One Year Wedding Anniversary

YOU GUYS … I have been a married woman for ONE WHOLE YEAR today …. and literally no one knows about it – until right now

Today is SUCH a whirlwind of emotions for many reason. Unfortunately, you will not see a picture below of me in my BEAUTIFUL white gown, or my AMAZIIIING decorated venue. You won’t even see all my friends and family gathered together celebrating. But what you WILL see (and read) are a few engagement pictures we took in June of 2019, a picture of Kevin and I from three days ago, AND a whole years worth of pure joy & happiness <3

Here’s a little behind the scenes

THIS TIME LAST YEAR – My fiancé Kevin (now hubby) decided it was time to take his hockey career overseas. So our long distance, but somewhat easy flight arrangements, were now going to be a lot more complicated. SO, like many other spouses, I made that gut wrenching decision to pack up and go with him. Yup, dropped everything, and MOVED to Europe. I’ll dive into THAT another day 😉

We didn’t want to make the big move across the pond, for that amount of time, without having that ‘safety net’ of being husband & wife.

SO!!! WE SIGNED THAT PEARLY WHITE PIECE OF PAPER!

~ On a rainy Monday afternoon ~

Followed by a dinner at Olive Garden – mhmmm my newly Canadian husband chose OLIVE GARDEN as our “wedding dinner” … can’t say I’m mad about it, but like? They don’t have Jeff Rubys in Canada either soo… but OG it was!

ONE YEAR LATER – A LOT has changed for The Dufour’s during this past year. Though one thing is for certain –> when we’re together, everything is easier. I’m not sure if that’s the 5 years of previous long distance talking or not, but the presence of that comfort, is life changing.

COVID-19 and the US/CANADA Borders being closed are the main culprits of the post posing of the wedding ‘celebration’. We would NEVER have our special day (well… the party part haha) without our friends and family being able to join. ESPECIALLY the groom himself – and his parents! So unlike other covid-brides, our decision to postpone was as easy as me saying ‘YES’ back in December 2018! ;P

It’s been fun keeping our little secret and all, but I thought It’d be a little more fun to let you all in on it by now!

DISCLAIMER: Don’t for a second think I’m not still having my dream wedding – see you all on the same day – just in 2021!

Here are some fun things we experienced in year one!

THINGS WE LEARNED TOGETHER

IN YEAR ONE

DISCLAIMER pt.2- I’m the LEAST sappy person I know so if you start to cringe reading this … think about me typing it. Hang in there!

It’s fun and somewhat easier to call each other husband & wife

The entire time we were in Europe, we called each other husband and wife to the people we were meeting. Because, well, that’s what we were! There’s just something about saying Fiancé that is SO annoying. Even before we were married and in that fiancé stage, I would constantly find myself saying boyfriend to avoid the word fiancé … oops.

now hear me out …

It just doesn’t FLOW in conversation. It’s like you waited soooo long to be a ‘fiancé’ and not have to say boyfriend anymore – but then when the time comes, you hate saying “oh yeah my fiancé this, my fiancé that..”. I thought for a while it was just me. But I’ve since met other girls that will agree, so don’t come for me!!

Alone time is NEEDED

And it’s OKAY!

This one is SOO funny to me. For the soul reason that I never would have thought, that after 5 years of long distance, I wouldn’t want to spend the day with him!! HAHA. I guess because we are so used to long distance, and being alone, that it was something that we needed to implement in our lives ‘together’.

We know that It’s very important for us to be happy with ourselves first – in order to better our relationship as a whole!

Given our current lifestyle – we are constantly with each other. Like every hour of every day besides the 4-5 that he’s at “work”. SO – alone time is good, alone time is healthy, and alone time is OKAY!

Often, the things you dislike or despise later in your relationship have more to do with you than your partner

Liz Higgins

Communication is KEY

Many of you are probably wondering how this is something we learned considering I’m talking 24/7

Circling back to the top where I say I am the LEAST sappy person I know … having those emotional conversations are my kind of “hard conversations”. With our huge life changes this past year, we learned that we can be in two separate stages in our lives (one good, one bad), but get through it as one – when we communicate. My advice is sooner rather than later! 😉

NEW PLACES WE TRAVELED TOGETHER

IN YEAR ONE

Scotland, United Kingdom

During year one we found out we were moving to Scotland! I had NO idea what to expect AT ALL. Neither of us had ever been over to Europe before. And now we were just going to live there for a full 8 months? Like what!!??

We learned a LOTTTT of things while being over there, and can also be talked about another day! But my number one take away was that I am the WORST when it comes to food. I hate everything (extremely picky eater). I lived off of ‘chips’ (aka fries) because I couldn’t even find one thing on a menu that I liked!!

Before you come for me again, I DID try many things, because I was seriously getting sick of fries. But, no luck. Other than a margarita pizza of course.

