Wedding Blog

Helllooooo hive! We’re kicking off a new series today called the Relationship Series! The bees all got together and thought of a bunch of great questions to ask you and each other about relationships, love, and life in general. For the next few weeks, we’ll be featuring a bunch of great questions and the bees’ answers, and we’d love for you to participate, as well!

~~~

When I was young, I thought I’d get married at age _____. I actually got married at age _____. This worked out better/worse for me because _____.

Mrs. Deviled Egg - When I was in high school, I assumed I would be married shortly after college at age 22 or 23, as that seemed to be the ages my sisters would marry. When I was in college, I pushed it back to 24 or 25, but never thought I wouldn’t be married by 25. After ending a 3-year relationship at the beginning of my senior year of college, I realized that it would be very likely I’d be over 25. I met Mr. DE 9 days before my 26th birthday and we were married when I was 28.

Of course, I feel that this worked out great for me. I ended up with Mr. DE, who I love more than I ever thought I could love someone. I also had an established career and a clearer idea of what I wanted out of life. I am thankful for the maturity and perspective I’ve gained over the last few years, as well. If I think about it, the only thing disappointing to me about marrying at 28 is that I always thought I would have kids by now. And, I’ve always wanted a lot of kids (like, oh… 6 or so). Because of my later start in marriage, I don’t see myself having quite as many children. I’m still holding out hope for 3 or 4, though!

Mrs. Bunny - When I was young, I thought I’d get married at age 18. I have always wanted to find the perfect guy, settle down and have babies! But as I got older, I realized I wasn’t quite ready for marriage, and definitely not ready for children.

I got married at age 24, and to be honest, I’m glad things turned out the way they did! I’ve been ready for marriage for a couple years now, but I was NOT mature enough to make a marriage work when I was still in my teens — and even just a few years ago, I know it would have been so much more difficult than it is now! I understand relationships better and have learned how to get along with someone else. I know myself better and can better communicate my needs and wants to others now.

Mrs. Jasmine - When I was young, I thought I’d get married by 24. I don’t know why– it was just sort of an arbitrary age that sounded not too young, not too old.

I actually got married at 26. It worked well since I was finished with school, had a job, and was ready for the next phase of our relationship. It’s not a huge difference from 24, but somehow those two extra years helped in terms of being more settled and mature.

Mrs. Penguin - When I was in grade school, I wanted to get married young, perhaps at 22, and be a parent by age 25. Once I graduated from high school, my ideal age for marriage was 28, and kids were not really something I cared to put a timeline on. At that point I wasn’t sure if kids would be in my future. I married at age 26, and still have no timeline for children. Marrying at age 26 worked out for us because we still feel like we had a good solid 4ish years of marriage before we’d have to seriously discuss children (and whether we’ll have them or not). I’m not sure life would have been much different if we had married when I was 23, and we had purchased our first home. I can’t say whether I’m glad we waited a couple years or not… we dated for 7 years before finally tying the knot. I feel like things wouldn’t have been much different had we married 3 or 4 years earlier, since we were already living together and sharing a mortgage at that point.

Miss Frozen Yogurt - When I was young, I thought I would get married at 24, partially because my parents did, and partially because I thought I’d meet my future husband in college, and then we’d wait a few years and then be married. Well, that didn’t happen.

I’ll be 29 when I’m married, and that is a great age for me. I feel like I’ve been able to accomplish a lot of the education things I wanted to, and now I have a great career and am so ready to devote more of myself to my partner.

Mrs. Mouse - When I was young, I didn’t think I would get married until I was a bit older, maybe in my 30s. I always assumed I’d have a crazy, single-gal-in-the-city lifestyle for a while before I met “the one”. But I met “the one” when I was 20! And we got married when I was 26. You really can never predict when you’re going to meet the person who you want to spend the rest of your life with.

Mrs. Peep Toe - I guess I always thought I’d be the last single friend- not finding the one until my mid-30s. As it turns out, I still have a lot of single friends and I got married a month shy of my 30th birthday. With Mr. Peep being 37, we both feel like marrying a little later in life has allowed us to figure out who we really are and bring some great life experiences to the table. Not to say that we don’t have growing pains, but it has allowed us to leave a lot of drama at the door.

