Our 5th Wedding Anniversary Q&A

Shop My Outfit:

“Why would you want to marry me for, anyhow? “So I can kiss you anytime I want.” –Sweet Home Alabama

It seems like I just blinked and here we are, already celebrating our 5th anniversary (and Jake’s 29th birthday) today. Fun fact: we got married on Jake’s 24th birthday because “it would be the best birthday present ever” according to Jake. We have been together for close to a decade and still are as happy as our wedding day. This year has brought many changes, with Jake starting (and recently completing!) his first year of residency, as well as moving from Oklahoma to Alabama. The first year of residency (a.k.a intern year) is one of the hardest years and I am so glad that he finished it on Friday. With the hard times, it has also brought so much joy to explore a new city with my best friend and watch our dreams come true. Jake still brings me so much joy after all of these years. I believe that the tough times of medical school and now residency have made our marriage stronger. Every year for our anniversary, I like to do a blog post reflecting on another year of marriage. This year I thought it would be fun to do a Q&A and I had y’all submit questions on Instagram stories.

About My Outfit:

For our anniversary, I always love to wear a little white dress. When I saw this Chicwish one, I knew it was perfect for our vacation to Rosemary Beach. It is the perfect combo of beachy attire and classy lace details for an anniversary look. This one is so gorgeous and I got many compliments from ladies passing by. It was perfect for our beach photos as well. I am so glad I convinced Jake to take these with me. The funny thing is, I’m always the overdressed one and Jake is the casual one in shorts. We truly balance each other perfectly.

What Is Your Biggest Marriage Advice?

Marry your best friend! Life is truly so much sweeter when you’re married to your best friend. Jake and I are basically the same person, and some of our best times together are spent doing nothing. I also recommend having your own hobbies. With how busy Jake is, I need my own hobbies to keep me busy on the days and nights when he is at the hospital for hours on end.

What do you do when he travels?

Luckily, Jake doesn’t have to travel at all for his job, so he really doesn’t travel unless I’m with him going on vacation. However though he may not be traveling out of the city, he does work very long hours (including on many weekends), and sometimes he will be on a completely opposite schedule than me. When he was interviewing for residency back in his last year of medical school, he did have a stretch where he was gone quite a bit. I would focus on keeping myself busy with my blog, and working full-time kept me busy too.

What was your favorite memory of this year?

Traveling to London/Paris. This was Jake’s first time to Europe and it was truly a dream come true to take Jake. We loved the sight-seeing and trying the amazing foods. The travel bug really hit us toward the end of his time in medical school, and now we travel anytime we can.

Worst marriage advice:

I don’t know if it was necessarily advice, but I think the message this woman was trying to give me was to run. I was on a flight shortly after we got married and the lady I was sitting next to started talking to me. Somehow, it came up that my husband was in medical school at the time. She told me that her friend married someone in medical school and ended up getting divorced and being stuck with her ex-husband’s med school student loans.

What’s been harder for your relationship, medical school or residency?

I would definitely say residency. While medical school was hard, he didn’t work nights. Also, he got more breaks. We were closer to our family too, being just about 2 hours away from both our parents instead of now being 12 hours away.

Favorite vacation together:

This is a hard one because we’ve been blessed to get to travel a lot. I would say either our honeymoon in Bora Bora or our recent trip to Europe was our best vacation. We’re so glad to be close to tons of great destinations in Birmingham that we can drive for a little getaway as well. We’ve already gone to Atlanta, Nashville, New Orleans, and Destin. Chattanooga, Memphis, and a few other places are on our list of nearby weekend getaways still.

Did he decide to propose on his own or did you have to nudge him to?

Right from the start we knew we would get married someday. In my sorority, it was a big deal to get what’s called a candlelight ceremony. It’s a ceremony where you reveal that you’ve gotten engaged. I definitely nudged for that, but Jake always thought that was weird, and he had a better idea to propose on graduation day, right after the ceremony. It was very symbolic and perfect because he talked about college being over and starting the next chapter. It also was perfect timing because it ensured that both our families were there.

What is the best date you’ve been on?

We have been on many amazing dates, so this is a hard question. Probably the best date that we’ve been on was drinking champagne on the Eiffel Tower. The view was so incredible, and it’s called the city of love for a reason. So romantic! Jake and I are huge foodies, so any date trying a new restaurant with unique food is one of our favorite dates as well.

How do you keep the romance alive despite Jake’s long hours? 

I will admit it’s hard when Jake works long hours or has a completely different schedule than me. I try to keep the romance alive by having a date with him every weekend, even if it’s just a short date. One of our biggest marriage goals was to have a date each week. Spending quality time together is so important, as well as communicating your feelings to your spouse.

How many kids do you want?

We both want 2: a boy and a girl. Jake really wants a boy and, if our first 2 kids were girls, I think we’d try one more time for a boy. I am convinced I’ll have two boys, since I’m so girly.

Where Do You Want to travel this year?

We have a lot on our list, but I don’t think we will be doing another international trip for a while. We are doing a road trip to Rosemary Beach (Destin,Fl) to celebrate our anniversary.  We also are dying to visit Charleston, SC, Savannah, Ga, Washington DC, and Chattanooga, TN.

If you could add something you’ve learned into your wedding vows, what would it be?

Jake and I did the traditional vows and wrote each other personal notes to exchange before the wedding. I would add something about trusting God’s plan because, if you would have asked me when we got married where we would be right now, I would have never guessed we would end up in Birmingham, Alabama, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Make sure to check out this blog post where I share our love story.

Follow: