4nniversary

If you're a loyal Young House Love reader (like myself), then you probably recognize that I shamefully stole this post title.  If you're not, you can consider me amazingly creative/smart/witty.  Either way, our 4th wedding anniversary has now passed and with all my wedding reminiscing, I realized I never mentioned how we celebrate our anniversaries (hard to believe by the time we arrive at our 5th next year, we will be the proud parents of 2 actual children and one doggy child!).
Every year, Josh and I commemorate our big day by taking time to go out to a nice dinner, just the two of us.  In the early years, we took this for granted, but now a night out alone at a place like Ruth's Chris is a real special treat!
Additionally, Josh and I have never gotten each other presents for our anniversary.  Instead, we like to take the money we would have spent on something and apply it to something we want together.  Year 1 was Chipper.  Year 2 was new bedroom furniture and a weekend getaway to Kingsmill.  And Year 3 was a family vacation...to Ocracoke, North Carolina.  Year 4 is slated to be a family vacation as well, but we have not quite decided where to yet!
As for anniversary keepsakes, I saw this idea on Pinterest a few weeks back and totally wish we had thought to do something like it:

Oh well...while we don't have cute picture to document each year, we do have our handy-dandy Anniversary Memories book.  I spotted the book on clearance at Hallmark shortly before our first anniversary and scooped it up.  Every year when we take it out, I consider redoing it in a more fashionable/chic way, but I probably never will because now it has 4 years of history behind it.  If you can't find your own book, though, you could so easily DIY something.  Each year after our anniversary dinner, Josh and I sit down and document what we did to celebrate, the things our days were filled with (it's funny to look at how we went from "laying in bed on weekend mornings" to "chasing a toddler"), the vacations we went on, what we did over the year (big things like move or have a baby), things we dream of doing in the upcoming year, and what happened in the world around us (which we consider to be both family stuff like my brother got married and current events like Obama was elected President).

I also take the time each year to make a little "Our Life" photo book from Shutterfly.  Our anniversary seemed like a logical place to mark the completion of our years, and now that we have a few volumes of the book proudly on display on our living room table, I am really glad we have some documentation of what we have done.  Plus, they have become some of Colton's favorite books...he pulls them down frequently and insists on looking through the pictures together!

So there you have it...nothing spectacular, but our little traditions nonetheless.  What about you all?  Have any fun anniversary traditions?

Wedding ABCs

Josh and I will celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary this Thursday, August 4th (hmmm...is this our lucky anniversary...you know, cause its our 4th on the 4th?)  Anyhow, I wanted to somehow commemorate our special day on this little blog since I wasn't actually blogging when we got married and am already scared at how much of this stuff I have already forgotten.  I had seen Wedding ABC lists on other blogs, but not all of the letters necessarily worked for us, so I created my own where necessary.  I enjoyed reminiscing and typing these up, so I hope you enjoy reading/looking too:

A: Attendance

We had about 150 of our closest friends and family members at the wedding from near and far.  

B: Band (and Booze)

My dad (who generously footed the bill for our shindig) commented repeatedly in the months leading up to our wedding that all that mattered to the success of our wedding was the band and booze.  Admittedly, he was basically right.  Our band, Horizon, MADE the party...everyone was up dancing (although I'm sure the open bar helped with that too), and four years later, friends and family still rave about how much fun they had at our wedding.  Josh and I both wanted an event that was above all, FUN, so I take that as a huge compliment.

C: Ceremony

I'm Jewish, and Josh is not.  Because of that, we could not have our ceremony in a temple or church, so we had it at our reception site, the Princess Anne Country Club.  My husband was kind enough to allow a rabbi to officiate it, and she (yep, a female rabbi) was fun, yet sentimental, setting the perfect tone for our big day.  Oh, and of course, Josh got to break the glass at the end...people always ask us that!

D: DIY

Our wedding was early in my DIY days, but I did make a few elements for the big day.  I made a ribbon board to hold our place cards.  I also made our table numbers (we put a picture of Josh and I at each page for the tables)...you can see #7 in this picture:

I also made a brochure for the hotel gift baskets, a bridesmaid newsletter, and our programs (well, I designed the programs and then a printer printed everything out and I assembled them).  Again, if you look closely, you can see one on the seat:

I think I made a few other things, but honestly, 4 years later, I can't remember!!!

E: Extras (as in crashers)

Yep, we had our own bonafide wedding crasher.  Josh knew the guy, although he had not seen/talked to him in 5+ years.  I guess he knew other people that were invited to our wedding and felt like it was appropriate for him to come as well...hmmm.  He sat in one of the front rows and was the person I kept seeing as I  recited my vows.  Later, at the reception, he made himself equally as known.  In fact, there is a now infamous picture of him and my dad dancing to "Shout" together.  My dad framed the picture and put it on display in his office for months before he was told the guy was not even invited to our wedding.  The picture stayed, though, as one more fun memento from our big day:

dad on right, wedding crasher on left (clearly enjoying the free booze, huh?!?)

F: Food

Go figure, I was really passionate about the food served at our wedding.  Even though we were having a black tie affair in a country club setting, I wanted the food to be a bit more relaxed and fun (you sensing a theme here).  We went with stations...mashed potato bar station (served in martini glasses) and grilled veggies, Chesapeake Station (crab cakes, fried shrimp, hush puppies, cole slaw), and a comfort food station (mini grilled cheeses with tomato soup shooters, mini cheeseburgers, pigs in a blanket).  My traditional father scoffed at our food, but people loved it (as did I).  

G: Groom

Josh was such a good sport about this whole wedding thing.  We come from two very different worlds, and this wedding, including the honeymoon, was definitely all mine!  Four years later, I am still grateful he let me have my day (although I'm pretty sure he had a pretty good time too!).

H: Honeymoon

We went to Aruba for our honeymoon and loved it.  We hit the beach, swam in the pools, ate some great dinners (including one at the Flying Fishbone where we literally dined with our feet in the water!), did a sunset cruise, and even did the Kukoo Kunuku bar-hopping bus

                                           

I: Invitations

Invitation were one area I didn't want to allot a huge amount of our budget to, but also wanted something that set the tone correctly.  We used Jean M. (an online company) and they were easy to work with and the invitations came out exactly as I wanted.  Sadly, I don't have a picture to show you, but they were great!

J: Judaism

As I mentioned, we had a traditional Jewish ceremony.  Aside from breaking the glass, that meant we got married under a chupah (the arch type thing that's open on all 4 sides).  We also signed a ketubbah before our ceremony from which the rabbi read (a ketubah is a marriage contract, but in a really nice way)

On a side note, the ketubbah is still displayed in our bedroom.  I love to read it every now and then.  

Oh, and of course, we did the Hava Negila (better known as the chair dance):

K: Kiss

L: Ladies Night (and other fun)

About a month before the wedding, my girls and I enjoyed a weekend away on the beach in the Outer Banks where we wined, dined, and laid on the beach.  I also hosted a bridesmaid brunch/spa party at my house the day before the wedding, and the girls joined me for a wedding day walk on the Boardwalk in the morning of my big day.  I was also lucky enough to have two showers and some wonderful friends/family to get ready with me and keep me calm.

M: Music

Our first dance was to Kenny Chesney's "Me and You," (whose concert we will actually be attending on the night of our 4th anniversary):

And my dad and I danced to "My Girl," a song he would frequently sing to me as I was growing up:

And because this post is crazy long, I'm going to go ahead and pause here.  Come back tomorrow for the rest of our list, including some unique tidbits about our big day, and even a little x-rated scandal to share (gasp!)