Knottie of the Week - Fpaemp2011

kkidd28

And so it begins!

1.  Your Name & your Other Half's Name!

2.  Your Wedding Date

3.   Your Wedding Colors

4.  Your Age - His Age

5.  Honeymooning where?

6.  Does your wedding have a theme?

7.  How did he propose?

8.  What do you think has been your biggest courting challenge as a Christian couple and how have you all overcome it?

9.  Any advice for other couples?

10.  What's your fave wedding movie?

11.  Fave wedding TV show?

12.  How long between the proposal and the wedding?

fpaemp2011

1.  Your Name & your Other Half's Name!
Emily & Fletcher

2.  Your Wedding Date
June 11, 2011

3.   Your Wedding Colors
Aqua & Red (using DB's Pool for the BM dresses)

4.  Your Age - His Age
I just turned 23.  He'll be 22 in June.

5.  Honeymooning where?
Not a clue yet.

6.  Does your wedding have a theme?
Not really--trying to avoid "Red White & Blue" though.

7.  How did he propose?
He proposed on Valentine's Day this year in the classroom where we met.  The whole story is here.

8.  What do you think has been your biggest courting challenge as a Christian couple and how have you all overcome it?
We've decided not to kiss until the wedding, so that has definitely been the hardest part.  We're sticking to it by not being alone and hanging out with friends and family who are supportive of us and keep us accountable.

9.  Any advice for other couples?
Don't sweat the small stuff.  We've been together for almost 17 months now, and have yet to actually get in a "fight."  Yes, we've disagreed on things, but, with love and respect, we have a discussion about the issues and either come to a consensus or come to understand each other's views.

10.  What's your fave wedding movie?
27 Dresses

11.  Fave wedding TV show?
My Fair Wedding with David Tutera

12.  How long between the proposal and the wedding?
16 months (Feb 2010-June 2011)

kkidd28

I loved your proposal scavenger hunt thingy!  It was so cute :-)!  He did a good job!

When do you all graduate?

fpaemp2011

He graduates in December with a major in Biblical Studies and a minor in Youth Ministry.  I'll graduate in May with a major in K-12 Special Ed and K-5 Regular Ed with a concentration in Language Arts.
And, yes, the proposal was AMAZING!  Better than anything I had imagined him doing.  It was just so personal and perfect for us.  My only "rules" were that he had to talk to my dad, no jumbotrons, and I didn't want a lot of people to know exactly when he was proposing.  I had always imagined running home and surprising my parents, and he had actually planned the day so that we were able to do that.

FutureMrsMcDaniel

Question that I always love to hear the answer to:

When did you know he was the man you were going to marry? 

fpaemp2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_christian-weddings_knottie-of-week-fpaemp2011?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:464687ae-7bc1-4360-9aea-999e11f1e1adDiscussion:2f596739-f97d-472a-9135-ea84521aa0f7Post:565593a4-3e93-4889-b9a9-4b25212f8bee">Re: Knottie of the Week - Fpaemp2011</a>:
[QUOTE]Question that I always love to hear the answer to: When did you know he was the man you were going to marry? 
Posted by FutureMrsMcDaniel[/QUOTE]

The first "feeling" of that was during the Christmas break that we weren't even officially together, but we were talking...a lot.  I was working and had to be up at 6 to leave by 7.  On December 17, my phone rang at 6:02am.  It was Fletcher, just calling to say good morning and that he hoped I had a good day.  I remember thinking, "I love him."  About a week after we officially started dating, we both had stuff happening back at home, and it was just a crummy time.  His dad was dealing with an unexpected leadership issue at their church, and my 90-year-old great-grandfather passed away.  He came over to my house, I laid my head on his shoulder and he just hugged me.  I knew that the issue at his church was really bothering him, and that if he was taking care of me like this less than a month into our relationship, and when he felt like crud as well, he had to be a pretty good guy.  I was careful to guard my heart (and his) by waiting for him to say, "I love you," which happened about a week later, but both of us knew we were eventually getting married by then.  I've never had a feeling of, "Am I sure?"  It's just been a "knowing" from very early on.

jgavigan3376

Hi Emily! It's fun getting to know you! I know you have a year to go before your big day, but have you made any wedding plans? Do you have a theme? A dress or an idea of what you'd like to wear?

mohutch37

What an amazing proposal story! Sorry if this sounds a bit personal. I think it is wonderful that you are waiting until your wedding day to kiss. I know this is mentioned in the book "I Kissed Dating Good-bye" but what were your reasons?

fpaemp2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_christian-weddings_knottie-of-week-fpaemp2011?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:464687ae-7bc1-4360-9aea-999e11f1e1adDiscussion:2f596739-f97d-472a-9135-ea84521aa0f7Post:cac92402-974f-4c35-89c8-5b3f03ef2665">Re: Knottie of the Week - Fpaemp2011</a>:
[QUOTE]Hi Emily! It's fun getting to know you! I know you have a year to go before your big day, but have you made any wedding plans? Do you have a theme? A dress or an idea of what you'd like to wear?
Posted by jgavigan3376[/QUOTE]

We have made some plans!  We're trying to get a lot of things done over the summer while I'm home, because we'll only have a few weeks at Christmas, and then less than a month between graduation and the wedding. :-\  We have a church, reception venue, I have a dress, and my bridesmaids are starting to pick their dresses.  They're wearing knee length "pool" colored dresses from DB, with red shoes.  Last night, mom told me I could wear her veil, since I really haven't found one that I love enough to pay so much for.  She said we can take off the crown from 1986, though. :)

We don't really have a theme...I'm trying to stay away from heart shaped decorations, though...they're just not "us."  I know what I want the bouquets to look like, and we're starting to work on the boxes for the centerpieces, and I'm meeting with the florist sometime this summer!  We also have our ceremony wording picked out, and all the music.  It's all on my planning bio. :)  A pic of my dress and mom's veil are below: (DB v8822)

<a href="#" title="Click to view a larger photo" onclick="return gSiteLife.LoadForumPage('ForumImage', 'plckPhotoId', '9d3b6156-0a62-4313-9774-cc768bd5d8ad', 'plckRedirectUrl', gSiteLife.EscapeValue(window.location.href));"> <img src="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/images/store/13/7/9d3b6156-0a62-4313-9774-cc768bd5d8ad.medium.jpg" alt="" /></a>


<a href="#" title="Click to view a larger photo" onclick="return gSiteLife.LoadForumPage('ForumImage', 'plckPhotoId', 'a7a14f82-ff08-4f4c-a756-1f360acd9403', 'plckRedirectUrl', gSiteLife.EscapeValue(window.location.href));"> <img src="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/images/store/7/7/a7a14f82-ff08-4f4c-a756-1f360acd9403.medium.jpg" alt="" /></a>
(of course I had to try my dress on again...you know...to make sure the length was right.) <img src="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-laughing.gif" border="0" alt="Laughing" title="Laughing" />

fpaemp2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_christian-weddings_knottie-of-week-fpaemp2011?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:464687ae-7bc1-4360-9aea-999e11f1e1adDiscussion:2f596739-f97d-472a-9135-ea84521aa0f7Post:fbf8ae37-0b7e-4342-b630-229daf085207">Re: Knottie of the Week - Fpaemp2011</a>:
[QUOTE]What an amazing proposal story! Sorry if this sounds a bit personal. I think it is wonderful that you are waiting until your wedding day to kiss. I know this is mentioned in the book "I Kissed Dating Good-bye" but what were your reasons?
Posted by mohutch37[/QUOTE]
This is looooong...sorry about that.

I have never read "I Kissed Dating Good-bye", but, being a Liberty student, I have heard of it and FI is familiar with the author's church.  This is our story:  When I was 16, our youth pastor was doing the sermon one Sunday and the ONLY thing I remember is him challenging the youth to not kiss until their wedding.  Our church is conservative Southern Baptist, but it's not "Duggar Conservative" (LOVE their family, btw) so it wasn't something I was raised with.  I remember there were about ten of us who took the challenge.  I know of 2 who made it all the way to their wedding, and 1 other girl has stuck to it in her dating relationship. 

