Interview with Sophomore Jessica Hartwig
1. When did you get engaged?
February 27th of this year
2. What was the proposal like?
The proposal was simple, just at his house. We've been together for over 4 years and we shopped for the ring together so it was expected and he just wanted to give me the ring right away because he knew how much I wanted it.
3. When is your wedding date?
We have not set a date yet, but most likely next summer in June or July.
4. Tell us about your wedding planning plans so far.
We have found one place we are considering, the Ainsworth House in Oregon City. We still need to visit the place to see if it is what we want. We have out guest list made and we've talked about potential themes/colors that we want in our wedding. We're thinking a happily ever after fairytale type of theme. We have chosen some of our wedding party also but we don't have a lot of the plans finalized yet.
5. What are you most excited about getting married?
For the wedding, I am most excited to pick out my dress, but for getting married I am most excited to be able to spend the rest of my life with the man I love who has been in my life for a long time and is always here for me. It's hard not being married sometimes because we don't get to see each other much since I'm so busy with school and I am just excited to know I can come home to see him after my busy days when we are married. (we aren't living together before we're married so the living together is the big thing for us.
6. What are you anxious about (if anything)?
I'm a little bit anxious about how much things for the wedding might cost.
7. How have your family and close friends responded to your engagement? How are you planning on handling finances (about wedding and future home/life)?
Our friends and family all knew that we would be getting engaged soon so it wasn't a surprise to them at all and they are all very happy for us and supportive. There are some people who have said we are too young and others want us to wait till I finish school, but besides that people are supportive. My parents are very supportive and so are his. I am not really sure how we will handle finances. Finances are the reason we have not set a date yet. We're waiting to have a consistant income to own a place to live and live on our own. Currently we are not able to do that so we can't make any finalized plans until we can.
Interview with Seniors Jon Kenyon & Carla Norris
1. Name(s):
Carla Norris & Jonathan Kenyon (although now my passport, social security card, and driver's license say Carla Catherine Kenyon)
2. Age(s): 22
3. When did you get engaged?
We got engaged sometime at the end of last summer (July or August perhaps?).
4. What was the proposal like?
Kind of an amusing story...and totally typical of our relationship: Jon was out with friends one Friday night and ended up sleeping on their couch. On Saturday morning, Jon was still nursing his hangover at his friend's house, and I decided to clean up my place a bit, so I was going around my room, picking up my books and whatnot and giving the shelves a quick wipe-down. As I was cleaning the bottom shelf, I picked up my Chicago snow-globe and a small box that I hadn't seen before, and thought, "Hm, what's this?" and opened it. And there was the ring. I gasped, closed the box, and threw it back on the shelf like a hot potato. I spent the rest of the afternoon feeling terrible that I had found it, and even worse that I had been absent-minded enough to open it (on top of this, the ring was/is much larger than I had imagined, and I wasn't sure how I felt about having such a huge rock on my hand). Jon came home later that day and I sheepishly told him that I was cleaning earlier and had 'found something.' He immediately knew what I was talking about and, laughing, said, "Well I guess I'll just get this over with now!" He went to retrieve the ring, got down on one knee in my living room, and asked me to marry him. I teared up a little bit, half because I felt crummy for finding the ring and half because I was so happy. (Obviously, I said yes.)
5. When is/was your wedding date?
We had our civil ceremony at the downtown Portland court house on January 13th, 2011 and our religious/family ceremony & reception are scheduled for July 23rd, 2011.
6. Tell us about your wedding planning plans so far.
So far, everything's just about lined up. I'm still on the fence about which DJ to hire, but we're having the ceremony and reception at UP, so a lot of the other details were 'given'... we still need to register together in the North Portland Parish, get new copies of our baptismal certificates, get event insurance, sign a catering contract, and send out invitations. It's easy to procrastinate when you have a wedding to plan! (or rather, it's easy to plan a wedding when you have homework to procrastinate on!)
7. What are/were you most excited about getting married?
Well, as I'm sure most people can attest to, dating kind of sucks, so it's great to finally have someone who loves me at my best and my worst, and will be there if I ever need a shoulder to lean on. As far as the wedding goes I'm kind of stoked to get all dressed up since I'm getting my wedding dress custom made by a local gal. And I'm excited to give my family and friends a 'taste of the northwest' (they don't visit much haha) and show everyone a good time.
