“I love loving Allison. I love learning to love her more. I love working together with her. It makes me think, live and love with a renewed passion every day that I just can’t get anywhere else in the universe.” We are always thrilled to celebrate couples that are in love and there is no doubt that Kaleb is smitten by his beautiful bride. Their love story exemplifies that love can be found anywhere, even when we least expect it. We will be celebrating Kaleb and Allison as they are tying the NOT tomorrow at the 2nd Nashville NotWedding at the Cannery Ballroom – we hope to see you there!
The first time I saw Allison, I didn’t think she would be my type. Which is why I might be the luckiest idiot in the world.
It was February and she was wearing a ridiculous winter bubble coat lined with fur. It looked like a Yeti tackling the Michelin man. I noticed less because of the boisterous fashion statement, and more because she sat silently in it for nearly an hour after she got to the party. I had never met her before. Her blonde hair was done beyond done, blown out with what I can only assume was a swirling Texas wind and I figured she spent more time getting ready than she would spend at the party as a whole. I, on the other hand, was somewhere in between post-emo and pre-hipster and knew more about girl jeans than I did about actual women. Let’s put it this way, if I was thrift store she was Juicy. Or at least that was the verdict of my naive snap judgement. With apparently nothing at stake, I was unintimidated and unafraid to approach her. ‘What’s the worst that could happen,’ I thought to myself. My razor perception left her off the fringes of my romantic radar and she was obviously uncomfortable around a brand new group of people. Resolved, I walked towards her…
From that point on my memory starts to fast foward through the past eight years at a blistering pace, pausing on precious moments and infallible memories. Flashes of that very first night we met, eventually finding ourselves under the stars, feeling irresponsibly in love. I see streaks of warm orange and yellow spilling like mollassas through the rocks above our cove where I asked for her hand. Sometimes when I close my eyes I can see the sunlight bursting through the door of the chapel silhouetting my bride. My life and memories have been so filled with love that I never saw coming and couldn’t have even dreamed for myself.
My preconception of my type was shattered when I met Allison. She literally broke my mold. Let’s be honest, we live in a me me now now culture. Check out MY profile, MY website, MY new album. I get MY latte 1/3 caf with three raw sugars and the milk of the gods. We get bogged down by things like my type.
Take your preconceptions of marriage and throw them out the window. We are sold a lot of ideas of marriage usually trying to get us to spend money, and most of the time to spend it on ourselves. All I can say is be present with your fiance, be present with your spouse. Work with them, talk with them, trust them, love them when they need to be loved, love them how they need to be loved. If you take anything away from this I hope that it’s this. Your marriage is not about you. It’s about you and your spouse together. It takes work. It takes practice, but teamwork makes the dreamwork. It’s about loving them more than you want to, putting their needs above yours. It works. Stop looking for ways to satisfy yourself in your relationship and start looking for ways to edify your spouse and those around you. Use your marriage to bless other people.
I love loving Allison. I love learning to love her more. I love working together with her. It makes me think, live and love with a renewed passion everyday that I just can’t get anywhere else in the universe.
Photo: Nathan Westerfield
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Allison and Kaleb will be renewing their vows as they tie the NOT tomorrow at the 2nd Nashville NotWedding at The Cannery Ballroom.
