Have you ever been curious about marriage? Love? Relationships? Or, my marriage, love, and relationship? If so, keep reading.
This month’s Married at 22 segment includes our version of 20 Questions, diving deep into who we are as a couple.
Enjoy our couple’s Q & A!
Where’d you meet?
Chad is my best friend Laura’s cousin, and we lived in a small, small town (my class had 69 people, his about 80) where everyone just knows each other without being introduced.
But technically, we probably first interacted in 2004 when we played on the same little league baseball team. 🙂 You can read more about it here.
What’s the first thing your spouse would buy if they won the lottery?
Chad: A house, so she could get a puppy.
Me: First, he would invest. Like, right away. Then he’d pay off our debt.
Who said “I love you” first?
Technically, Chad. He said it quietly in German when I was resting my head on his shoulder, lightly dozing off. I heard him, but pretended I didn’t.
A little over a month later, I said it officially. It was kind of weird. After we went to a play at our high school, I programmed my on-loan iPad (perks of my AP English class) to say “I love you” in German (ich liebe dich) to let him know that I knew he’d said it, but I wasn’t confident enough to say it myself. It was awkward and I’d like to pretend I didn’t do that.
What does an ideal date look like?
Chad: Hmmm, probably getting food at a restaurant, then going to a brewery.
Me: I like when a date includes an activity, food, booze, and quiet time at home later to decompress. So, maybe bowling (activity), Mexican food (food), a brewery (booze), and a Netflix movie at home with cuddles (introvert time).
What word best describes your spouse first thing in the morning?
Chad: Grumpus. (I guess that means a combination of grumpy and the monster Crampus. So, really grumpy.)
Me: Chipper.
When did you know you wanted to marry each other?
Chad: I started imagining Savannah as a permanent part of my life pretty early on, but I don’t remember exactly when.
Me: We always took things really seriously with our relationship, so I think I knew when I realized that I didn’t just love Chad, but that he was the love of my life.
What is your spouse’s favorite junk food?
Chad: Ohemgee, can I list them all? She loves milk chocolate, white chocolate, cookies, fudge, brownies, brownie batter, ice cream—she’s not a huge pie person or a pastry for dessert person—but then she likes cake too. And gummies. There’s a lot.
Me: He loooooves chips—potato, tortilla, you name it, he’ll devour it. Also, pastries.
What does your spouse do that gets on your nerves?
Chad: She wakes me up when I’m sleeping. (He means when he’s sleeping on his back and snoring, lol.)
Me: Ummmmm. Number one, his loud chewing. He also loudly gnaws on his fingernails. I also call him ‘Hurricane Chad,’ endearingly, because he tends to make a mess. And humor is my coping mechanism.
But he used to end his sentences with “so…” and he has stopped doing that and I am forever thankful because that was the very, most absolute worst. You go honey.
What’s one of your favorite things about your spouse?
Chad: She’s my best friend.
Me: Too many to pick, but his damn big brain is really up there. (Here’s 25 other things, if you’re interested.)
Who cooks more?
Definitely Chad. He’s also good at it. We try to balance things out; either I’ll help him or plan meals or clean a little extra to compensate.
Where did you go on your first date?
Well, I was invited over to Chad’s house to play poker with him and his friends on Halloween evening…except no one else showed up. Because no one else came, we decided to take a walk around the neighborhood. We ended up at a small park, where we ended up laying next to each other on the ground and watched the stars for a while.
It was a really specially first date, and stars have remained a theme of our relationship ever since.
What was your wedding song, and why?
We went with “True Companion” by Marc Cohn.
One time when Chad went off to college and I was still in high school, missing him terribly, he texted me a stanza of the song:
So don’t you dare and try to walk away
I’ve got my heart set on our wedding day
I’ve got this vision of a girl in white
Made my decision that it’s you alright
Later on, we just remembered how it got us through the hard times of distance, and it was both unique and sincere.
What’s your advice for getting through the wedding day?
Chad: Be sure to make having fun your top priority. The best way to do that is to invest in a day-of coordinator, delegate, and make sure that you don’t have to do anything yourselves.
Me: Make things about the two of you, first and foremost. It’s your day. Put your spouse above everything else and make sure you have a blast. Make having fun your top priority.
Do you have any wedding day regrets?
Chad: That it ended.
Me: Even though we had a wonderful time, I wish we’d taken a few more stolen moments. We were definitely trying to people please, and I would’ve liked a few more breaks of us one-on-one, even if it was rude.
What’s your favorite thing to do together?
Chad: I really like going to breweries and having dates there.
Me: I love being introverts together at home, followed very closely by weekend getaways.
Where would you like to go on vacation next?
*****if money were no object
Chad: Greece or Ireland.
Me: Hawaii, Ireland, then Europe.
The Grand CanyonWhat’s your spouse’s Starbucks order?
Chad: Soy vanilla latte with an extra pump of vanilla.
Me: He’d order himself a plain coffee. I’d get him something new; not too sweet, but normally a latte of some kind.
Was it hard adjusting to living together?
Chad: Not really, because we were both used to roommates by then and had already been together for several years. It just felt like the natural next step.