Miss Ramen - When I was younger I thought I’d get married at 26 (because that seemed soooo old!). In high school/college I changed my mind to 28, because I wanted to pursue a career. I’m going to be 26 when we get married! This works out best since I feel like I’ve had time to experience life being single and am SO ready to “settle down”, and enjoy married life for a few years before babies take over my brain. I know there’s a lot of life I haven’t experienced, but I’m excited to get to experience things with Mr. Ramen!

Miss Star - When I was younger, I used to tell anyone who would listen that I was never getting married and that my plan was to be an old cat lady.

I’m so glad that I found Mr. Star, who has taught me about really loving a man. It’s so exciting to grow up with someone together and experience all these life firsts with such an awesome and supportive partner.

I’m glad he proved me wrong about the cat lady thing! And I’m also glad that he has no problem with us having as many pets as I want.

Mrs. Mascara - When I was young, I always thought I’d get married at 25. I’m not sure why, but partly I think because my parents got married at 23 and I thought that was a bit too young since I’d be going to college until I was 22 or 23. I felt like there should be a couple years in between college and marriage for some reason.

It had nothing to do with the arbitrary age I had set earlier in life, but I did actually get married at 25! This worked out because after a few years of having to be in a long distance relationship through and after college, Mr. Mascara and I were finally living in the same place again (and in the same apartment) when I turned 24, got engaged right before I turned 25, and got married at 25 (the mister is 26). We both had a chance to finish school, start our careers, and figure out if we really did want to spend the rest of our lives together before we moved in together and got married!

Mrs. Gloss - I think I always thought I would get married at 23 or 24. I met Mr. Gloss when I was 15… since I was 16, I knew we were going to get married. We were serious and committed enough to each other that it seemed only rational to wait until we were at an appropriate time in our lives that a) people would take our relationship seriously, b) we could afford to throw a fabulous party and c) have accomplished everything we needed to individually. I was 24, almost 25 when we finally tied the knot. We had both graduated by then, gotten steady jobs and lived together for a year before were were engaged, then another before we were married.

Mrs. Crab Cake - In high school, I think I had the traditional timeline-thing going on. You know, college, marriage shortly there after, and then buy a house, and then make a baby. Boy, oh, boy did I ever screw that plan up!

After my parents split, I longed for that family environment again. From age 17 to about 20, I was really, really anxious to get married. And I almost did. Mini’s father and I got engaged right before we found out I was pregnant. I was 20 and he was 24. And I was still in college.

After I left him, I had no desire to get married. I dated him from age 18 to age 22. He was basically the only adult relationship I knew anything about and I felt like I needed to learn to be myself, and learn to be a mom, without complicating life with men.

I really didn’t change my mind about marriage until I met Mr. CC. And I don’t think I had any idea that our relationship would move as fast as it did.

I was 24 and he was 31 on our wedding day. I would have been content waiting a few more years. He was probably ready.

Miss Lamb - When I was young, I thought I’d get married at age 21. I actually will get married at age 24. I had a master plan for meeting my future husband in college. I was going to meet him at Bible study my first year and we would be acquaintances. Sophomore year, we would grow into a deeper friendship. Junior year, we would date. Senior year, we would be engaged. We’d graduate in May and get married in June. Done and done.

In reality, I met the Lambster in my sophomore year. We were friends my junior year. My senior year we dated. Then we dated for 3 more years… long distance. I was ready for marriage much earlier than my wooly ram. However, in the interim, I’ve been able to accomplish a lot academically and career-wise. All in all, I’m happy with what I’ve accomplished and I don’t think that I would have if we married earlier.

Mrs. Mary Jane - I always wanted to get married by the time I was 22. I thought that this was the perfect age for marriage because I wanted children by age 25. I grew up in the Midwest, where people have children younger than other places, and I was jealous that many of my friends’ parents were younger than mine (who aren’t old at all, but were older than 22/25 when they passed those respective milestones). I really did not want to be an ‘old mom’.

