Category Archives: Dating, Love

Engagement Gift Idea

Posted in Dating, Love, Liz's Life, Party Ideas by

When Luke and I got engaged, I was  lucky to have my friends and family surround me with excitement and support. Looking back, those first couple weeks were probably when I needed them the most – having a new ring  on your finger and starting the wedding journey can be  a little bit intimidating!

I remember one friend in particular sent me a little congratulations gift, which I LOVED and use every single day. It was a tiny, silver elephant whose trunk was used as a ring holder. I remember it meant a lot to me that she had gone out of her way to help me feel special.

I was on Etsy the other day and came across these adorable personalized ring holders, that I had to share with you.

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How cute are these? Any newly-engaged girl would probably just love this little, personalized home for her new bling, right?

Now will one of my friends PLEASE get engaged so I can buy this for them??

To My Love

Posted in Dating, Love by

Just the other day I was reading through some old emails and came across one to a friend of mine. I was telling her about my weekend, “I met this guy named Batman….no joke. lol! He took my number, so let’s see where this one takes me…” Little did I know that it would take me on three years of adventure filled with laughter, fun and of course hugs and kisses. The day I wrote this email, I certainly did not know what amazing things were in store for us. 

Since you’ve come into my life, everyone close to me has agreed that I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. I thought I had a complete life before I met you- I had great friends, family, a career and my own interests and hobbies. I had no idea how the addition of someone to share it with would make everything seem 10x fuller, happier and complete.

I prayed to God many times to guide me to a man who was smart, kind and handsome. He’s blessed me with much more than I ever could imagine. Your patience, thoughtfulness, intelligence and confidence amaze me. I thank God every day for bringing us together.

Thank you for loving me for exactly who I am. You celebrate my talents & triumphs and are patient and understanding when I may not be at my best. We laugh together every day and have the best conversations, which is more than I could have asked for.

Today, I hope you know that I love you with all my heart and I can’t wait to be your wife.

Love always and forever,

Liz

A Love Letter

Posted in Dating, Love, Wedding Planning by

This weekend Luke and I attended our Pre-Cana retreat on the south side of Chicago. Pre-Cana is the day long preparation class all couples who get married in the Catholic church are required to attend.

I wasn’t particularly looking forward to spending my Saturday in a room from 9:00 – 4:00, but it ended up being a pretty enlightening day. The purpose of the retreat was to prepare Luke and I not just for our wedding, but also the life-long marriage that comes after it.

It’s easy to get caught up thinking about the wedding portion without spending much time preparing for the marriage. During the day we talked about everything including: how we define the word commitment, how many kids we want to have, how we’ll manage our finances and how our faith will play a role in our lives.

My favorite part of the day was when we were asked to write each other a love letter describing our feelings about our upcoming wedding. It was nice to have a moment to document my thoughts and also to read Luke’s in return.

The letter was to start with the line “the biggest emotion I have about our upcoming marriage is…” I won’t go into detail, but some of the words used in our letters include: excitement, hope and anticipation.

I’m planning to keep those letters locked away safely, so on our anniversaries Luke and I can pull them out and re-live the emotions we’re feeling leading up to our wedding.

I wonder if we’ll have the same feelings years from now or if we’ll laugh at how naive we were! Either way, it will be a sweet memory to relive.

Putting Each Other First

Posted in Dating, Love by

This morning one of my blogger friends passed me a link to a post she had written about watching her wedding video years later with her children. She talked about the lessons she’s learned through her years of marriage and what she wished someone had said to her one her own wedding day.

One line that struck a chord with me was “The most loving thing you’ll ever be able to do is to put each other first.”  

Well said, right? I think this is super important for Luke and I remember, because someday when we have kids, careers and 100 other things taking up our time we might forget to put each other as number one.

My parents have always lived this rule in their marriage, putting their relationship above all else…even us, their kids. They’d try hard not to take sides during disagreements with us, come to decisions mutually behind closed doors so we couldn’t tag the “nice parent,” and back each other up at all times.

Some people might balk at the idea of putting their spouse BEFORE their children, but I think the best thing parents can do for their kids is to love each other first. It provides a sense of security and a foundation for how to have a lasting commitment that so many kids miss out on.

As our wedding day draws nearer, I’m going to try to live this lesson. I’m going to do my best to not let the opinions of others or the stress of planning come before the reason for this day…Luke and I’s love and commitment to each other.  

Do you guys agree that your spouse should come first? How do you ensure you live that lesson in your life?

Thanks Amy @ResourcefulMom for reminding me of this important life lesson!