I will say, I am NOT a beer/cider drinker at all, whatsoever. And yet I could drink Strongbow Dark Fruit Ciders until my tongue went raw! Wishful thinking that the US will one day carry them!

We covered a good amount of Scotland during this time and LOVED venturing out of our little town of Dundee. Our faves were Edinburgh, Glasgow, Fife (only for the Tim Hortons), all the castles close by, and the super cool cliffs. I really wanted to make it to the Isle of Skye before we left but … covid. So, maybe another time!

England, United Kingdom

There weren’t many days off this season to explore like we had hoped, so we stuck to visiting the UK. I know, so terrible, so sad, just horrible. Right? Poor us. *jokes*

LONDON!!! London was our favorite city to see! I will ALSO talk about this another day because I loved it so much. We were SO lucky to have RUN IN to our college friends the same day we were there visiting. Insane!

Unfortunately, Big Ben was under complete construction. And when I say complete – I mean they had what looked like a giant painted picture of the clock haha! I actually was looking at the map saying “it should be right here” and looking up to scaffolds – HA!

We were able to visit said college friends above in their little ‘hockey town’ of Coventry! Then on with them to explore Birmingham!

THINGS WE ACCOMPLISHED TOGETHER

IN YEAR ONE

Green Card application

These may all be very small accomplishments, but hey, gotta start somewhere! This one is my fave! Kev has officially applied for his United States Green Card (!!!) Though we are already married, this will allow him to eventually work in the states. Then after three years, become a citizen!! (dual of course) woohoo!

We both plan on having our dual citizenship in the near future but we figured one step at a time! And since I am still not at all fluent in French, the states will be our “home base” – when the time comes!!

Driving in the UK

I am absolutely checking this off as an accomplishment. If you have ever been to the UK you know exactly what I’m talking about! They drive on the left side of the road … but the driver sits on the right side of the car! Think about it.

And yeah yeah easy enough – now throw ROUNDABOUTS in the equation. I’m telling you, it’s a miracle we survived a few times… We also apologize to any Scots that may have come across our roundabout/UK drivings skills 😛

Seriously .. I may have seen 6 stop lights total during my time there. Not a single Ohioan would enjoy driving in thee UK. Just sayin’

Our first year as EXPAT’S – locally known as imports

We survived our first year as an Expat hockey fam. I would not have made it out alive if it weren’t for our experienced friends!

Living overseas is NO JOKE. At least for me anyway LOL! But we did it! And now we feel a little more experienced for our next adventure over (hopefully! fingers crossed for hockey season)

As happy & healthy as ever!!

We accomplished a full 365 days of marriage and feel more blessed and loved than ever! With the love and support of friends and family – life is something great!

Now, not everyone completely understands, or can wrap their heads around this lifestyle we live. I mean – I’m still trying as well soooo. But because of that it has made our love and respect for each other that much stronger and healthier. “it’s me and you babe”

*gag I know*

As a full year has come and gone, we are OVER THE MOON excited for our forever together!

THINGS WE ARE EXCITED FOR

IN YEAR TWO

Finding out our new home for the season & exploring all it has to offer

As we are still wishful and hopeful that hockey season will return, we PATIENTLY await for the decision on where we are off to next! The planner that I am is ready to attack the web for bucket list ideas/adventures to go on once we get there! Stay tuned!

Living together

Yes, we just spent the whole year living together – BUT for the FIRST time in almost SEVEN years, we will be ROOMMATE FREE!!!! Everyone jump up and dance with me. We’ve had some good roommates, some great roommates, and some awful roommates. We’ve even had some roommates that were in and out before I even awoke for the morning! (yes, that’s how fast hockey moves for some of you that are unaware!)

Not saying I don’t appreciate every single one of them. Mainly for teaching me that I married the perfect man. But I can’t help that I’m SOOO excited to be able to do all the things I couldn’t with (boy) roommates. YUP. I’m talking about walking around freely in my robe!

OUR ACTUAL WEDDING CELEBRATION!!

The wedding planner herself could NOT have gone without her own wedding. I PRAY that things are safe and open for this time next year, but if not … see you in 2022… seriously.

Lucky for me (I guess) everything is already planned and ready to go-ish! Everything except the canceled honeymoon of course – sooooooo be sure to comment below on your fave places for the best honeymoon!

So until next year, enjoy these beautiful (what should be our wedding pics) photos that Marc-Antoine shot for us last summer!

white blouse|tan romper option|blue dress|nude heels|kevs shoes

ALSO: If you are ever in the Quebec City area, or want/plan to one day; you’ll 1000% want to check out my previous blog AND contact Marc-Antoine Halle to capture all the fun you’re having!!

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Thank you all SOOO much for reading and sharing this special day with us! <3

AS ALWAYS: Email me with any questions, suggestions, or just to chat!! ~ Follow me on instagram for an added bonus for all things fun! ~

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