Are you ready?
Students relate their wedding experiences;
from finding ‘the one’ to planning the ceremony
By KIRSTEN TATE
UNIVERSITY JOURNAL
Relationship TV shows like The Bachelor, Joe Millionaire
and Blind Date draw millions of viewers as Americans root
for those searching for love.
Marriage is a part of life for more than one-third of
SUU students. According to records at the SUU Registrar’s
Office, 2,129 students are married.
“That is an absurdly low number because when the
men get married, they don’t have to change their
name, so they aren’t usually recorded,” said
Kathy Barrick, Registrar’s Office secretary.
With so many people to choose, finding “the one”
can be a daunting task. For those who have found that
right relationship, however, everything just falls into
place.
Allison Draney, a senior communication major from Sandy,
became engaged on Dec. 14, 2002, and said she just knew
he was the one for her by the feelings she had when she
was with and without her fiance.
“Everyday I knew more and more and I didn’t
want to see anyone else,” she said.
Draney and her fiance, Brock Swensen, have known each
other for three years, two of which he spent serving a
mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
She said he wasn’t “her missionary,”
and when she saw him off at the airport, she thought,
“I’m done; now I just have to keep in touch.”
She said she didn’t know what would happen until
he came home, but that it ended up just being right.
“The feelings just grow and grow and you just grow
closer, and he never annoyed me and I didn’t get
sick of him,” she said. “It wasn’t wonderland;
he was just with it.”
Kelly Esplin, a junior elementary education major from
Garland, got married on Dec. 13, 2002. She said she knew
her husband, Nick, was the one for her almost the first
time she saw him.
She said they met through a mutual friend and when he
walked into the room, she said she thought, “I could
marry him.”
“That thought freaked me out because I had just
met him, so I didn’t know why I was thinking that,”
she said.
But she said she could just tell that he was right for
her. She had made a list of qualities she wanted in a
husband, and she said he was better than the list.
“We just match,” she said.
Once the right person is found and engagement is official,
planning for the big day begins.
Draney said planning for the future has been her favorite
aspect of the engagement so far.“Planning where
to live or little trips we can make when we’re married
is so fun,” she said. “Thinking of starting
out with each other, and knowing (I) have someone and
I can stop searching is great.”
Esplin said she had a similar experience with her engagement.
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Shanna Hales, a senior sociology major from Duchesne,
and Adam Hales, a senior engineering major from Redmond,
cut the wedding cake during their reception. The Hales
celebrated theirst first anniversary this month.
ANNE McCONNELL/ UNIVERSITY JOURNAL
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“My favorite part was the excitement of planning,”
she said. “The future was opened a little and I knew
where I was going; I could see better.”
While planning the future may be fun, planning a wedding
can be a little harder when separated by great distance.
Draney and her fiance, have been separated since the biginning
of Spring semester he moved to south Jordan.
Both couples had long distance engagements and said they
were difficult.
Draney said she and her fiance have been separated since
the beginning of Spring semester because he moved home to
South Jordan to work.
She said the hardest part of the engagement is being apart,
but they take turns traveling on weekends to visit each
other. She said the last time he left she bawled and didn’t
want him to go.
After being married for two months, Esplin said that, even
now, she still can’t believe she’s married.
“Sometimes I think, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m married,’”
she said. “It’s still hard to believe.” |
