Looking for wedding reception fun ideas? We are continuing the series from our blog category about “Meeting the love of your life,” and the story of my husband and I when we first met and then got married.

If you have been following us, this time I am going to invite you to the scene of our reception. It was fun and memorable to say the least.

Show off your Personality at your Wedding

Use items at your wedding to show what shaped who you are. It was nothing big, yet it was big in the eyes of my friends and family. You see I did not grow up with much money. It was not the usual wedding reception you would expect. My mom and I had fun buying items for the big party and finding them for 75% off. It took a while deciding what to do for our wedding cake. You see, I am a practical kind of girl who has expensive taste. According to my mother, I am just like my grandmother (or her mom who has since passed away now). She had expensive taste on a frugal budget. Growing up in a family with limited resources, yet not really knowing it shaped who I am today.

I am beyond grateful for everything I have today. My parents figured out how to be creative and make my two brothers and I feel like we have money through making crafts out of nothing, making learning fun, and bonding with us using everyday items.

I say all that to say, I have always wanted a great wedding like other girls, yet value money at the same time. My fiance (at the time), Mark, and I agreed that we would rather spend the money saved from our wedding to put on a house. We know how to make a wedding fun with or without money.

Finding the Perfect Wedding Cake

I say all that to say, after looking at several wedding cakes, we decided to be creative and purchased a cake from Walmart. Walmart??? (you are thinking). I know, I know. It  is not the traditional answer you would expect. We bought two large sheet cakes and one smaller cake for my fiance and I. We found a cute gazebo decoration to use as a cake topper with a picture of ourselves in it. It was a big deal to us because it showcased our personality in the cake, and still tasted great. Besides, by having two sheet cakes we could please everyone with flavor and have one white and one chocolate cake.

Be Creative at your Wedding Reception

other things that set our reception apart were the cute goldfish swimming in a bowl on our table where we sat as the bride and groom. My dad had this brilliant idea to get the fish and put them in a bowl to surprise us. The fish were strange to some, but as we told the story, it made sense.

The fish had memories to me as our family always had fish in a pond somewhere growing up throughout my life. I remember the days of sitting together and watching the fish swim in our back yard. I wanted to have fireworks at the end of my wedding too, but that idea got banned.

We all have our weird, yet fun quirks. It is important to make your wedding reception, yours. It is your one day to shine and show who all has influenced your life and made you the woman or man you are today.

Other Fun Wedding Reception Ideas

For other fun wedding reception ideas check out this link here.

1. Be yourself

2. Be entertaining

3. Include activities for all ages.

What advice would you give to help other with fun wedding reception ideas? Comment below.

Making Milestone Moments Count,

– Marcie

The post Wedding Reception Fun Ideas appeared first on Time Capsule | Personalized Gifts.

I have been looking for songs to walk down the aisle to at my wedding.  The first time I heard it I knew it was the one. I was working and it came on the radio. I was hooked to the words. It was perfect. It described my father and I to a T. If you have been following our story, this is a continuation blog about the category of “Meeting the Love of your Life.”

There are so many different wedding aisle songs to choose from. Check these other ideas out here.

I have typed up her lyrics here along with the story behind the song for me.

In My Daughter’s Eyes by Martina McBride

Story behind this section: Who are you to your children? What do you want them to remember you for? If you were to write your kids a “Message to the Future” letter, what would you say? Reminisce with your child years later with a decorative Baby Time Capsule. Keep their memories and mementos in the time capsule. Then in 20 to 40 years re-open the time capsule and relive what life was like when your baby was first born.

I am a reflection of my father in many ways. I am sure you can relate. I have his determination, passion, longing to constantly learn, playfulness, entrepreneurial heart and drive, good looks (Ha Ha – just kidding), love for others, and other quirks. What did you pass on to your children?

Ask yourself, how are my babies “a reflection of who I am and what will be?” It was hard moving out of my parent’s house, when I grew up, but I knew I had to. It was time to start a new journey. New memories only come, when you let go and move on. My husband and father are very close and very similar. It is a rare honor to marry someone as close to my father as Mark (my husband) is. For that reason, my father will always be there.

What songs to walk down the aisle to, do you recommend? Do you have a story behind your choice? Share with us below.

Making Milestone Moments Count,

– Marcie

The post Songs to Walk Down the Aisle To appeared first on Time Capsule | Personalized Gifts.

There are so many things and events in life that should never be forgotten. Let’s learn how to preserve memories forever. If I were to give you a date, then ask you what you were doing on that date, would you be able to come up with an answer?  Do you know what you were doing 10 years ago today?  What about 10 Months ago?  10 days?  Can you provide me a list of the milestones your life has had over the past year?

