Advice from Not-So-Newlyweds: Home Ownership and Happily Ever After

Advice from Not-So-Newlyweds: Home Ownership and Happily Ever After

Today I'm excited to continue the "Advice from Not-So-Newlyweds" Series with a blog about the struggles and joys of home ownership from Lauren Windham, wedding coordinator at The Yacht Club at Marina Shores. Read on to hear her story and her advice for buying a house as a newlywed!

Earlier this year, my husband, Bradley and I celebrated our first year of marriage, moved out of our apartment and purchased our first home! The process of becoming homeowners was (and continues to be) an adventure!

The adventure began in August of 2015. We’d been living in our first apartment for a few months and the initial excitement had started to wear off. We were tired of our beige walls, loud upstairs neighbors and lugging groceries up two flights of stairs! Eager to figure out the next steps, we chatted with my parents, who suggested we meet with a realtor (their neighbor, who I used to babysit for). So we went- unprepared, without much in our savings and with no clue what we were getting into...

Intimate Boho Elopement | Hampton Roads Elopement Photographer | Corey + Sabrina

Intimate Boho Elopement | Hampton Roads Elopement Photographer | Corey + Sabrina

There are moments and days so beautiful I don't think they will ever be erased from my memory. Saturday was one of those days. Corey and Sabrina have been together for more than 6 years. They share a life and two beautiful children, but there was one more step they wanted to take...officially becoming husband and wife. As they planned their wedding, they realized that the most important thing to them was not a guest count in the hundreds or a venue to die for - it was the lifelong commitment they were about to make to each other.

Nonetheless, Sabrina wanted to feel like a bride - and oh did she accomplish her goal! Her 'microwedding' (since true elopements involve no guests and there were a handful of family present) was a boho-themed dream from start to finish. Her bouquet and flower crown were spilling over with a gorgeous multicolored selection of flowers and eucalyptus. Her long-sleeved wedding dress had buttons running all the way down the back. The first look she and Corey shared near a lavender field was heartfelt, intimate, and absolutely stunning...

Advice from Not-So-Newlyweds: 10 Things I Learned in the First Year of Marriage

Advice from Not-So-Newlyweds: 10 Things I Learned in the First Year of Marriage

In the spirit of encouraging marriages, I'm excited to share advice from Misty of Misty Saves the Day, a veteran both of the wedding industry and her marriage. Read on to see what she has learned in the last 10 years...and what she continues to put in practice today.

My husband and I got married 6 days after I turned 21. We were young and in love and wanted the world to know it. We’d already been living together, and we decided to live by the mantra of “marriage doesn’t change anything.”

Except it does. And it did.

10 years later, here’s what I can tell you I learned in the first year of marriage...