Thing is, I did get married at 23. And divorced at 24. Whoops. Now I’m 26 and married for good, with no plans for children in sight. Don’t get me wrong - I WANT children as soon as it’s feasible, but right now with both of us working and going to school, it’s not. I’m happy to be with my sweetie, building our lives together, loving the present and planning for the future.

Mrs. Bruschetta - Oddly enough, I’d randomly selected 24 as the ideal age to get engaged, and 26 as the age by which I wanted to be married — and both turned out to be accurate.

I really hadn’t given any thought to when I wanted to meet my future husband (why would I, when there are wedding dresses and bridal bouquets to dream about?!), but I definitely wouldn’t have imagined finding my future husband my senior year of high school, or dating him for just over eight years before our wedding.

I’m not gonna lie — at times, it was frustrating to be in love but too young to realistically (or financially) do anything about it. But the course of our relationship helped make us stronger, and I’m excited to see how the next few years (and Mr. Bruschetta finally being able to start his chosen career after seven years of schooling!) further strengthen our connection.

Mrs. Snow Pea - When I was young, I thought I’d get married at age 24 and have all all my children (4) by age 30. I actually got married at 26 and looking back, I still think it was too young. Ideally, I think 30 is a great age to be married; both financially and mentally.

Mrs. French Bulldog - When I was young I thought I’d get married in my early 20s like my parents did. I just assumed I’d meet someone in college and get married when we graduated. As we all know, life is never how you plan it… one has to stay in college to meet someone and get married. It’s funny how I met Mr Frenchie a month after I went back.

Mrs. Bee - When I was young, my “ideal timeline” was to get married at 24-25, enjoy a year or two of newlywed life, and have 2 children (a girl first and then a boy) before the age of 30.  Once I was in high school, I thought that I just wasn’t the falling in love type, and resigned to eventually settling for someone that loved me once I was 30 or so.

In reality, I got married at 26, which was way younger than I’d expected.  I had no desire to get married or be in a relationship when I first met Mr. Bee, a couple days after I’d turned 25 years old. But a month into the relationship, I knew that I wanted to marry him and he knew he wanted to marry me. We were both mature enough, so why wait?

We’re coming up on our 5 year anniversary now, and I’m glad that I got married so young because those years sure flew by fast!

Mrs. Dumpling - When I was young, I thought I’d get married at age 21. I actually got married at age 28. This worked out better for me because I am a huge clown and no man in their right mind would have been happy with me at 21.

Mrs. Cherry Blossom - When I was young, I thought I’d get married at age 22 or 23 because I thought I’d be like my mom and have kids by the time I was 25 when she had me. I actually got married at age 27. This worked out better for me because Mr. CB and I grew up, changed, and matured so much together that we felt that we were at the best place of our lives, emotionally, mentally, and financially to make the best decisions for our next big step together… and not to mention, pay for our own wedding.

I’m not going to lie and say I wasn’t itching to get married sooner than that, since we got engaged on our 5 year anniversary, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. No I’m not at the timeline I imagined myself to be, but learning to live life at your own flow and readiness is way better!

Mrs. Cupcake - When I was younger, I always thought I’d get married at 28. I think I figured that it was a good age to have accomplished enough on my own as a twenty-something, but young enough that I could still wait a few years to have kids while enjoying being a newlywed.

Wouldn’t you know it, I got married about a month after turning 28. It certainly wasn’t something I pushed for when Mr. Cupcake and I were dating, and not something I thought about when we were setting our wedding date, but it is a fun coincidence that my “plan” did, in fact, pan out. We met when I was 23, so although I spent a good portion of my twenties in a committed relationship, I am glad we were together for a while before we got married; I don’t feel like I missed out on any quintessential twenty-something experiences, and I had time to learn a lot about myself and being in a serious relationship before committing to marriage. I also don’t feel pressure to have kids right away — but I expect our parents will be antsy by the time I turn 30.

Mrs. Joey - I thought I’d get married at 24. I’d be out of college a few years and would have a few years of work under my belt. I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t get married then. I did know Mr. Joey when I was 24 but we didn’t start dating until I was almost 25.

