Happy FRIYAY! I am so happy its the end of another awesome week. It’s coming on the end of the week which means my wedding anniversary is inching closer and closer. Almost an entire year has gone by with the love of my life. That is absolutely insane. It has been, truthfully, the fastest year. A little recap for those of you new around here. In the last year, my cute husband and I have: 1. Gotten married. 2. Cruised around the caribbean. 3. Graduated college. 4. Moved all the way across the country. 5. Gotten big kid jobs. Safe to say, life has been pretty busy for us. Somehow, in the midst of all this busyness, we have found time to fall in more in love. Here is our 12 Lessons in 12 Months: A Marriage Recap.

12 Lessons in 12 Months: A Marriage Recap

marriage recap: 12 lessons in 12 months

Taylor’s Perspective:

Lesson 1: Be Each Other’s Best Friend.

Adam is my favorite person. We tell each other everything, and have since we first started dating. I get excited to just sit on the couch and hold his hand. Exploring new places with him is an adventure. When I wake up next to him in the morning, I get butterflies. Life isn’t always a fairytale (we do have our share of fights), but it is a fairytale a lot of the time when you are besties. 😉

Lesson 2: Fight fair. 

And on the topic of fighting….here we go. Fighting as a married couple is NORMAL. When you mesh two lives together, there are bound to be disagreements. That DOESN’T give you a right to be vicious when you do have an argument. Adam and I learned very quickly that being nasty doesn’t get you anywhere. Even when we are mad, we still respect each other. Lucky for us, we make up very quickly. Fight fairly and be the first to say sorry.

marriage recap: 12 lessons in 12 months

Lesson 3: Date often. 

We both know this will come in handy more often when we have children and it isn’t as easy to just pick up and go out. But by establishing this habit now, we hope that once we do have children, we will be able to continue with our date nights. Setting aside time every other week at least gives us a chance to put our phones away and spend time actually talking to each other. 

Lesson 4: Laugh about it now, instead of later.

You know the phrase, “you’ll laugh about this later” when it is about something TOTALLY unfunny? Well, we prefer to laugh now. Even when it feels totally unfunny. We don’t like staying mad (we never are for long), so instead of holding grudges, we take a deep breath and LAUGH. Whatever it is that was making us so angry in the first place usually isn’t bad enough to stay upset for long, anyways.

Lesson 5: Support each other no matter what.

Adam and I have this terrible habit of being unfalteringly loyal. We want more than anything to make the other as happy as humanly possible and we both think each other deserves the whole world. But, sometimes marriage means deciding which one of you gets to go for something first. Adam is SO supportive of B&A and the countless other business ideas that I pitch to him on a daily basis.

marriage recap: 12 lessons in 12 months

Lesson 6: Budgeting is important.

Especially when you want to travel, buy a house, pay rent and countless other money sucking activities. Luckily,  Adam and I are pretty good with our money. We are able to have a fairly good savings account and make wise decisions when it comes to budgeting. That puts less stress on our marriage and I’m really thankful for that. It doesn’t mean it will always be that way, but we are building tools for our future. 

Adam’s Perspective:

Lesson 7: Learn to apologize quickly.
 
I’m not a perfect husband, I make mistakes, and sometimes say things I shouldn’t. I have learned to apologize quickly, because no fight is really worth lasting long. We hate being mad at each other.
 
Lesson 8: Always make time for her.
 
We both work full time, have volunteer obligations, and she also spends quite a bit of time managing her blog. I’m okay with sharing my amazing wife with the world, but we do need our own time together. Date night is mandatory, sometimes it’s pizza and a movie or sometimes it’s a night on the town what matters is we make time for each other.
marriage recap: 12 lessons in 12 months
 
Lesson 9: Have an eternal perspective.
When we got married there was no mention of ’til death do us part. I believe that we’re going to be together forever. Having that belief has helped me to strive to be a better husband because I know that we’re going to be together forever (I mean, that’s a really long time). 
 
Lesson 10: Be willing to depend on her.
 
Before I got married I was kind of a loner. Other than a few close friends, it was really hard for me to depend on anyone. The biggest test of that came the week after I told Tay I loved her, when I had to have my appendix taken out. I was out of commission and she was there the whole time, listening to the doctors while I was high on morphine and staying in touch with my family giving them updates. Since we’ve gotten married, I have had to depend on her more and more as she is the bread winner, and she keeps me in check. You have to let someone do that for you.
marriage recap: 12 lessons in 12 months
 
Lesson 11: Don’t get stuck in a loop.
 
It’s easy to just go to work, come home, and chill the night away. We’ve learned to not get stuck in a loop. We’re in the process of working on a few business projects together, which are challenging and new ground for us. Do stuff you haven’t done before. I’m really excited to take her to a jiu-jitsu class next week for us both to try together. She’ll probably end up kicking me in the face, but it’s all in good fun.
 
Lesson 12: Love her the way she wants to be loved.
 