Me: For me it wasn’t, because we had spent so much time together already almost every weekend in college. It felt like we had been practicing for a long time (nearly five years), so it was easy for me. It felt like a long time coming.
What’s the hardest thing about marriage?
Chad: Marriage isn’t hard, but there are pressures of adult life that can be tough to juggle. I think marriage actually makes those things better and alleviates the stress.
Me: I think it can be hard to build experiences when you have financial goals. Or to wish the present away for future things. Also, having families that live in different places can be tough for things like holidays.
What’s your best advice for a happy marriage?
Chad: Communication is key, and don’t forget to ‘date‘ your spouse.
Me: Put your spouse first, communicate your needs, make time for each other.
Thanks for reading our couple’s Q & A! Please let us know if you have any more questions regarding marriage, or ours in particular. 🙂
Interesting point on the wedding regrets. If I were ever to give advice to people getting married, it would be “Don’t be a guest at your own wedding.” It’s a great day, but it’s so easy to get caught up in everything that’s going on, you forget to let it sink in that it’s your wedding day!
That’s extremely well said. It’s so easy to get consumed by the event and forget that you really are the main event. Thanks for reading!
It was a nice callback, since the first thing I ever read of yours was about being married!
Time flies when you have blogging buddies!
Great post. I really enjoyed reading about your marriage. It seems like you really found the right person for you and that’s special.
It’s a great feeling, for sure! Thank you so much for reading and commenting.
I’m almost 21 and I’ve been with my boyfriend since I was 16 years old! We’re in a long distance relationship and planning on getting married in a year or two. This post is absolutely adorable and makes me look forward to starting a life with him!
That’s awesome! I love hearing about other couples who have gone through similar experiences. 🙂 Distance is tough! Sending best wishes to you and your boyfriend. Thanks for reading!
How lovely is this and so pleased you found each other, wedding days just fly by it’s hard trying to please others while trying to take time for yourselves for the moments you remember.
Thank you! It was such a hectic day, but still so much fun. Thanks for reading and commenting!
It was great to get to know you both a bit more. Lovely post
Thank you so much for reading!
How long have you two been married? We just had our 8th wedding anniversary on the 2nd 🙂
Congratulations, and happy anniversary! We have been married for two years as of September, and have been together for almost eight years next month. Thanks for reading and commenting!
Yay! Congratulations. I was 23 when we got married. We were suppose to get married the year before but crap happened #life lol
Lol, I know how that goes! I’m glad that everything fell into place, even if it was a year later. 🙂
It’s all good. We had a tiny wedding with 8 guests in my Dads living room. Very cheap #broke haha
That’s awesome! Sounds very intimate. Some of our best moments at our wedding were stolen ones, just the two of us away from the noise, so I see some major appeal.
Well it wasn’t what we had in mind but I wouldn’t change anything about it
This is so fantastic! Beautiful post and love how real and honest it feels. Congratulations 💜
Thank you so much for your kind words!
I love this! Such a great idea! My husband and I married really young too! I feel like I need to ask him these same questions now too.
Thank you so much! You definitely should. Be sure to tag me if you make a post out of it—would love to read your answers. 🙂 Thanks for reading!
This was fun. Really happy you two did this. It’s always fascinating taking a look into other peoples lives.
Favorite Q & A: Do you have any wedding day regrets?
Chad: That it ended.
Chad: You’re the man. 🙂
It was so fun to write! And lol, I will pass that along to him. Thank you so much for reading!
That was a fun and enjoyable post. Sounds like you 2 are going to be good together, and Chad sounds like a good guy (except for the “soy” latte’s LOL j/k)
Lol, we’re doing pretty good so far, almost 8 years together. Thanks for reading and commenting!
Ugh you guys are the cutest!! You’ve known each other for so long that is crazy. Do you feel like you both know each other 100% at this point or does he still do things that sometimes surprise you?
Thank you! And that’s a really good question. I do feel like we typically know each other completely, but sometimes our actions are surprising. For example, Chad recently got a second job, and that is something that even a year or a few months ago he wouldn’t have done. I was both surprised and not surprised. His character is the same, but his actions fluctuated. If that makes sense? Thanks for your question!
This was the cutest thing! I love how some of your answers were the same so it really showed your compatibility. Wishing you guys the best!
Thank you so much! So kind. Thanks for reading and commenting!
no problem ♥
Awww! Such a lovely post! It is nice to get to know you better and you are such a cute couple!
Thank you so much for your kind words and for reading! 🙂
This is so cute! We were married young too (21 and 24) and are still happy almost 10 years later 😊
Thanks, Jen! I love hearing stories like that. Thank you for reading and commenting. 🙂
I loved this! Such a cute idea and fun to read! Y’all are couple goals!
That’s so sweet! Thanks for reading and commenting. 🙂
I’m 22 and I’m nowhere near marriage! You guys look so happy together, couple goals for sure! x
Everyone is totally different, which is a cool thing about our generation! I often think about how at my age, my parents already had two kids and owned a house, etc, and that seems so far off in the future for me. It’s just crazy how that works sometimes! Thank you so much for reading. 🙂
Such a lovely post! Thanks for sharing. ♡♡
https://tiateilli.com
Thanks for stopping by! 🙂