8. What are/were you anxious about (if anything)?
I think the wedding will be really enjoyable, even if we have some hiccups/mishaps, so I'm not anxious about the big day. But I'm actually most anxious about our habits and lifestyles combining - if you get along with someone well, being/living with them forever isn't so bad in that sense. But if, for instance, you fold your socks differently (we do) and have different bedtime/wakeup routines (we do), it can be rough to mesh those together. Otherwise I don't think anything else will induce too much anxiety :)
9. How have /did your family and close friends responded to your engagement/ marriage?
While our family and friends have all been incredibly supportive (they trust us to make good life decisions), there has been some dissent about how young we're getting married. I understand their concern, but it doesn't bother me too much.
10. How are you planning on handling finances (about wedding and future home/life)?
My parents are paying for the wedding, and Jon's parents are covering the rehearsal dinner and some of the honeymoon costs. As far as the future goes, he's in Army ROTC now so we're guaranteed a pretty steady paycheck, and once I graduate I'm hoping to get an engineering job that will help with our 'extra' expenses (and paying off my college debt!).
11. What motivates you to get engaged/married now rather than later?
There are a number of reasons. Firstly, it makes life generally easier: if we're legally married, we're able to use Jon's scholarship to get housing together during his last year at UP. Also, the Army does provide some accommodation for married couples as far as pay allowances and frequency of duty station changes. Sure we could get married two, five, or even ten years from now, but who knows what station we'll be at, what our finances will look like, etc. One personal reason is that my father was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's Disease last year and, while he's only 60 right now and doing well with medication, his mortality has become a very bleak reality in the past few years. While I know he's not going to keel over tomorrow (the man runs and bikes half of almost every day and has finished the Boston Marathon twice), I didn't want him to be mentally or physically absent from our wedding. I'm his youngest daughter and I know how happy he is about Jon and our marriage, so I wanted to make sure he could be there for it in mind and body.
12. Has the engagement/marriage conflicted with school or work?
For the most part, not at all. Although we do have the same major and take some of the same classes so we only buy one book to save money and have difficulty with open-book tests haha but we've got it figured out.
13. What do you love about your significant other?
My favorite thing about Jon is that he is, for lack of a less corny word, 'my rock': I never have to feel jealous or worried about him, I can depend on him to be there for me, and whenever I do get overwhelmed or anxious about something, he knows what to say to calm me down and get me back on track. Sometimes I think the most common phrase he says to me is "everything will be fine." I can be pretty stubborn sometimes, and it's good to have him be respectful of my opinion but not always give into everything I say - he knows how to stick up for himself. Also he's pretty cute :)
14. What do you like to do together?
While the weather hasn't been to forgiving this year, we do like to do things together like hiking and camping, but as far as indoor activities we can often be found reading together (although he's into Sci-Fi and I'm more into historical and non-fiction) or playing video games.
15. Anything else to add?
He cooks, I clean, and we like it that way. Also we're going to Greece for two weeks for our honeymoon (be jealous).
Interview with Seniors Shar & Tim Smith
1. Name(s):
Sharlene Smith and Timothy Smith
2. Age(s):
22 (both)
3. When did you get engaged and/or married?
engaged - February 2010, married - August 2010
4. What was the proposal like?
Went to dinner and then proposed on the waterfront
5. When is/was your wedding date?
August 15, 2010
6. What are/were you most excited about getting married?
Living together.
7. What are/were you anxious about (if anything?)
Parent approval.
8. How have /did your family and close friends responded to your engagement/ marriage?
Happiness and apprehension.
9. How are you planning on handling finances (about wedding and future home/life)?
Parents paid for wedding, army pays for home.
10. What motivates you to get engaged/married now rather than later?
Army will separate us if we do not get married.
11. Has the engagement/marriage conflicted with school or work?
No.
12. What do you love about your significant other?
Caring, considerate, common lifestyles and values.
13. What do you like to do together?
Paint, walks, movies, reading.