My wife’s love language is gifts. They don’t have to be bought or fancy gifts, but little gifts are a great way I know to show her that I love her. Whether it’s a new book, flowers, candy, or a little dinosaur shaped phone holder. My love language isn’t gifts but taking the time to learn and love her in her own special way helped my love for her grow even more.

marriage recap: 12 lessons in 12 months

Well,  there you have it friends. 12 Lessons in 12 Months. A year in review about the things we discovered being married for 365 days. It’s been absolutely amazing. We are more in love than ever and I can’t believe that it is possible to love another human as much as I love Adam. I consider myself incredibly lucky to have gotten stuck with the world’s best human for eternity.

 
Let me know in the comments below the most important lesson in marriage you’ve learned and how long you’ve been married! I can’t wait to hear your advice. 🙂

Similar Posts

54 Comments

  1. Happy anniversary! I love that you asked for his perspective as well!

    I also found that the advice “never go to bed angry” was absolutely garbage. Sometimes you need to sleep on things to gain better perspective…. and to cool down. That’s my advice!

    Reply

  2. Congratulations! This was a really nice list. I have been married to my husband for 12 years and with him in total for 22 years. He is truly my best friend (corny, I know). The key to our happy relationship is communication first and foremost and laughter!

    Reply

  3. These are great lessons to have learned in only a year! My husband and I just celebrated our 7th anniversary. While I thought I loved him the day we got married I had no idea I could love someone more than I did that day — 7 years later he truly has become my best friend and my ride or die forever. Congrats on 1 year and here’s to many, many more!

    Reply

  4. Happy Anniversary!! ❤️ I love this! I totally agree with the date often one. We are about to hit our three year mark and this past year we met with a counselor on and off for a while. He kept us accountable to one “date night” a week. It didn’t have to be anything crazy, I think my favorites were the breakfast for dinner nights. But it was time set aside to focus on us and our relationship. It has been so good for us. I really look forward to that time now each week. Here’s to many many more years for you two!

    Reply

  6. I love all of your advice and like that your husband gave his point of view. The best advice that I follow is to always have open conversation! My boyfriend and I have been together for about 10 years and I still love finding out new things about him! 🙂

    Reply

  7. Great lessons! I’ve been with my husband for 10 years and we have two daughters ages 8 and 1. We had a very rocky start and things didn’t really settle down until four years ago. Since then, it’s been wonderful! The biggest lesson I’ve learned is to give my husband grace, always. Once I started doing that, I found I was no longer bothered by little things. My husband is always doing his best, to love me for me, to love our children, to support our family … sometimes I need to just let things go. I’m very blessed to share my life with my best friend and I try to remember that everyday. It’s been 10 years and I still get butterflies. 🙂

    Reply

  8. Congrats on one year! I love this whole post. I’m not married, but I DO agree with everything you both said – and I love that you both wrote down ways to make a better marriage. 🙂

    -Lauren

    Reply

  10. You guys are adorable! Happy Anniversary! I been married about a year and a half. One thing I have learned is to take interest in your significant other’s hobbies. My husband races and works on race cars. I have learned a lot and the joy he gets from this brings me joy!

    Reply

  13. I love all of these lessons. Especially the love her the way she wants to be loved. We all have our different love languages and it’s so important to recognize them.

    Reply

  16. Oh em gee. Your wedding dress was so pretty. I love the pic of you two dancing. Im married to my high school sweetheart been together for over 9 years. I would totally have to agree on “laughing now, rather than later.”

    Reply

  18. This was absolutely beautiful!
    Reminds me that, that whole I spent mad at my partner was a day I can’t get back!
    I know my Love Language is Acts of Service.
    Thanks for sharing!

    Xx Angela

    Reply

  19. This is so beautiful and great lessons learned in love! I totally agree that love languages is a huge way to learn how to show your partner love, and that most couples have different love languages. Mine is physical touch, which I didn’t think at first! Wishing you many more years of happiness and love.

    Reply

  22. Hi Taylor!

    Happy Anniversary! I’ve been married for fourteen years and it’s been so wonderful! The biggest thing that I’ve learned is to leave the past in the past. There’s a reason why it’s called the past and it’s best to leave it there. Dredging up old, unpleasant memories never does anyone any favors.

    xo
    Beth || http://www.TheStyleBouquet.com

    Reply

  23. First of all – your wedding portraits are STUNNING. You are a beautiful bride. Secondly, these are great tips. One thing I always tell my younger, newlywed friends after having been married for twelve years and unfortunately now divorced is that you have to wake up and choose your spouse every single day – even when you aren’t getting along the best. It makes all the difference. Thanks for sharing your experience!

    Reply

  24. My husband and I have been married almost 6 years. We have two young children who take most of our time. Dates…nonexistent.

    When that happens, we spend time after the kids are in bed playing games and watching movies or just talking. It is a scheduled us time.

    Great advice! I agree with all the above! Happy anniversary!

    Reply

  26. AWE! This is the sweetest post!! You guys sound so much like E and I! Working on business stuff together is SO much fun! Now that he works out of the house, it’s so tough because we are always calling each other to bounce business ideas. We are each others best friends and advocates and it’s amazing. You two are amazing! so much love right now haha

    Reply

  30. I think it’s beautiful when spouses can depend on one another. I also believe that communication is everything! Congrats on your first wedding anniversary! May God bless you with many more!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *