Why My Wedding Day is Totally Irrelevant

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First, I'm a wedding photographer.. So starting out a blog post by claiming that my wedding day is totally irrelevant probably doesn't seem logical.  At the end of the day my business is either doing well or not doing well based on people like YOU; people who are getting married and want to throw a huge party (And want to have great pictures to remember it by!)2016-01-22_00052016-01-22_0001

But let me be the first to tell you that My Wedding Day is Totally Irrelevant to the rest of my life with my husband.

And I would argue that yours is too..

When Stephen and I got married we spent about 10 months planning one single day of our married lives.  To be exact, it was HALF of the FIRST day of our married lives together and it took TEN MONTHS to plan.  Sound familiar?

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Don't misunderstand what I'm saying here... I am NOT saying that planning for your wedding day is inherently "BAD" or that throwing a huge party to celebrate marrying your best friend is "BAD." Actually, I would argue that having a beautiful celebration is important.. Stephen and I had a HUGE wedding! And we (and our wonderful families) put TONS of effort into making it one of the best days ever and I'm SO SO SO thankful we did! We have beautiful photos (as seen in this post) that tell the story of the day and bring back so many great memories and remind us of our vows we made to one another.

But I want to be clear that OUR Wedding Days are TOTALLY Irrelevant to the marathon ahead.

After the honeymoon is over you are thrust back into the "real world" and have to figure out how you're going to do life with your spouse.  You have to learn to love one another, compromise for each other, serve him/her and become a team.

And how many of us put even just TEN MONTHS into preparing for this part?

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 In the excitement of planning for a wedding it's so easy to completely forget about the marathon ahead. Your marriage is more than half a wedding day together, it's more than dresses and pretty floral arrangements.  Let's not forget what marriage REALLY is. Let's not set ourselves up for a beautiful wedding day and forget about the glorious marathon of marriage that immediately follows.  You will have your photographs and your vows to serve as reminders of the covenant you made to each other.  A visual memory of the sweet and tender love you share. But the rest will fade quickly and this wonderfully terrifying adventure will come into view.

So as you embark on the journey to planning your wedding, I urge you to not forget the amazing marathon that lies just beyond the big day.  I promise that the excitement of your wedding will fade and pray that you have built your marriage on something more solid than one single day.  Let's be a generation that values sacrificial love and marriages that last a lifetime!

Han

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PS - Go check out this BLOG SERIES by my sweet friend Anna Grace Photography! If you desire to have a marriage that's more than a wedding day head over to her blog to read about some of the hot topic issues that arise during your first year of marriage & beyond!