I’m really glad I did wait a while, or 5 years. I did, and saw so many things before we really settled down that I don’t think I would have done. I wasn’t ready to give up my freedom when I was actually 24. I moved to new cities and didn’t have to worry about someone else. I traveled when I wanted and when work would allow. I actually hadn’t met someone I was willing to give that up for.

I’m also actually really glad we waited a few years to get married. I don’t think I’d get to do the things at work I do now if I was already married when I got hired. I was the only unmarried person on my team and I had no kids. It was easy for me to travel for work than other people. The years before the engagement were a great test for us. We learned what it would be like for one of us to be away almost 25% of the year. We grew together, and we needed that before getting married.

Mrs. Cherry Pie - For a long time, I never thought about getting married, or when I would get married. I always imagined I’d live in an RV with my best girlfriend as we traveled the country together. No wonder people thought I was weird.

Eventually (after starting college), I started to believe that I didn’t want to get married until after I turned 25. I’d heard/read somewhere that your brain develops at a certain rate until then, and people who marry young are at a greater risk of being starkly different people after a few years.

Mr. CP and I have been together since I was 17, and we both have changed immensely, but we also have grown together. Ultimately, we moved in together when I was 22, got engaged when I was 23, and were married when I was 25. This worked out pretty much ideally for both of us!

Mrs. Duckling - When I was young, I thought I’d get married shortly after college which probably would have been 22ish. There wasn’t a particular reason other than thinking I’d meet someone in college. Mr. Ducky and I started dating when I was 20. We had friends that got married right after college, but it just didn’t seem right for us. We knew we wanted to get married one day but weren’t in a rush and wanted to wait for the right timing.

I actually got married at age 24. This worked out for me because I really wanted to get my Masters before getting married. I graduated in May and got married in September. We’ve also been together for 4 years and have worked through a lot of different things before getting married. Our timing was just right for us.

Miss Beagle - I was in a serious relationship prior to meeting Mr. Beagle that I thought/assumed would end in marriage, so I guess I always thought I would get married by 23. When that relationship ended, I had serious doubts about whether marriage was something I wanted with anyone, and for a while I thought my 30s would be a good time to settle down if the right person came along. Then I met Mr. Beagle :).

When we get married, I will be 27. I think this age is perfect for me because I feel that I am absolutely ready for the commitment that marriage requires. After dating for almost 6 years, we have been able work through our problems and have developed a strong relationship that will last.

Mrs. Espresso - When I entered high school, I had my whole life planned out. I would get married in my late 20s or early 30s. This would give me time to pursue my career as a magazine editor, move to New York, and travel the world. I then would maybe have kids in my mid 30s.

Life is funny how it works out. The fact that I met Mr. Espresso in high school and started seriously dating him junior year changed everything. I already was questioning what I wanted to do with my life, but I knew after a year I wanted to marry him. We didn’t get married for another 6 years, but I always knew that he was my person… or lobster, as Phoebe would say. So I got married at age 23, way younger than I ever thought- and it was perfect. Now we get to grow and discover life’s path together. I now dream of a small town instead of New York. I want to be a business owner instead of a magazine editor- and we both want to travel the world, but at least now it will be together. I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Miss Dachshund - I always thought I’d be married at 26.  To me, 26 was the magic number where you suddenly entered adulthood—no longer in your early 20s, but marching confidently toward your 30s.  I assumed that by 26 I would have finished college and have found a career that was perfect for me; finding a husband would be the logical next step!

Well, I’ll be 25 by the time I’m married.  Though the number is close to my estimation, I’m not at the point in my life I had hoped I would be.  I put college on hold for various reasons, and I have a job that feels like a job.

Although it wasn’t exactly what I imagined, I’m happy things worked out the way that they did.  I still have a few flights of stairs to climb in my professional life, and I know Mr. Dachshund will be encouraging me every step of the way.  I’ve always told myself that life has a way of working itself out and I know that Mr. Doxie and I are meant to be together now rather than later.

~~~

What about you? As a child, at what age did you think you’d get married? How does your reality differ from your prediction?