Now, just for a moment, suppose that date was July 20, 1969.  Would you remember that America landed on the moon on that day?  Could you recall what you were doing when you watched the television and listened to the radio of it happening?  This was one of the best moments in history, and the world watched and listened as these events happened.  This was before I was born, but I wish I could have been there.  I have always been fascinated by our space program, and what it stands for.

What if that date was September 11, 2001?  Do you remember what you were doing when you heard that America had been attacked
by terrorists flying planes into the World Trade Center buildings?  This was truly a dark day in the history of America!  I can remember when I heard the news, what I was doing, and how I felt.  My heart still breaks when I see the images and view the video.

How do you remember your personal memories?

In our lives, there are memories that we believe will always be fresh in our minds, but what happens when our age causes those memories to fade?  Ok, so in the case of September 11, or Columbine High School shootings, or Perl Harbor, it might not be such a bad thing for those memories to fade into the background. (As long as we remember the lessons learned and the lives lost.)  But, what about the memories we treasure?  What if we were to forget our Wedding day, or the birth of our children?  These treasured memories are, in my mind, more important than national events because they are personal and help to make us who we are.  The reality is that I remember many of the details from my wedding.  But, what have I forgotten.

If you have been following our blog, you know that Marcie and I have been married just over 11 years (as of the time of this writing.)  We have been talking about the various things that happened in the Wedding of Substitutions!  I know that what we have shared is a lot of things, but I also know that there was more things that we simply cannot remember even now.  What is going to happen when we have been married 20 years? What about 50?  Fortunately, we have our blog where we have written these things down, but they need to be protected!  What would happen if, after 30 years, we lost the information on our blog?

This is the entire point if our Baby, Wedding, and Any Occasion DIY Time Capsules!  We help you to capture an important moment in time for you to remember all the details you choose to remember.  Then, you put them in the capsule to be protected.  Our Any Occasion DIY Time Capsule can be used for any event in your life.  Suggestions include:

• High School Graduation
• College Graduation
• Teachers Class
• Baptism
• Youth Group
• Missions Trip
• Family Reunions
• Cancer Survivors
• Foster Children
• Adoption
• Wedding Anniversary
• Business Anniversary
• Beloved Pet Memorial
• Human Memorial
• Celebration of Military Service
• Birthday
• Sports Victory
• New Home
• First Day of School
• Baby’s Life (First Steps, First Word, etc)
• First Car
• ANYTHING else you can think of!

Above all else:

Cherish the Moment!

Making Milestone Moments Count,

– Mark

The post How to Preserve Memories Forever appeared first on Time Capsule | Personalized Gifts.

The wedding day timeline surprises were being worked on by myself and my father-in-law.

I have heard it said, “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.”  Every life has a moment that takes our breaths away.  We all experience something that makes time stop, for just an instant, and we will never be the same after we experience the moment. It is a milestone moment in our lives.

For most people, their wedding day is one of those moments.  Another might be the birth of each of their children.  Today, I want to share one of the moments that changed my life.

The Wedding Day Plans

Your wedding day timeline is important to follow as close as possible, to keep stress levels down. My wife and her family had spent many months preparing for our wedding.  I had done my part in preparing for the honeymoon.  I had prepared mentally and done the things she had asked me to.

All the preparations that could be made had been.  The day had come and we were in the final minutes.

There were butterflies in my stomach as the ceremony began.  In traditional style, I did not see my wife the day of the wedding.  I had spent the morning preparing our home for our first night together.  My sister and her two children had spent the night with me the night before.  I was very close to my niece, and she wanted to help me prepare the house.  Most of it had already been cleaned, but there was a little bit of “straightening up” that needed to happen because of the night before.  Then we left to go to our local florist.  My niece came with me.  We purchased 6 dozen roses, of varying colors.

After purchasing the flowers, we returned to my home.  I put 2 dozen of the roses in a vase and placed it on the kitchen table.  The remaining 4 dozen roses became my project with my niece.  We tore the petals off of the flowers and began spreading them around the house.  We put them on my bed.  We put them in my bathtub, and in the shower.  We spread them on the floor in the bedroom, and kitchen.  They were everywhere.  It was romantic.  I wanted my new wife to have something extra special when she came into my home for the first time as my wife.

