BUM!!!! I love you!! Yay pictures

Congratulations! Looks like a great time. You'll have to change your username now. . .

Glad you enjoyed Costa Rica. Welcome to married life!!! It is Wonderful! :)

Amber...you look beautiful! Can't wait to see more pictures!

Fun! Congratulations! :)

Congrats!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations!! I am so happy for you!!

Wow on both accounts! Congrats!

Hooray! Congratulations to you!

Yeah!

WOW-both pics...beautiful! love ya!

YAY, YOU'RE MARRIED!!!!! I'M SO GLAD I GOT TO COME SEE YOU! LOVE YOU!

I was so sad I missed it!!! I hope it was everything you dreamed of, and then some! :)

Thanks. We are so excited. And excited for you. What an awesome wedding and honeymoon!

i think i might be at Valrico on sunday night the 21st. one week from tomorrow, i move to FL... CRAZINESS!

awww. those are absolutely adorable! You guys look so madly in love! That's so great! I am really really excited for you!

love the sweet pics!

Great pics. I especially love the black/white one with the umbrella...AWESOME!

those are wonderful pictures! (and someone with such a beautiful smile shouldn't be allowed to even try to do a serious face!)

I love those pictures. Time flies huh? Have fun!

Cute pictures!

cool. now I just need to figure out how to up the ones on here that Kyle did too of our kids.....btw, i am doing cs for BN at home. It is the same company that Lea is working for except she works Wal-greens and I work Barnes & Noble.

Oh, you guys are so cute! What great pics! Congrats!

Those are awesome pictures!!! Remember to try not to get to stressed out planning in these last few days. Soak it all in!

Very sweet pictures! Lots of "Taco Bell," huh? ;-) So happy for you! All I have to say about the wedding is to enjoy every minute of it with Jeremy, b/c it sure does go by so quickly! I'm sure it will be beautiful!

Only 6 more days now. You are going to be a beautiful wife. Congrats.

AHHH!!!! I love the rain pic! I don't know where in Costa Rica, I know we are staying in the jungle for 3-4 days, zip lining down the Rainforest, going to a coffee plantation, and more! HAVE A BEAUTIFUL WEDDING!!!!

Just wanted to wish you two congratulations! Marriage is wonderful. Hope the wedding is all you dreamed of.

YOU GET MARRIED TODAY!!!!! :o)

You were a BEAUUUUUUUTIFUL BRIDE! I love you & am so glad it worked out to come. You all will be so happy...I'm thrilled for you! Have fun in Costa Rica! MWA...squeeze!

YAY CONGRATS BUM!!! LOVE YOU!

you were beautiful! our row (well some of us got a little misty...jeremy is a lucky guy :)

yes, i was surprised i could NOT STOP CRYING!!!

Congratulations on the wedding! I'm sure it was beautiful.

Not I...but would love to see pictures if you figure out how to post them!

Read this pleo specific help guide

Join this group. You'll be able to learn how to do all kinds of cool things, including posting pics.

Woohoo! Congrats to Jeremy! (and you too!)

whew! let the celebrations begin!

YAY! Congratulations! My bro n law just started Paramedic School this week. Glad it is behind Jeremy now!

That's wonderful! Yay! I know how he feels. That State Board test for cosmetology was SO stressful!

hooray!!! and *someone* has a birthday tomorrow!!! I LOVE YOU!

Congrats! That's wonderful that a stresser is gone right before the wedding!

Yay! Glad he passed. Also, just dropped by to wish you HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Wow. Good job!

thanks girl!

when are you getting married? and where?

First off I LOVE the office. I have all the seasons on dvd that are out. On the marriage issue...I have no idea what to tell you. Marriage is hard work. It is very rewarding work though. I just don't thin kI realized HOW MUCH you have to be selfless for the other person. As long as you put his needs above yours and he does the same there aren't many problems. Its really awesome. Everyday getting to see your best friend. Its a blessing.

It's so great that you're asking everyone what their experiences were. What a great thing to do, Amber.

Honestly it's hard to remember our first year together. :) But I do remember that I often tried to compare Chris to my dad. I know he felt like I thought no one could ever stack up to my dad and that discouraged him, I think. I have definitely quit doing that. And it's hard for both people to get used to their roles at first anyway, and we were so young a lot of it was immaturity. But Chris is more than I could ask for now. I just needed to give him some time. It takes work to come together and find out what you can give and take. I don't remember our first year being that hard, that was one of the biggest issues. Oh, and when people say "You don't know someone until you live with them"...yeah it's true. ;)

haha i love that episode :) "did you pass wind?" "are you set on that hair style?" dwight looking for wedding crashers! :o)

no, no wedding advice here... ;o)

I think by far the biggest is Communicaton!!!! Aaron and I have always talked constantly but come to find out we don't usually mean the same thing when we use the same language. It is very important to seek clarification before getting irritated, upset, hurt, or think a decision has been made. So many times it was perfectly "clear" to me what he meant or what we had "decided" and he meant something totally different or was just thinking out loud. :) I don't know if this makes much sense... but I am sure it will ;) You'll LOVE it - marriage is WONDERFUL!

