Preparing

A few months before we got married, Tom moved to Illinois for a job opportunity. He would drive back almost every weekend.

We wrote letters to each other every week. I still have a box full.

It was difficult to be apart, but it made our moments together even more special. We missed each other.

We also went on a couple's retreat for people who were engaged.

This was a wonderful weekend. We learned a lot about each other. We still have our folders and notebooks. It is fun to go back and read through our answers to the many questions they asked us that weekend. What you expect marriage to be like? How many children do you want to have?

I remember we had to go around our circle and describe our partner in 1 or 2 words. I'm not sure what I said, but Tom had a lot of emotion in his voice when he said "Best Friend."

We wanted to wait until I had graduated from college before getting married.

We spent about 2 years planning our wedding day.

Picking our colors, my dress, the cake, the flowers, the music,...

The nice thing was that we were getting married in the church I grew up going to. The one where I saw Tom at soon after our talk. The one that we started going to together and continued going to together while we were dating.