Honestly, I made the decision because I didn't like kissing my boyfriend at the time. {Remember...I was in 10th grade}  He only kissed me at the end of the day when the teacher's weren't in the locker hall, and it was after he usually had onions at lunch.   When I told him I had made that decision, he said it was ok with him, but a few weeks later, he said it wasn't working so we broke up.  I went to a tiny public school in a tiny country town, so eventually everyone knew why we broke up, and if being a Christian who didn't go to parties was reason enough to be judged, they were loving the new material.  But, I had a great group of  Christian friends who said a guy who respected me enough would come along. 

Senior year, I dated a guy who knew about my decision, said it was ok, but then ended up sleeping with a girl in my class because, as he told me, "Our relationship would never fill {his} physical needs."  So, I dumped his butt.

I didn't date anyone until I met Fletcher 3 1/2 years later.  (This wasn't a "no -dating conviction" thing...I just didn't meet anyone until that English class where I met FI).  Before we started dating, we knew we both wanted to wait until marriage to live together and to consummate the relationship, but I didn't bring up the kissing thing. I liked him so much and I didn't want to lose another one.

On our first date, we had a boundaries discussion, and he said he was fine with holding hands and hugging, but he wanted to wait on kissing.  He never said how long, and I didn't want to say the word "marriage" on the first date. :)  I thought about not bringing it up with him...I was 16 when I made that decision, and I was 21 when we started dating.  I told myself I was old enough to control myself. 

I went home for church one Sunday and one of the younger high schoolers was asking about this boy I was constantly talking about.  She asked, "Does he want to wait until his wedding to kiss, too?"  I had totally forgotten that I told the younger youth girls about it.  So, I decided that if he brought it up, I would talk to him about it. 

2 days later, we were sitting on the couch, he kissed my cheek, and his goatee tickled me.  He laughed and said, "What are you going to do when I really kiss you?"  So...he brought it up.  I told him about my decision, scared to death he was going to break up with me, but...he didn't.  He said that while he had not made that decision as early as I had, things almost went too far in his last relationship, and he didn't want there to be a chance of that happening again. 

It's hard.  It's honestly harder than not sleeping together, because we were raised knowing that's for marriage. We don't believe that kissing before marriage is a sin...but for us, it's a clear boundary so we don't have to worry about "How far is too far?"

btw...hate to post and run, but I'm going to my cousin's preschool graduation, so I'll be back later tonight!

jgavigan3376

Just peeked at your planning bio- you have so much done!!! I love your ceremony wording, and your dress is beautiful! And how nice that you'll be wearing your mom's veil.

fpaemp2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_christian-weddings_knottie-of-week-fpaemp2011?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:464687ae-7bc1-4360-9aea-999e11f1e1adDiscussion:2f596739-f97d-472a-9135-ea84521aa0f7Post:1b2d9a33-b235-4562-a06c-ce8f18da1e9a">Re: Knottie of the Week - Fpaemp2011</a>:
[QUOTE]Just peeked at your planning bio- you have so much done!!! I love your ceremony wording, and your dress is beautiful! And how nice that you'll be wearing your mom's veil. :)
Posted by jgavigan3376[/QUOTE]

Thanks!  We got the ceremony from <a href="http://www.covenantmarriage.com" title="Covenant Marriage">www.covenantmarriage.com</a>.  The scripts can be selected from <a href="http://www.covenantweddingceremony.com/couplefiles" title="Ceremony Scripts">www.covenantmarriage.com/couplefiles</a>.  We changed some of the wording, but that's basically it.  We're also making our own certificate that our entire WP and all of our officiating pastors will sign.  His dad is doing most of the wedding, and then my pastor is doing the Cord of Three Strands, my associate pastor is doing the Gospel Message, and my youth pastor is saying a prayer.