thinking about saying, “I do”?

When Nick and I were thinking about getting married in college, it was a pretty tough decision to make.  We weren’t sure how it would work, what exactly would happen, how our family and friends would react, and there were just so many unknowns.  The whole time, I think we were just wishing for some more guidance, so we’re here to give it to YOU – if this is something you’re thinking about doing! 

how did you know you wanted to get married so young?

M: I knew I wanted to get married to Nick eventually, but I never actually planned on getting married at 19… it kind of just happened, honestly.  There came a point about halfway through last school year when I realized I didn’t want to only see Nick once a week.  All I wanted was to live with him as soon as possible; I definitely could NOT wait another 3.5 years until I graduated!  So I figured, why not get married now?  We knew it was something we wanted to do, and there was really nothing stopping us. (:

N: When I kept thinking about whether or not I’d get to see you every day… it wasn’t just one moment where I knew.  I knew I wanted to get married all along; that was the goal of our relationship.  With all that together, it was just like, “Why wait?” because, for me, there were 0 cons and only pros.

what pushed you to actually go through with getting married in college?

M: Similar to my answer above, I no longer wanted to have a long-distance relationship.  I was ready to move in with Nick and not wait until we were older or finished with school just because that’s the “normal” thing to do.

Also, I’m super impatient, so that’s probably what really pushed us. (;

N: Well, one thing was you.  But also it was exciting and the “Why wait?” since we’ve been together for so long already.

how did you tell your family and friends?

We sent our parents a Zoom call link a couple weeks before Nick proposed to let them know that this was something we wanted to do.  We weren’t really looking for permission; we were just letting them know about our plans because they probably would have FREAKED if they found out by seeing pictures of our engagement!  

Since we had only called to tell our parents, they (and our siblings) were the only ones that knew for a bit, but they spread the word to the rest of the fam pretty soon (not the best secret keepers). (; 

Once we actually got engaged on February 28th, we told some of Nick’s team that we were around that night.  And, of course, we called our best friends at home – Alex and Jeremiah – who we had been DYING to tell!!  And after calling them, we posted about it on Instagram to let the rest of the world know. (:

The day we got engaged was so special, and I remember feeling soooo excited and happy and neither of us could stop smiling for a second. (:

do you regret getting married so young?

NO!!!  We definitely do not regret it at all.  It’s been so much fun living together and going to the same school again and getting to spend way more time with each other.  Obviously, marriage is a big commitment and not something to take lightly, but it really doesn’t feel much different than before we were married.  The only difference is that we live together, but we had technically done that while we were dating, so it wasn’t a huge transition.  

benefits of being married in college?

To put it blatantly… money. (; If you’re not generating a huge income, you can get a lot of help from the government – as long as you’re in college full-time.  

Other than that, there are none.

Just kidding. (; Obviously, you get to live with your bestie!!  What’s better than that??  And seeing a ring on your finger (Nick’s words).

do you live together?

We do live together!  A big reason we wanted to get married was so we could live together – we were super tired of long-distance – so this was pretty much a non-negotiable for us!  Although, the possibility of not living together was brought up since our original plans of living halfway between both our colleges completely fell through.  But we really didn’t see the point in getting married and then not living together, so I’m glad it all worked out the way it did!

any tips for someone thinking about getting married in college?

Don’t worry about what other people will think of you for getting married young!  If you’re happy, who cares?!  I know I was a little worried about that, and it still feels weird to tell people that we’re married, but everyone we told was so happy for us.  

Nick recommends trying to make time to spend together and make sure you get some alone time.  (I second that.)