Around this time four years ago, I received an early Saturday AM call from a boy I’d had a crush on for years. After turning him down several times for a date, I finally gave in and agreed to meet him for brunch. That brunch date turned into 48 hours of being inseparable and that’s how it’s been ever since.
Funny though, we don’t actually have an “anniversary” date per say. There was never a defined line of when we actually became a couple. (Probably because our history goes back so much further than that.)
Typically, we just pick a day in October to celebrate our “anniversary” (even though we actually went on that first date in September–I don’t know, it made sense to us at the time) and last week when I tagged along to Grand Rapids for his work trip, Neal surprised me with an upgraded hotel room, a nice bottle of wine, and the cutest note. We had so much fun that night and went out to dinner, and laughed about how we were really excited to have a “real” anniversary date to celebrate from here on out. I couldn’t help but get a little emotional that this was our last “first” anniversary.
In honor of this fact, I thought I’d share some of our favorite oldie but goodie photos. (The above is my favorite, taken a few months later at our St Patrick’s Day party. Check out that lavender wall from my old apartment. YIKES!)
Of course, I couldn’t not include this one snapped just moments after we got engaged. My squinty eyes and all ;-P 
Unfortunately, on our last “first” anniversary, we were on a cruise to the Bahamas and I got so sea sick! It was terrible! So ours ended up being a pretty big bummer. I think we’ll still do a nice dinner or something this year on our dating anniversary even though we’re married now.
Too sweet! We still go out to eat for our first date anniversary, three married years later. 😀
Awwwww Jess and Neal, I love you guys! Before Mitch and I got married, I felt like anniversaries were super confusing. There was the anniversary of our first date, our first kiss, our engagement… Too many! I think you’ll love having just one anniversary. It makes things a little easier. 😉 Though I’ll admit that we often celebrate more than just our wedding anniversary because come on: any excuse to go out, amiright?!
LOVE YOU!
Kelly | Kelly in the City
I love this so much! Neal seems like the best guy ever.
This is just the sweetest thing ever! You two look so much in love in every one of these photos!! So exciting to watch your future grow together!! xx
You two are so darn cute and look so happy together!! My bf and I treat our anniversary similar … we started dating sometime in August and usually just pick a date to call our anniversary! The problem is we can’t always agree so sometimes he will say we have been dating for 3 years and I’ll say 4… but whatever, he’s all mine! 🙂
xo, Sarah
It’s a little comforting to know that other people also have confusion over when their anniversary is. Brian and I are still pretty new – our first date was in June, but we became “official” in August. We just had a conversation the other day about when our anniversary would be and we couldn’t decide – because neither of us knew what the “right” one was! It seem so silly, but I really wanted to know what date I was allowed to celebrate on! Haha!
Oh my goodness you two are so cute! Yesterday was the anniversary of our proposal and I was feeling so sappy and loved up all day long. I say, celebrate all the anniversaries possible!
How did you guys meet???
You two are the cutest! My husband and I don’t celebrate our dating anniversary much anymore, but when Nov 20 rolls around I do acknowledge it and tell him “hey! we’ve been dating X years.”
Our very first date was on January 1st, so we’re usually already dressed up and going out and then eat black-eyed peas and collard greens and talk about the year ahead on our “dating anniversary.” But I say the more celebrations the better, so we still celebrate that one and the day we got engaged in addition to the obvious big one. 🙂
xoxo,
Catherine
http://www.classiccatherine.com