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I'm Shay! I’m a cookbook author, lifestyle blogger, travel agency owner, wife and mama who loves making every day special for my family.

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Mix & Match Mama

Andrew, Shay ·

Nineteen.


Hey, hey Monday!

You ladies know how much I love time away with my family, but also how much I MISS YOU ALL when I’m not in blog world!  I am SO excited to be back today.

Tired.

Still kind of sandy.

My lips are sunburned.

There’s a ton of laundry to do.

Oh yeah, and the kids don’t go back to school until tomorrow, so they’re all here too.

BUT I’M SO HAPPY TO BE BACK WITH YOU!

Today is a special one…

…NINETEEN years ago today, these two 22 year old babies said “I do”.

I’ve shown this photo a million times before, but I am showing it again.  Here we all are on our first date.  Yes.  All of us.  Don’t you bring your parents, his parents, both sets of your grandparents and your little brother with you on your first date? 😉

When my grandmother handed her camera off to some unsuspecting patron at the Applebee’s in Manhattan, Kansas that night, little did any of us know, it was the first photo of a new family.

What would I tell that girl today if I could chat with her?  That super big guy right there is going to be the very best thing to ever happen to her.

Marriage is not easy and certainly not always fun.  There is no one I love more than this man right here and certainly no one on this planet who can make me more mad.  Thanks to a ton of prayer, personal reflection, two decades of much needed maturity, examples of strong marriages around us, a lot of laughing, very little taking ourselves too seriously and the grace of Jesus Christ himself, I would say we are happier today than 19 years ago.

Call it cheesy, but I’m going to call it our new motto.  Andrew and I love the movie Ticket to Paradise (it’s super cute!), and Julia Roberts has a great line where she says “why save the good stuff for later?”.  We’ve decided to try and enjoy as much “good stuff” as we possibly can in our every day life as tomorrow is not guaranteed.

Cheers to 19 years, Andrew Shull.  I love you so freaking much and cannot wait to see how the next 19 unfold.  I’m so glad you’re my person. xx

Now, here are 19 RANDOM FUN FACTS about our wedding on March 13, 2004 for those of you interested in little details like that:

1: We got married in my parents’ church and had the reception immediately after in a hotel ballroom nearby.  It was BEAUTIFUL!

2: Our wedding colors were black and white (for a March wedding, I thought it worked well).

3: We each had six attendants.  My cousin Brooke was my maid of honor and Andrew’s brother was his best man.

4: Brooke was in high school at the time and the afternoon before my wedding, she got a MAJOR black eye while in the outfield during a softball game.  Why was she not paying attention you ask?  She will tell you it’s because she was too preoccupied by how good she would look in her dress at the wedding.  Hahahaha!  My sweet aunt and grandmother did MAJOR work on her makeup to hide that bruise. Bless it.

5: Our first song was The Way You Look Tonight…still our song.

6: Why did we get married on this date?  It worked best for Andrew’s NFL training/Combine/stuff leading up to the Draft in April.

7: Andrew and I both graduated college on the very same day (him from Kansas State University and me from The University of North Texas) exactly three months before, December 13, 2003.

8: We went to Maui on our honeymoon…but not the next day.  The next day, we drove eight hours to Manhattan, Kansas so that Andrew could do his official timing for the NFL (which had to be done at your university).  He went, he ran, I waited in the lobby, my little brother walked by (hey, didn’t I just see you yesterday at my wedding?), we stayed one night, we drove back another 8 hours and then left.

9: Sean was a groomsman.

10: We had a DJ at the reception…we loved him!

11: My dad is an ordained minister who has married a gazillion people (my brother included!), but said under no circumstances could he marry us and not sob hysterically the entire time.  He walked me down the aisle and let his close buddy and pastor have the honors.  He cried like a baby still. 😉

12: Instead of rice, our wedding guests held sparklers as we left the reception.

