Wedding Graduates - my other half

I realized today, when I was wondering how I would feel as my grad post went up, that my groom is notably absent from the post.

That is not because I don't love my husband (although I would hope that would be obvious) and more because my post was a lot about grappling with how I felt after the wedding.  And while Brandon's thoughts and feelings were a part of that, a ton of it just had to be sorted out in my own head.  But maybe, if you wandered over here, you want to hear a little bit about Brandon too, and our story?

Brandon and I met in the 6th grade, in day care after elementary school, run by the county.  I loved his outgoing personality even then, and did some playground chasing.  When we went off to middle school, he and I had a bunch of classes together in the 8th grade, and got a tiny bit more comfortable with each other (as comfortable as an 8th grade girl and guy are ever going to be amid all those hormones...).  When we were assigned a budgeting project at the end of the year in civics, we took the leap and "got married" for the sake of the class.  Oh irony.  We had to stand up in front of the class, with an elasticized bow tie for Brandon and a fake flower bouquet for me.  Try not to be mortified for me 8th grade self - it ended up being worth it.  We danced the last dance together in 8th grade, and things seemed rosy heading into high school.

Oh I forgot, high school is hell for a reason.  We then didn't speak to each other at all for 3.5 years, and both of us focused on other things.  Senior year, we had one class together, architectural drafting, and the flirting began in earnest.  We started dating on New Years Day 2003.

We went to different universities, but we spent hours on the phone every day.  I remember my dad's outrage at my first cell phone bill.  My parents were worried I would be making a mistake not looking to meet someone else in college, but I have a stubborn streak (which I came by honestly) and we made it work.  My mandatory year in Rome came and went, and things seemed to be going well.  We had some difficult moments when I was in my final year (5 year architecture program) and Brandon had already graduated, and we ended up calling it quits for a while there.  I graduated, and accepted a job in London, and Brandon entered graduate school here in VA.

And then I was delayed getting my visa, and spent a whole summer remembering why I fell so hard for this guy in the first place.  Before I knew it, we were officially back together, this time for the long haul, getting ready for yet another stint of long distance relationship.

The rest was easy, by comparison.  I spent 20 months in London, and Brandon proposed when I was home for Christmas in 2009.  By June 2010 I was back home, and we were starting the life together that seems so natural now.

Brandon has always been so solid, which is one of the reasons we make this relationship work.  He gets me when I'm crazy, and he doesn't seem to mind.  He has seen me through pimples and awkward puberty, to my semi-adult state now, in good times and hard times.  He is always willing to apologize or accept my apology - he doesn't hold grudges, and he rarely lets things get to him.  He is a great barometer for whether something is really important, especially during the wedding planning.  If Brandon didn't care, it was probably something only important to me, and didn't matter too much.  But most of all, he lets me be my honest-to-God crazy self, taking on as much as I can handle and then some.

We've only been married 1.82 Kardashians, but we already know this works.  The wedding was really just a tiny blip on the radar of the life we hope to have together.

Hell yes that is a bid with a tiny glittery top hat!  Remind me to get the tutorial linked up here sometime.

Photos by Jenn Link Photography - offering a huge 20% off deal for APW's who book in the next 2 weeks!