Married Monday: King and Queen of Love

2012 Valentine's Day Dance
Dress: Steel My Kisses Dress at Modcloth.com
Shoes: Lulu Townsend Gloria Pump at DSW.com
Hair: Twistout in a Fro-hawk

Remember the Valentine's Day Dance from last year that my church hosted?  This year, my church decided to host another one.  It's not exactly for Valentine's Day, but more for love in general for the married couples of the church.  The event was called "Love is in the Air" and it was required that all the guests to wear red.  After last year's idea of over dressing, I decided to dress basic.  It was cold and I didn't want to have another mishap.

I had a choice of three dresses in my closet.  Two of the dress, I had originally wore to previous Valentine's Dances, while the third was worn to church and work.  The dress I decided to wear was more conservative and actually covered my butt for the weather.  I hadn't wore this dress since 2010 and it was my size, so I didn't try it on before the event.  I wish I would have because I couldn't put the dress on.  After struggling for a couple of minutes, I called Brian to assist me and it took another 15 minutes to just get my arms in the dress.  When the dress was finally zipped up, I couldn't breathe.  Gaining weight after a wedding is real.  After I got married, I gained 20 pounds.  Even though they went to the right places, my dress didn't care.

I dealt with the dress and we arrived to our church.  Our fellowship hall was heavily decorated with red roses, black and white table cloths, the words "live, laugh, love" hanging over the doors, and light jazz/gospel music playing in the background.  This year's event was COMPLETELY different from last year.  How?

1. Event one was FREEZING! It was held at a school in the middle of February and they didn't turn on the heat.  This year's event was held at the church where they could control the heat.
2. Event one was open to everyone the weekend before V-day.  This year, it was only open to married couples and it was in January.  Better scheduling for everyone.
3. Finally, Event one entertained their guest, while this year's event made the couples interact in contests.

The church turned the "Love is in the Air event" into a Marriage Academy.  They believed that love is a beautiful thing and they wanted to teach the couples to appreciate their union and keep it fresh by completing three exercises.  With each exercise, we had to work together and each exercise was judged to win a prize.

1. Exercise 1: Coloring.  Each couple had to color a photo together.  We had to get creative because we were competing with other teams.  Team B + C won :-).
2. Exercise 2: Budgeting.  With a budget of $20, plan a date.  Even though we are married, the church wanted to encourage everyone to still date.  Each team came up with two plans.  Brian planned a road trip to get desserts while I planned a date night at home.  Afterwards, I came up with an idea I saw on Pinterest with a Date night in a Jar.  With those two ideas, Team B + C won again and was considered the King and Queen of Love:
   

   

   Dress: Chadwicks.com
   Hair: Bantu Knot out pinned in the back

3. Exercise 3: Laughter. A group of men and women had to sing two nursery rhymes.  My husband was in the first group that rapped the "Humpty Dumpty" nursery rhyme, while the women sung "Mary Had a Little Lamb" in opera:

After prayer, food and the three exercises, we all had to face our spouse and recite a poem to one another.  The event was so great, the Pastor wants this to be a stepping stone for future Marriage events.  I can't wait for next year!

To top it all off, we are also going out of town to my Mother-in-law's Valentine's Day dance with her sorority!  This is going to be a busy travel year for Brian and I.

What are you planning for Valentine's Day?