of articles explaining the etiquette surrounding various aspects of a wedding, and then I decided that most of the rules were silly or stress-inducing and that Drew and I would be better off doing things however we felt was best (live on the wild side!). Pinterest and every other bridal magazine would have you believe that do-it-yourself-all-the-way-country-chic is the way to go for weddings, and while it is a beautiful theme, it wasn’t for us. We did do a lot ourselves, because it was important to us that our guests got to see our personality as a couple through the little details of our wedding, not so that the reception looked as though it popped out of The Knot (and we saved a lot of money that way, too).

There is nothing more fun than celebrating milestone life moments with the people you love the most. And as much as the day was about the new Mr. & Mrs. Smith, it was also about the many people in our lives who helped us make it to the wedding day.

We wanted to give our special guests a chance to show off their personalities in the midst of being bombarded by ours, so we put a questionnaire on the back of everyone’s dinner menu:

We recently read and LAUGHED our way through each card. We are going to enjoy looking these over for many years to come. It's amazing how well some of our family and friends know us and how bold some of them were with their responses! The “advice for the bride and groom” section was quite entertaining, especially when we had cards from married couples; I have to wonder if some of them collaborated on filling in the cards! 

For example: 

(Husband) Always dance together, never remind your spouse you are right, and don’t forget you really are . . . just pretend for argument's sake.

(Wife) Always remind him you’re right! Never let him know you’re reminding him! And don’t forget making up is sometimes worth the fight!

And here are a few clever favorites:

Always have fun, never sweat the small stuff, and don’t forget it’s all small stuff.

Always go out (on dates), never walk out, and don’t forget to make out. 

Always kiss, kiss, and kiss some more, never stop kissing, and don’t forget to kiss and make me lots of nieces and nephews!

This advice is too good to be kept to ourselves so I am here to share it. Instead of typing out each card like those above, I am going to compile each of the three parts to make life easier for all of us. As you’ll see, some of the advice is serious and some of it is goofy (which may or may not have been alcohol-induced). Here are some of the shiniest gems from the “always” section that were appropriate enough to share:

My advice for a happy marriage is to ALWAYS . . .

• say, "good morning" and, "goodnight" to each other
• remember you’re in it for the long haul
• talk to each other (x3)
• laugh (x2)
• think before you yell . . . and compromise
• treat yourselves
• keep God first (x2)
• go to church
• hug
• find something in each fight for both to improve on
• make sure to visit Sarah in Kenya
• remember why and when you fell in love
• dance (like no one’s watching)
• plan for the unexpected
• be honest (x2)
• smile (x3)
• listen and be forgiving
• fight after you’ve eaten <= Why?
• say “I love you” (x3)
• live each day better than the last
• love each other for who you are
• love each other (x2)
• put the other before your wishes
• hold hands, commit to God, and forgive
• ask God for “spiritual eyes” to see each other truly
• say “thank you”
• forgive
• talk through a disagreement
• say “yes dear” (x2)
• respect one another and compromise
• make time for one another
• see the best in each other!
• kiss and make up
• spend time together
• be honest and loving
• assume she’s right <=obviously
• stay positive
• pray together
• try to attend Gator games!
• listen to the wife
• say “I love you” with phone calls
• ask the other about their day
• say “I love you” as much as you can
• have fun
• make notes for each other
• kiss each other
• remember the wonderful things the other does <= We were just talking about this last night. After only four months, we already know how important this is.

Everyone seemed to give rather sweet and touching advice in the "always" section. Tomorrow I will have the "Never" advice for you, which gets goofier, I promise. :)

Do you have any "always" advice for newlyweds?