Advice for a Happy Marriage

A few years ago when I was doing some research for a project at work, I came across a website called moocards.com.  I spent probably an hour looking through their "inspiration gallery" to see what uses people had for these tiny things they sell called minicards. In the gallery, I came across some pictures of how people had used minicards for their weddings, and one idea in particular caught my eye. One couple had different pictures of themselves printed on one side of the minicard (you can have up to 100 different images on the cards, at no extra charge!) and on the other side a line that said "Share your advice with the bride and groom!" The mini advice cards wanted guests to complete the sentence "No matter what, always...." and then just for fun, asked guests to "Name our first child!" I thought these were so cute and thought about how much fun it must have been for the bride and groom to read those after the wedding.  Before Chuck and I got engaged, I did not know one single thing about what I wanted our future wedding to look like (besides purple bridesmaids dresses of course, but that was a given) but I knew I wanted us to have these minicards.

A couple months before the wedding, I placed the order for the cards. It only took me a few minutes to upload the different photos I wanted, write the text on the back, have Chuck do a quick probability problem on how many cards I should order based on how many cards we thought each guest would fill out:

Applying what he was learning in class to our real life situation. Thanks, MIT!

and then place the order. So easy! And they turned out SO cute. I used 12-15 different pictures on the front but the same text on the back of all of them.

Here is what they looked like.

 This picture makes them look bigger than they are. They are really only half the size of a business card.

Our plan was to wait to read the advice cards until we were on our honeymoon. But, we got bored on our flight back to Boston and I had them in my purse so, we read them on the plane. The responses were all great, and it was fun to try to figure out who wrote certain responses, because nowhere on the card does it ask for the guest's name. Although on some of them, it was kind of easy to tell who wrote it:

We got some very good advice, funny advice, sweet advice, and advice from couples who obviously have been through certain situations and wanted to keep us from making the same mistakes they have made. Like this:
Obviously picture hanging is not one couple's favorite thing to do together, as I'm pretty sure a husband and wife had to have written these. So funny.

Some of my favorite cards were these:

 All good advice. :)

I like this advice. I don't think Chuck and I would ever forget one anothers birthday, but I feel like a lot of people fail to make each other's birthdays special as you get older. Most people go all out for the big milestones, like 30, 40, etc. which is fun and makes sense, but why not go all out for the random ones too like 33 and 47? Or maybe not ALL out, but at least still make them special too. Every year of life should be celebrated, not just the milestone years.

I just like this one because someone suggested Rachel Jr. as our first child's name.

A lot of other cards told us to always kiss goodnight, never go to bed angry, support each other, and laugh together.  Most people want us to name our first child Charles Cummings IV, "Charlie" for short. Chuck was very happy about that.

I have to say though, of all the filled out cards we received, these 3 were my favorites.

Always love each other- it's not easy but it is always worth it.

Do your own laundry. (Can I get an Amen?)

And simply, just LOVE HARD.  I think that's not only important advice for marriage, but for every relationship you have with family and with friends. No matter what, always love hard.  I like it.