Almost seven years ago, I met the man I love with all my heart. With anxiety and an affinity for technology, of course we met on a dating site. I constantly fielded messages that were obnoxious or inappropriate but I’d also met a few great friends over time. One day I received a message that seemed witty, intelligent, and genuinely interested. It was obvious that he’d read my profile and his message almost seemed as if he knew me. When we met, he held both of my favorite Ben & Jerry’s ice creams in his hands as I made a weird comment about leprechauns because did I mention I’m socially awkward? The rest is history!

We were engaged mere days before finding out that we were expecting our first child together, my second daughter. Deciding to get married a month after our daughter was born meant that we had our wedding on a remarkably low budget. By low, I mean that I think we spent less than $300 total, to include my dress. In attendance were my mom, stepdad, and a cousin who was visiting at the time. A reverend performed the ceremony inside her home because, just our luck, it rained that day! We used our cameras and cell phones for pictures and we shared a personal ice cream cake when we got home. We didn’t take a honeymoon and I started to think we never would, which was okay because we were living the life with this little (or big, hey, depends on your perspective!) family we built.

Last year, we finally took that belated honeymoon and we went where the child in my heart wanted to go…Universal Studios! We had a really amazing time just being alone with each other without worrying about the kids, work, cooking, cleaning, and just our busy lives in general.

When we first met, we hadn’t had many discussions about our faith at all. We began to attend church sporadically during our second year of marriage and then finally after we moved here in late 2013, we found “our church”. Everything about it felt right to us and the very first time we went, they called out to new believers asking you to come up and declare your love for Jesus right then. We went to the stage and were surrounded by people and hugs, tears everywhere. (We both still tear up every time someone goes up, it’s so moving!) This service was followed by a baptism down at the beach. It was all so intense and beautiful, it felt so right!

I explained that so I could explain that one day several months back, we were just in church and something was said that just made me feel like we need to declare our love to each other in a union by our pastor. I turned to him and quietly whispered, “I want to renew our vows in the church.” He said, “Okay, let’s ask Pastor Matt after service but I want to do it where we were baptized.”

What began as just a tiny little vow renewal ceremony with our pastor and having our children present grew into a moderately-sized celebration the more we got to planning. I told my husband about the cost for our pastor to do our vows with us and he started talking about people who would want to be present, “If we invite this person, we should invite that person” and then it was “We have to feed everyone”. So now I’ve been planning the entire beach ceremony and waterfront reception, complete with cupcakes from my favorite place for dessert. As I go along, I’ll share bits and pieces of the DIY things I’m working on!

We haven’t lost sight of the real reason for all of this, though. Our love and devotion, committing to God and to each other. Our marriage has had its serious bumps and when I first said “I do”, I really had no idea what marriage would mean. I was 22 and my longest relationship prior was a consecutive six months, I didn’t know anything about compromise and communication. I didn’t know about the hard work I would have to put in. Still, through personal individual growth on both of our parts, we grew as a couple.

My husband said he thought everyone should renew their vows in their lives, whether it’s just an intimate event they do with their children or they make a big thing of it. In a society where people are parting ways long before forever has ended, it’s nice to reaffirm your love and commitment to one another, to celebrate your marriage. I’m excited to stand in front of my friends and family, stating my vows with full understanding and appreciation for everything I’m committing to all over again, making God a huge part of our marriage. I do, I definitely do. <3