13: Why don’t we have a million amazing pictures?  Well, for starters, it was 2004 when you had to actually use a real camera and not just a phone…and out of all of our wedding vendors, our photographer was hands down THE WORST.  We got back terrible photos.  Boo.

14: We do have an amazing wedding video though!  When we  get sentimental, we watch the DVD.

15: I was a nanny for a little boy and a little girl from their birth until I got married.  They were our flower girl and ring bearer.

16: We danced a TON at our reception.  Our peeps like to dance!!

17: We had a vanilla cake with vanilla frosting and then a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.  They were both EXCELLENT!  I remember making a point to try all the food.

18: When we left the reception, the limo driver drove us around for one hour, we went through the McDonald’s drive thru and got Happy Meals, and then he took us back after everyone cleared out for the night.

19: It POURED rain from morning until night on the day we got married, which we were told by everyone there, meant good luck 🙂 .

If you have any other wedding questions you’d like me to answer, just ask in the comment section 🙂 .

See you tomorrow!

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Comments

    • Grace Galler says

      Thank you for sharing! Great story, hoping your anniversary was everything you could ever want! May God bless you with many more ❤️🙏

  2. Erika Slaughter says

    Happy Happy Anniversary you two!! I honestly don’t know how any marriage can ever survive without Jesus. We love you guys! Hope you celebrate big today!

  5. Amy Heinl says

    Happy Anniversary…may you be surrounded by love and happiness always. Enjoy your special day

  10. Laura says

    Happy Anniversary! Our wedding photos were terrible also. Out of hundreds of photos, maybe 20 were good. Video is on VHS, so we have no way to watch it.

  12. SS says

    Awe Happy Anniversary!!! Isn’t it fun to look back? We had a good photographer for the proper pix. We had those little cameras (think Friends) at our reception. Unfortunately a lot of waist down pix because kids got a hold of them. Our friend did the video and went to everyone and asked for advice from them for us. So sweet to see now because so many people have now passed. I watched it recently with tears rolling down my cheeks to see all my sweet loved ones who loved on us and wishes these 2 crazy kids luck!!!
    LOVE Ticket to Paradise!!! Such a cute movie!!!

  13. Donna Mason says

    Happy Anniversary to both of you! I love the love you two share for each other. Here’s to a million more incredible years together~

  14. Margaret says

    Happy anniversary! It’s our 30th anniversary. We got up to snow that day but it was all gone by noon.

  15. Em says

    Do you remember or did you do the something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue? I know some people don’t really care and others get so creative!

    • Mix and Match Mama says

      Yes! That’s a fun question! I wore my grandmother and mom’s garter (it was old and blue!). Right this minute, I haven’t thought about that in years and am a little panicked I don’t know where it is. Eeeeeeks!

  17. Arika says

    You guys seem like a great match. Congrats! We just celebrated 20 years a couple of weeks ago. Life sure goes fast!

  18. Marci Wessel says

    I loved getting to read all the beautiful details from your wedding! Happy Anniversary guys!! Y’all are the cutest!

  19. K.K. says

    I love this post!! It’s taken a long time, but I (prayerfully and thoughtfully) believe that I’ve found “my person” after a long patient/impatient/prayerful/ruminating/allthethings many years. 🙂 Any wisdom gleaned is like gold when it comes to this subject! Love you and Andrew and thanks for sharing this glimpse into your wonderful day. I’m sad you don’t have pictures you love, but glad the day seems magical!

  20. Amy says

    Happy Anniversary! Enjoy your day! I love your new motto and even though we don’t have a motto, we try to live by this one too. Make memories today so down the road when you may be unable to make more, at least you will have these to look back on and know you did it right!

  21. Kelly Franks says

    I feel you on the wedding photos. Ours were okay. But like you we have the ABSOLUTE BEST wedding video and I’m so thankful for that. Cheers to 19 years!!!!

  22. Elizabeth says

    Happy Anniversary. I think you are inspirational for so many! Did Andrew make it to the NFL? I don’t remember seeing details about this before.

