Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Real People in Love: Lily & John

I first discovered Lily & John through their absolutely gorgeous wedding it's seriously beautiful, I mean, not everyone gets featured in Martha Stewart Weddings! But Lily also has a delightful blog called A Charmed Wife where she shares her adventures in being a modern day housewife. Lily is always sharing little tips, recipes and life lessons, if A Charmed Wife isn't on your radar be sure to stop by, I'm sure you'll learn something you didn't know before!

How old are you & John?
I'm 28, and John's 29. I'm planning a huge party for his 30th this summer.

How long have you been together?
We've been together for 7 1/2 years (married for 2 1/2).

What are your occupations?
John is a financial analyst and I am a freelance writer/editor/whatever-er.

How did you meet?
We knew each other through friends throughout college, but didn't start dating until our senior year. I had just gotten out of a long relationship, and didn't want to get into anything serious, so we kept it very "low key"- until some of our friends spotted us together and "outed" our relationship to everyone we knew. Then we were stuck together.

How did you get engaged?
He did so well. We were at my family's cottage on a lake with both of our families there. After a picnic dinner on the beach, he took me out on the dock at sunset and got down on one knee. In retrospect, I should have suspected it was coming, but I had no idea. After I said yes, we had an impromptu engagement party right there!

Tell us about your wedding day (not necessarily elements but feelings too):
I was working at Martha Stewart Weddings at the time, and they covered it for the magazine, so I had a very clear and detailed vision for the day, and I wanted everything to be perfect. But on the actual day, I let all the details and stress go, and just went with it- little things went "wrong," but we were both so happy we didn't care. I think the guests really felt that, because everyone seemed to just relax and have a great time with one another. I never really felt what the expressions "love is in the air" meant until that day.

Define Love:
Love is caring about someone else's happiness and well-being more than you do your own. If both people always keep the other's best interest at heart, they'll both end up well taken care of.

What is the toughest part of being in a committed relationship?
This is going to sound corny, but the hardest thing for us is that we want to spend all our time together, and we can't. At the end of the day, and on the weekends, we just want to relax and be together and home, and we've become sort of hermits. We have to remind ourselves to go out and see our friends!

What is the best part?
Being able to share every joy and sorrow with someone else. It makes the good days twice as good and the bad ones not quite so bad.

What is the best day the two of you have had together?
I'm sure everyone says their wedding day, but for us it was the whole week around our wedding. So many of our guests had to travel to California for our wedding that we made a weekend of it-we had a planned cocktail party, a beach volleyball game and barbeque, the rehearsal dinner and then a brunch after the wedding. Having everyone we love around us having fun together was as good as it gets for us. And the honeymoon was pretty great, too!

What makes you different from other couples?
We aren't one of those couples that seem made for one another- John is sort of preppy, traditional, and ambitious, while I'm kind of happy-go-lucky and easy going. But I think we sort of balance each other our and make on another better. And that man makes me laugh like nobody's business!

What is the most essential element of making it?
I wish I knew for sure! I think a willingness to compromise and to always continue working at making one another happy. Being right isn't everything.

What is your favorite thing to do together?
We both love to travel. We also love to ski, be outdoors, and play sports and games. And we have the same weird sense of humor- every year, we stage an elaborate Christmas card photoshoot. Most of all, we love spending time with our families and friends. We both love and respect our in-laws, and are close to each other's siblings. John's brothers feel like brothers to me, we're both close to my brother and his wife. And sometimes John calls my mom just to chat.

Do you have a song?
"(Somewhere) Beyond the Sea" by Bobby Darin. We dated long-distance while John was in the Navy after college, so the words just spoke to us. It's so romantic, and we dance to it at our wedding, so now I can barely hear it without getting misty.

What are your hopes for the future?
We hope to share the kind of lifelong friendship and support that was demonstrated for us by both of our sets of parents. And if we have some kids, take some trips, and have some laughs along the way, that would just be perfect.

PS Today is the last day to sign up for the giveaway so do it if you haven't already!
PPS Tomorrow is the last day to sign up for the gift exchange, so you should probably do that too!

1 comment:

Elizabeth said...
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