To celebrate their one year anniversary, Sarah and Kevin decided to go back to where it all began, the place where they said their “I do’s.” They had their country-style wedding at the Sky View Golf Club, so they grabbed a bottle of champagne, a cozy blanket and snuggled up together to reminisce about their first year of marriage.

What are some challenges you’ve faced your first year of marriage?
Figuring out what the correct way to load the dishwasher is! Just kidding. I think the biggest challenge is being present to the first year of marriage and living in the moment. As newlyweds, we have all these big things we’re excited to accomplish and do together but sometimes we have to stop, look around and enjoy where we are right now, because it won’t ever be like this again!

Have you and your husband started any new traditions?
One of my favorite traditions we’ve started is our Christmas table cloth. We’ve hosted Christmas both times since we’ve been married. We bought a plain white table cloth for our dining room table. Everyone who comes over between Christmas and New Years has to write what they’re thankful for on the table cloth. Sometimes people write really beautiful, sentimental things, and others write hilarious things like my sister who wrote “whiskey, family and also, whiskey.” Either way, everything written on there reflects the personalities of the most important people in our lives and makes us really grateful for the friends and family we have around us.

What’s the biggest adjustment you’ve had to make over the past year?
I think knowing for the first time that every choice you make isn’t just about you anymore – everything you do effects this other person, and since you want the best for them, you are always trying to make the best decisions possible. Also, we didn’t live together before we were married so having to share the blankets was not so easy at first.

Your favorite “married memory” ?
This probably sounds bizarre but the week after Christmas last year we both came down with the full blown, absolutely terrible, even your fingernails hurt, flu. Even though we were both so sick that neither of us could leave our respective ends of the couch… or do anything except watch Netflix and sleep, we were really happy. I remember thinking “I’d rather be this sick and hanging out with Kevin, than be out having fun with anyone else.” That’s when I knew that I had definitely married the right man. Even though we both felt absolutely miserable, I think that will always be one of my favorite weeks of our entire married life.

On a brighter note, for our anniversary this year we spent a weekend in Nashville, and that was an awesome trip to an amazing city, something we still can’t stop talking about!

Advice for couples who are about to get married?
The planning is fun, and it’s exciting, but make sure you’re still getting to know each other, don’t let your entire engagement become about the wedding, invest emotionally in preparing for life after the wedding day as well! 

Photos courtesy of Darlene Kearns Photography