  23. Aileen Bennett says

    Today is our anniversary too! 13 years for us today! Happy anniversary to you and Andrew!

  25. Angela says

    Happy Anniversary Shay and Andrew!! Thank you for sharing your life with us here on the internet! We just love you guys and your beautiful family!!!❤️

    • Mix and Match Mama says

      I wore my mom and my grandmother’s garters from their weddings…it was old and blue!

  27. Laura says

    Those were some fun random facts! I can relate to the McD’s run – my hub and I went into Chickfila (which was where we had our first unofficial date) after we were married! Still in our gown and tux, waiting in line for some chicken sandwiches! Ha! Have a great anniversary!!

  28. Sarah Shaneyfelt says

    Happy Anniversary!!!! I love your 19 facts!! We will celebrate 9 years in July! Aside from your photographer, is there anything you would change or do differently?

    MeetTheShaneyfelts

    • Mix and Match Mama says

      I think, at this age, Andrew and I both would say we wished we had made it a smaller destination wedding, but for us then, at that time, I would change a thing!

  30. Bern says

    Congratulations!!!!
    I am getting married later this year… Any regrets you have that you will tell your younger self? We have a small wedding but curious if you would have done something differently. Spending less $$ on flowers, dress etc.

    • Mix and Match Mama says

      Ohhhh! Goodness, I probably have a million, but let me say this…my regret is being too stuck in my own ways. It’s a marriage. It’s a partnership. Make new traditions, do new things. Your way isn’t right nor is it wrong, it’s just your old way. You guys make a new way.

  31. Kristen says

    I didn’t know Andrew had a brother and I have been following forever. Does he live close by? Does Andrew have other siblings??

    • Mix and Match Mama says

      He lives in Missouri and is his only sibling. We see them quite often, but they’re not on social media, so we keep it private.

  32. sandi says

    Happy Anniversary! So fun having a picture that captured your first date… and all the family members along for the ride. Unbeknownst to us, our wedding party had silly string which did make for some interesting pictures and clean up for them when we left. Someone didn’t think that through. Cheers to many more years!

  33. Dana S. says

    Happy Anniversary! Welcome back home. Keeping Jesus first is the key to a strong marriage. Congrats!

  34. Joanne says

    Happy anniversary! We had some pouring rain on our wedding day too and was told it was good luck. We had everyone blowing bubbles instead of throwing rice and I love how they look in so many of our photos.

  36. Ashley says

    Happy Anniversary!!! What food was served at your wedding? Was it a sit down dinner, buffet, or something else? Any funny/crazy stories from wedding planning?

    • Mix and Match Mama says

      It was buffet! We had chicken, prime rib, potatoes…things like that. I remember it being delish!

  37. Seri says

    Blog post idea! Could you make a post for all of us upcoming brides that lists specific items you would add to your registry if you were getting married today?

  40. Vesti Wyatt says

    I love this. Happy anniversary! My husband and I also got married in 2004 (July), and our photographer was also TERRIBLE! We have the worst pictures!

  41. Michele says

    Happy Anniversary! How long did you date Andrew before you got married? Also, do you still have your wedding dress, that maybe your daughters would someday want to wear for their wedding?

    • Mix and Match Mama says

      We began dating in September, got engaged in May and then got married in March. I do have my dress! The cleaners took great care of it and placed it in a box so my girls can have it/see it one day.

  42. Cindy says

    Do you have plans on renewing your wedding vowels with your next Anniversary of 20 years??

    • Mix and Match Mama says

      So many of us have moved away. I’m close to my cousin, to one other girl and then FB/IG friends still with the other four ladies.

  44. Michele says

    Happy 13th Anniversary to you and Andrew. Time goes by so fast but we never forget special moments. Sorry to read your wedding pictures were not good. My husband and I will be married 40 years in August. Yikes…that makes me sound really old.

  45. lizzie says

    happy anniversary! literally told my husband the same thing after watching that movie, that’s my new life motto!

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