{"id":2949,"date":"2011-10-07T00:04:49","date_gmt":"2011-10-07T05:04:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/?p=2949"},"modified":"2011-10-07T00:38:53","modified_gmt":"2011-10-07T05:38:53","slug":"morningsides-happily-ever-afters-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/archives\/2949","title":{"rendered":"Morningside’s happily ever afters- Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Claire De Roin–<\/strong><\/div>\n

\n<\/strong><\/div>\n
This is part one of a three-part series on engagements and marriages during college. <\/p>\n

<\/em> <\/em>Writing research papers. Bridesmaids dress fittings. Working between classes. Reserving a venue. Staying up late working on homework. Wedding cake tasting. Studying for final exams.<\/p>\n

True love is hard to come by, but some people believe that engagements should be left for after graduation. Most engaged college couples disagree.<\/p>\n

Kathy Martin, Morningside\u2019s Director of Church Relations, has performed a few student weddings and offers some insight. She advises pre-marital counseling.<\/p>\n

\u201cCouples aren\u2019t going to change their minds about whether they\u2019re going to get married,\u201d she laughs. \u201cIt\u2019s good to talk about some things: how to disagree, how to communicate, family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martin urges students to be realistic about their wedding expectations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re having to contribute, then you need to have a nest egg or a pretty good job lined up. Weddings are very expensive. Be realistic about bringing together two families in the middle of a college experience when the schedules are very tight and the stress levels can be high,\u201d Martin advises.<\/p>\n

Kathy Martin is not discouraged, however. She has seen students get married and have wonderful relationships. Martin, herself seems to be a bit of a romantic. She smiles and looks at a bright bouquet of flowers on her desk.\u00a0 The colorful flowers, sitting in a pick-up truck vase, were a gift from her husband for their second wedding anniversary. After telling the story of her wedding at the pergola, she continues. \u201cIt\u2019s not only important to love somebody. Couples must be able to laugh at themselves and enjoy each other\u2019s laughter. A sense of humor goes a long way in a relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n

THE COLLEGE SWEETHEARTS<\/p>\n

RA training brought Kelsey Kleinhesselink and her future fianc\u00e9, Austin Todd together.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were at the ropes course waiting in like to do the zip-line and we were talking about our nerves,\u201d Kelsey says.<\/p>\n

Kelsey and Austin dated for a year and a half before Austin popped the question in January of 2011.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe proposed to me the day before my 21st birthday in the snow in front of the pergola here on campus.\u201d<\/p>\n

How did Kelsey\u2019s friends and family feel about the engagement? Happy, for the most part.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy family might be a little stressed. My sister got married in August, my brother gets married in October and I get married in June!\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelsey doesn\u2019t feel like her engagement is keeping her from anything at Morningside. She is living on campus. Austin is living at home while he student teaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still do everything I would do if I wasn’t engaged. I go to MAC events and hang out with friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Tessa Baker and Joe Sievert<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

THE LOGICAL SURPRISE<\/p>\n

Tessa Baker was completely surprised on Christmas Eve of 2010 when she woke up to an engagement ring from her boyfriend, Joe Sievert.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had set the ring out the night before,\u201d Tessa says. \u201cI was sort of confused when I woke up.\u201d<\/p>\n

She woke up her boyfriend and asked what the ring was for, and he popped the question.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, I said yes,\u201d Tessa says. \u201cWe spent the rest of the holiday together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had not even gone shopping for rings, but he picked the perfect one for me,\u201d Tessa says. \u201cWe had gone to Las Vegas right before Christmas so he told everyone he got my ring in one of the machines in the casino.\u00a0 He likes to be funny.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe and Tessa started dating in high school and came to Morningside together. \u201cI think it helps that we came in as a couple,\u201d Tessa adds.<\/p>\n

The couple plans to be married on August 11, 2012, the summer after both Tessa and Joe\u2019s junior year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe decided to get married then because I am in nursing school and will be studying for the NCLEX after our senior year and didn’t want to plan a wedding and study at the same time,\u201d Tessa says. \u201cI knew nursing school would keep me busy this year so I did a lot of preliminary planning last summer as far as reserving places and I will do the final planning at the beginning of next summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tessa adds that she isn\u2019t stressed by the wedding planning at all.<\/p>\n


\n<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Claire De Roin– This is part one of a three-part series on engagements and marriages during college.  Writing research papers. Bridesmaids dress fittings. Working between classes. Reserving a venue. Staying up late working on homework. Wedding cake tasting. Studying for final exams. True love is hard to come by, but some people believe that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":2950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4287],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2949"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2967,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2949\/revisions\/2967"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}