Show and Tell Monday Link Up : Marriage Edition

I've been on the hunt for a good link-up, and I think I found one! Thanks to Liz's Diary, I'm on the wagon for the Monday Show and Tell! Head over to From Ms. to Mama and link up!

1.  Are you married? If so when did you get married, and tell us about your special day. If not? How would you describe your dream wedding?

As most of you know, I am married to the wonderful Mr. Duh. Our wedding day was special, but also came with a lot of strife and drama (thanks to some family members losing their minds). We were married on November 24, 2007. I had always wanted to get married in the Fall, and I thought Thanksgiving weekend would be a great time to get family together for a wedding. We had a beautiful church ceremony that was officiated by my pastor. It was very traditional with an organ, bible readings, etc. The ceremony was my favorite part of the whole day.

The reception was also very beautiful, although we didn't enjoy it as much as the guests did. We had a classy, seven-course meal with wine pairings and a Master Butler announcing the courses. The dinner was followed by dancing, drinks, and desserts. We had beautiful flowers, linens, and a dessert buffet (complete with mini-creme brulees). After the reception, we had a sparkler send-off complete with a horse-drawn carriage. From the outside, it was quite the fairytale! Unfortunately, the day was very stressful for Mr. Duh and myself... we couldn't wait for it to end! Luckily, everyone else had a great time and we got some awesome pictures out of the deal.

If I could do it all over again, it would be an intimate beach wedding with a small number of close friends.

        2. Show us some wedding pictures. Either yours or of some that you love.

       3.  How about the engagement? Tell us your story. If not engaged, what's your dream proposal?

The proposal was a complete surprise! I was in the dark about the whole thing. We had talked about marriage, but I had no idea that Mr. Duh had any plans to propose at the time. He had been home from deployment for a few weeks, and we decided to get a hotel room in the downtown area and have a night out on the town. He got reservations at a great restaurant and we were going to head out for cocktails afterwards. 

Before we went out that night, my family started acting very odd. I was getting phone calls from my parents all day... which was pretty weird.I didn't think much of it, and headed out to meet Mr. Duh for dinner. We went to a great restaurant and he scored a table right by the fireplace. As we were sitting there, another man that was a few tables away proposed to his girlfriend. I pointed it out to Mr. Duh and said "Well, isn't that nice? How exciting!" Then he started acting strange and got very quiet.

We finished our dinner and went back to the hotel room to change to go out for the night. As I was putting on my jeans, I went to adjust the heater in the room... and when I turned around, Mr. Duh was on his knee with a ring in his hand. He asked me to marry him, and (after all the screams and giggles), I said yes! He had planned on proposing in the restaurant, but felt weird after the other couple had gotten engaged at the same time!

We went to the bar that we had planned to go to after dinner, and I saw a ton of my friends and family there waiting to celebrate! Everyone but me knew that we were getting engaged that night! We had a fun, impromptu engagement party with lots of laughs and champagne!


        4. Show us your wedding rings or an engagement photo! If not engaged/married, show us your "dream" ring.

     5.  Tell us why you think marriage doesn't work out for so many? What can we do to make things last?

Well, our marriage has definitely had it's ups and downs. We have been fortunate to weather the storm and come out stronger for it. I think when things get hard, messy or boring, it just seems easier to get out instead of face the problem head on. In a lot of ways, it is easier. Facing your marital problems can show you a lot of things about yourself that you may not want to know... and our ten months in marriage counseling was pretty hard. I think marriages don't work out for a number of reasons... As a society, we don't always look at marriage as a permanent thing. I think a lot of people are also under the impression that marriage will always be fun and easy. When Mr. Duh and I were preparing to get married, we prepared ourselves that we won't always get along and at one point or another, we may feel like leaving... but we promised each other that we wouldn't leave and we would always work hard to better our marriage. It has worked out well for us so far.

I think honesty, respect, communication, and a willingness to put your marriage before yourself are good ways to make things last. And I know our marriage couldn't survive without a lot of laughs!