Honestly, for us our first year or 2 was the easiest. It was after that when we started making larger financial decisions (ie: buying a house) and making more money that things became more difficult. I suppose the biggest thing that has helped us is learning not to compare one another to what we WANT them to be vs. what they are. Focus on fulfilling the needs of each other, instead of how the other isn't fulfilling yours, that has been huge for us. But we have only been married 4 years, so don't know what exactly my advice holds in it.

Marriage is a wonderful blessing and truly is as what you put in to it! I'm sure that God will bless you both so richly!

Oh boy...I hate videos. Now to answer your questions. Our struggles our first year had a lot to do with finances and moving. But communication is always the key. One thing that hit us both like a ton of bricks is health issues and family issues. But those things have brought us closer together. Marriage is great.

I agree that I'd love to be around you now!! I miss you a lot! I am so happy for you that you seem so happy with work and life right now.

I'm glad you got a chance to look at the site. Not something I've overly proud of, but I'm so glad that God can turn something so terrible into something so helpful to others. Pass it on to anyone that you think it might help!! Love you!

well let's see. I guess I kind of fall into this catagory now. haha. weird! Communication is key for sure BUT we took about 3 different marriage classes before we got married. Mostly just for something to do together and I remember in the Gary Smaley class there was an exercise where the man was the drive thru clerk and the women was the person ordering. The women would tell the drive thru some things that might bother her that he does or whats on her mind and then he would have to repeat it back by saying "so what i hear you saying is...." because women and men NEVER here the same thing. it's like he could say "oh, i've never seen you wear that before" and we could translate it as "where has that been hiding and why on earth did you put it on" haha. rhett and i tried that exercise once...it was HARD. i couldnt understand what he was trying to say to me AT ALL. haha. rhett's not perfect and neither am I. To be honest for the first few months we would argue alot. I would cry alot too because I just didn't think it was normally for everything to get in a hissy all the time. But I think it only made us stronger. We hardly fight at all now and if we do it's because rhett has to be right and has to have the last word. haha. you'll have your moments esp when getting to know one another and their patterns. I have a book called "Love and Respect" that Mr. Pickup gave all the women who took the marriage class this last year and even tho it sort of repeats itself alot it REALLY has some good points for women and for men. It takes it from both sides of the spectrum. The key thing to remember is "The husband wants RESPECT and the women wants LOVE" the husband just wants you to respect him and show everyone he is respected and the man just needs to show you eternal love. It works. Once I started RESPECTING rhett we stopped arguing and it kind of made us closer. Made him feel more like a man and the head of the household. If you would like to borrow my book you can. Just keep God in your life and know you have many of us that are there for you if you need us. You can call me anytime :)

Fenks!

Great question - what a good idea! First of all, I didn't feel like it was the "hard work" that everyone said marriage would be - being married was wonderful from the start! But looking back, I see now what they meant, and how we grew together and learned how to better live with each other. For example, I had this habit of pouting and not telling him what was wrong if I was upset. Just like the comment above, you have to be clear and honest about what you need/want instead of thinking he can guess it. Also, I was the same as Carrie - there were times when I would go to my Dad with a question or something to fix before I would ask Craig, and that would hurt his feelings...this was just getting used to having him as the primary "guy" in my everyday dependencies. Overall, everyone is right - as long as marriage is not a selfish arrangement in either person's eyes. Some couples are almost bitter when they have to serve their spouse by getting something for them, making them dinner, taking time away from what their doing to help them, etc. If both people see their job as encouraging the other, and making sure he/she knows they love him/her, it usually makes everyone happy!

The first year wasn't so bad. It was after you kinda settle into marriage that you're worried that you're "loosing that spark", you know? Also, don't ever put your marriage under more stress than you have to. I know when we bought our first car together, we were betting on the fact that Western was going to give Dave in-state tuition. And then he didn't end up getting it, so we had to really scrounge to be able to make that deadline. It put a lot of extra stress on both of us that wouldn't have been there if we just would've waited on buying a car that we really didn't need anyway. So when's the date? I'm so excited for you!

Also, you're two different people with two different perspectives in life. Try to understand each other rather than change each other. And also respect the other person's opinion. Easier said than done though.

It is me! Darling, how are you?!?! Things are great in Nashville. I'm teaching and going to grad school. Life is busy, but good. God is taking care of me!

Being married is not work if you both put eachother first. It's so much fun being with your best friend all the time and working towards a common goal. It will be the best or worst thing that will ever happen. Hopefully the best!!!

amberzon...how goes it? we need to have another phone date :) good thoughts on your blog. wish i could add something, but just can't quite yet. i'm learning right there w/ ya. i do know this...the engagement process is enlightening also! it can be tough and is probably a good practice for the future.

although....if you've got a good one like you and me---there will most likely be many more ups than downs!

WOW lots of advice there Amber. if you want mine....here it is..... LOVE and Respect and a little understanding...ok, well, a lot of understanding. We have been married for 11 years and I love him more now then I did 12 years ago (we dated for 6 months before getting engaged) and you know something?.......it just gets better. It takes work, but what doesn't? you can't say that being a christian isn't work, cause it is and so is marriage. God is always first and that makes it a good kind of work and we have to love each other in order for that to work as well. Our kids know that we love each other and that Daddy loves me more, for them. You all are going to be great, just don't stress out about it too much.