Personal Post: Fourteen

Yesterday Collin and I celebrated fourteen years of marriage. FOURTEEN. Blows my mind big time. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, but I truly believe that marriage is the most fun thing this side of Heaven. I feel like I’ve blinked and fourteen years have passed…but then I don’t really remember a time without him. It’s been forever and it’s brand new, too. I know that makes no sense. Or it sounds way too sappy and makes you want to click that little x in the top corner of your monitor and check out of this post right now. Whatever. My thoughts, my memories, and I want to have a place to look back at them when I’m 180. Not that there haven’t been struggles…there are little ones every single day and there have been times where we faced big ones. But being Collin Smith’s wife is the greatest earthly gift that I have been given. At a wedding last summer a preacher said something that I will never forget. He said that a woman is never more beautiful than when she is fully and completely submitting to her husband who is fully and completely submitting to Jesus. WOW. I LOVE that. And I also love that God made me the wife. That’s a HUGE responsibility to be the husband, I would imagine. I mean, fully and completely submitting to Jesus. That’s big. I would fail three bazillion times a day. I do fail three bazillion times a day. And Collin would be the first to tell you that he does too. But I love having that picture of what it can and should look like. Gives us something to constantly work towards.

Can I just tell you a little bit about how absolutely amazing our Fourteenth anniversary date was? I know. The last thing you want to read about is me going on and on about a truly perfect night that has nothing to do with you, right? But here’s the thing. You need this date too. Trust me, you do. Let me tell you how it all went down. First of all, traveling out of town for a romantic little anniversary getaway is out of the question for us. Eight years ago we gave birth to the most precious baby girl on May 22nd…two days after our anniversary. Yep, her birthday now trumps our wedding date every single time. We’re totally cool with that, by the way. But it’s still nice to do something special on our actual anniversary. This year we did it with the help of some crazy talented people. First was Brandon Granger {Granger Landscapes}, who transformed our portrait garden last month. He and his crew came in and totally remade the yard. It’s been an amazing and needed change for portraits, and as a bonus we now have a great new space to sit outside when we aren’t working. Second was Bill Harwell who after last night I am now convinced is the most talented chef there is. See, he lives across the street and he caters private meals, and we decided that we would rather have him do a dinner for us here than go out. Um, YUM. Y’all, I have never eaten more delicious food than I did last night. It was incredible! And third, some pretty INCREDIBLE new event planners in town. Tim and Alicia Sawyer {TimSaw77@gmail.com}. Oh My Goodness, they created the most beautiful table I have ever seen last night! But it was more than just the table. They set this incredible scene that was prettier than any restaurant that I have ever eaten at. And it was IN MY YARD!! Pinch me! It was exactly what I wanted and it was perfect. I’m so sad that it can’t stay there forever. It was like we had a miniature version of a wedding reception in our backyard.

They thought of everything! They even made our ugly old patio chairs pretty!

And they surprised us with a ribbon in the flower arrangement that had our monogram and wedding date embroidered on it!

You know what’s funny? These are the same colors that I chose to use in our wedding so many years ago. My preferences haven’t changed at all.

This shrimp appetizer? It is sad to me that I have wasted so many years of my life not knowing what this tasted like. I want to keep a never-ending supply of it in the fridge.

Tim and Alicia did all of the candles, too. It just kept getting prettier as the sun went down.

It really was the most beautiful, incredible night, and Collin and I are so thankful for those who made it happen! And, seriously, call these people and make a date like this happen for yourselves! You will not regret it!