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Justine Easley
This week on Just be we are featuring bride Justine Easley. I have had the pleasure of knowing this beautiful woman since she was just 7 years old. She has been a dear friend for over 15 years and I truly admire her as well as her relationship with her husband Lee. Justine is one of those people that everyone absolutely adores. She is barely five feet tall and is just about the cutest thing ever. She makes you want to just put her in your pocket and take her everywhere. Although she is small in stature she has the biggest heart and is a light to everyone she meets. She will be a listening ear when you are in a crisis one moment and have you rolling on the floor about to pee your pants the next. I am so happy to have her on Just be and cannot wait for you all to get to know her and hear a little of her story. Justine has some amazing wisdom to share after just a year of marriage! Enjoy!!
About Justine and Lee
Wife’s name: Justine
Husbands name: Lee
How long have you been married? 1 Year
When did you get married? May 4, 2014
Short story of timeline before engagement and marriage:
March 1, 2013- First Date!
December 1, 2013- Engaged!
May 4, 2014- Wedding Day!
Where did you get married?
We got married at The Pavilion at Hunter Valley Farm in Knoxville, TN
Did you do a first look?
No, Lee and I did not do a first look. I am glad that we didn’t because I think it made the moment of walking down the aisle more special! Our eyes were locked the entire time. However, I did do a first look with my Dad. Second to marrying Lee, that was the most special moment of the entire day! The first look for my first love- something I would HIGHLY recommend doing.
Did you have a budget?
Yes, we did have a budget, however…. we did not stick to it! I was the first girl in my family to get married so when Lee and I sat down with my parents to talk about the budget we all were very clueless about how much a wedding really cost! We started out with an initial amount but quickly realized that if we wanted our guests to be able to sit at our wedding (Ha! But seriously) we would to have to up our budget. So, in the end we ended up spending quite a bit more than we had originally planned.
Did you do cake, cupcakes, pies or other?
We had Pies! We ordered an assortment of mini personal size pies for our guests and then we cut into a Coconut Cream Pie! Buttermilk Sky Pie
.
Thankfully, because of the loving husband that I have and more importantly because of the loving and so gracious God that I have I was able to see (over a long period of time) what I was actually doing. I didn’t marry Lee because of his organizational skills; I married him because of his devotion to our God, his love for me and for people, his incredible work ethic and his passion and drive for life! I realized that I was trying to make Lee into someone that he wasn’t and that he never needed to be! Once I grasped that concept of just letting him be him and letting me be me it freed both of us to serve each other and love each other in the ways that speak loudest. Once I dropped my expectations of him and just allowed him to do life how he has always done it, it gave him the freedom and the desire to want to organize things how I like it because he knew that was how he could tell me he loved me.
Marriage is difficult but gosh, it is SO worth the time and effort to make it great!
Did you do buffet style or plated dinner?
We did a buffet style. We felt like a buffet was more casual and it fit more of our style than a plated dinner
would have!
Was there an open bar or was it a dry wedding?
Our Wedding was on a Sunday night and so because we knew people had work and/or school the next morning we opted for a dry wedding. Cutting alcohol also helped with the overall cost of our wedding!
Did you leave for the honeymoon the day after
the wedding?
The day after our wedding we moved
to North Carolina (Lee is in Physical Therapy School here) so we took about a week to get everything settled in our apartment before leaving for our honeymoon! It was kind of nice because it ended up feeling like a 2-week honeymoon when it was all over!
What advice would you give to brides about the honeymoon?
Looking back I realized that the honeymoon is really the only thing (outside of your actual wedding ceremony) that is for the two of you. One thing that Lee and I did that I would recommend to any newlywed couple is turn your phones off for your entire honeymoon! Not having our phones with us allowed for us to just focus on each other! We weren’t posing for pictures to post on social media, we weren’t responding to our friends and families’ text messages congratulating us… we were just learning how to be US without any distractions!
What has been your favorite thing about being married?
My favorite thing about being married is hard to capture in words… it’s the laying on the couch at 11:30 at night asking each other if we should go to bed or watch one more episode of House of Cards. It’s the spontaneous trips to the beach or to the mountains or just down the road to get coffee. It’s the little hand written notes on a piece of paper in the morning telling me “I love you Justine Easley.” It’s the texts throughout the day that say “I can’t wait to see you tonight.” It’s the car rides where you don’t have to say a word but you both know you’ve never been more in love. It’s the nightly walks when you get to talk about the day and what you are excited for during that next week. It’s those random looks at each other where you don’t have to say a word you just both know that what you are experiencing is WEIRD. It’s those dance parties in the kitchen to a song that has been listened to WAY too many times. It’s the making the bed together in the morning or the folding of clothes in the evening. It’s the look on each other’s face when we find out we are having a baby! It’s the tears in our eyes when we can’t imagine life without each other. It’s the overwhelming emotions when you pray together and worship Jesus together as one. It’s the smile and glisten in your eyes, as you talk about your future together as a family. It’s the hanging the blanket over the window so that you can just lie on the couch all day and have a movie marathon together. It’s those days when he asks me “Will you go on a date with me Friday?” It’s saying “I love you, good night” and then rolling over in bed each night.
What has been the hardest part about marriage?
The hardest part about marriage, for me, has been laying down my expectations of Lee and letting him just be him. I know that sounds strange but hear me out… Before we got married we had those ‘big’ talks… you know, “How will we spend our money?” “How many kids do you want?” “Where do you want to live?” stuff like that… but never did I ask him “How will we organize our closet?” Or “How many times do you plan on cleaning out your car?” Or “Will you leave your plates on the counter or will you put them straight in the dishwasher?” You know… life things that you don’t think about you just do them UNTIL the person you live with does NOT do them the same ways as you! That’s where the difficulty entered for me! I found myself getting so frustrated with Lee because his definition of organization was not my definition of organization. I wanted him to change.
What would you add for all those future brides out there looking for wisdom and advice as they move towards their wedding and marriage?
I would add that planning a wedding is stressful, exhausting and overwhelming and is all for just a few hours on one night of your life. Hiring a wedding planner and coordinator to bare the brunt of that stress is invaluable to you. Not only so you can focus on and actually enjoy your wedding but more importantly so you can use your engagement to focus on and prepare for your marriage after the wedding! Invest in pre-marital counseling- don’t just do it for the price deduction on your marriage license! Have hard talks before your wedding. And lastly, don’t be afraid to put the wedding on hold for a little while if you and your future groom realize that there are things you need to straighten out before you get married! Your wedding is one night but your marriage is for the rest of your life!
Thank you to Justine And Lee for being a beautiful example of what marriage can look like if you are willing to prepare for it and to work at it and realize that it IS worth it!
