52 weeks ago, I married ‘the love of my life’, ‘my better half, ‘the woman of my dreams’, my ‘soulmate’ or whatever trope you think best fits. Mary Louise Will Munsell is all of that to me and more.

Our wedding was hands-down the best day of my life. My mom gave me an invaluable piece of advice that day:

‘Take time to look around at all of the faces in the room. They are all here to celebrate you and Mary, and they are so happy to be here for you both.’

The love and warmth from our families and friends was palpable. We saw it and felt it with every person we looked at, spoke with, laughed with, danced with, and hugged.

It was the perfect way to kick off the first day of the rest of our lives.

On the second day, we opened an envelope that guided our first year of marriage.

It’s the most Pinteresty idea I’ve ever had. Using Post-it notes, we each wrote 26 activities that we could do together. We then folded them up and put them in a jar. Every Sunday during our first year of marriage, we’d pull a new activity that we would try to accomplish that week. They can be as simple as “Write a letter and mail it” to more involved like “Plan a weekend getaway”.

The activities can be generic like the examples above, but it’s more fun when it is unique to your own relationship.

Here’s a small sample of how Mary and I spent our first year as Mr. & Mrs. Munsell.

Story & Beer

A couple years ago, Mary and I drove by a building with the sign, Beers & Story. For a minute, I thought it was some sort of bar where instead of a band — they had people on stage to read stories. Turned out, it was a funeral home. Regardless, I loved the idea so much that I added it as one of our 52 activities for the year.

Make a homemade pizza

Thanks to my years of experience at Sweet Tomatoes, we’ve perfected this.

See a Sunrise or Sunset

Sunrise in Revere.

Wine and Cheese Experts

We gorged ourselves on Wine and Cheese while teaching one another about what we were consuming (like true experts, we had to learn it on the fly).

Charcoal Drawings

I’m a hack. Mary is an artist.

Make Homemade Mac & Cheese

Mac and Cheese is one of Mary’s favorite foods. Zack (our best man) lived with us for a week, so we put him to work.

Today we begin year-two of our marriage. We’ve got another set of Post-it notes, and we’re excited to see what this year brings for us together!

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Huge, huge, huge thanks to Sarah Will for making the wedding possible. Wedding photos by Zac Wolf Photography.