Behind the Scenes Fun at the Wedding

At that point, we left for the church.  I had finished dressing and all of my final preparations.  It was now about 15 minutes before our ceremony.  I could hear the musicians playing for our guests.  I had done everything I could do.  My soon-to-be-father-in-law came up to me, wrapped his arm around my shoulder and said to me, “Now, son, right now, you have a choice.  In a few minutes, after she walks down that isle, if you both say, ‘I do,’ don’t bring her back to my house!”  He paused for a few moments to let that whole thing sink in, then proceeded to say, “At that point, she is all yours!”

I laughed.  I think he could see that the tension was starting to mount and that I needed a comical moment to relieve my stress.  As a side note, the rest of the afternoon, after the ceremony, and at the reception, every time he would walk past me, he would just smile and say softly, “All yours!”  Each time he did it, it got funnier.

“She’s All Yours”

A few minutes later, I was standing at the front of the chapel and watching as my beautiful bride was being escorted by her father down the isle.  She was a radiant beauty!  I don’t think I had ever seen her quite so lovely.  The walk down the isle seemed to take an eternity.  I became more excited with each step they took.  I looked into my father-in-laws eyes and I could see a father who understood.  I could see the deep thoughts and feelings running through his heart and mind.  He was proud of his daughter.  He wasn’t sure that he wanted to let her go, but knew that she was in love with me.  While no father ever is “ready to give up his daughter,” he knew that this was her decision.

The Milestone Moment that gripped me with love.

They finally arrived at the front of the church where I was, and I heard my pastor say, “Who gives this woman away?”  I heard my brides father say, “Her mother and I.”  Then it happened.  The moment that changed my life happened.  A moment frozen in time.  It was like a time capsule moment. As I reached for my brides hand, my father-in-law reached out his hand and took mine.  I didn’t realize what was happening, so I pulled away a little.  He intentionally grabbed my hand, flipped it over, and placed it in my brides hand.  I was stunned.  It wasn’t that he simply “approved of this wedding.”  He was telling me that he genuinely wanted this to happen.  It wasn’t just that he “allowed it” but that he actually was blessing it.  He wanted her and I to be married.

I had never experienced such a powerful moment in such a simple gesture.  It was a moment that I think about even today.  It was a moment that I will never forget.

It took my breath away and I am a better man because of that one simple moment.

What milestone moments have made a great impact on your life? Comment below. We would love to hear your story too.

Making Milestone Moments Count,

– Mark

The post Wedding Day Timeline Surprises appeared first on Time Capsule | Personalized Gifts.

Have your favorite mascot marry you.

Sometimes, there are fun wedding pranks to entertain your guests, and surprise your bride and groom at the same time.  Weddings can be full of surprises, and I am not just talking about our “Wedding of substitutions,” as discussed in our last blog in the category “Meeting the Love of your Life.” No matter how well you plan a wedding, some things go right, others go wrong, and the day of the wedding can be full of fun and irritating problems.

What would you do in this wedding disaster moment? 

I recently heard from a pastor about a wedding in Indiana that was planned perfectly.  This was, what I would call “a high-end wedding.”  The church was set perfectly.  Thousands of dollars had been spent on decorations and fresh flowers.  The bride had positioned 6 candelabras in the center isle to finish off the rest of the perfect décor.  The wedding dress was magnificent and had an amazingly long, beautiful trane.  As the bride made her appearance around the corner, everyone in the chapel gasped at her beauty.  That is where things took a turn for the worst.

The bridesmaid who was in charge of the trane lost her focus for a moment and looked away from her duties.  The back corner of the trane caught the first candelabra, pulled it down on top of the dress and set the dress on fire.  After the fire was put out, and the time came to restart the wedding, the bride started to think about how her day had been ruined.  She was about to loose it when her father leaned down and whispered something in her ear.  She smiled, composed herself and continued the march down the isle to complete the journey she had started.

After the wedding was over, the pastor asked the father of the bride what he had whispered to his daughter in that crucial moment.  The father smiled at him and replied, “I simply said to her, ‘One down, five more to go.'”

It’s all about perspective.

What a perfect moment!  I know that no one wants to have problems in their wedding, but the reality is that this can be a part of it!  People have lives.  Kids get sick at inconvenient times.  Accidents happen.  No amount of planning can prevent things like this from happening, but how we deal with them is what makes or breaks the moment.  This father knew his daughter well.  He knew that a bit of humor could diffuse this most incredibly tense moment.  I mean, women plan their wedding day from the time they are little girls, and I am sure that no little girls dream wedding includes being set on fire while walking down the isle or standing in front of the church in a charred dress!  But at the same time, they now have a story to tell, and a memory that will never die!  I mean, it is hard to show someone your wedding pictures and not explain the giant burn mark on your dress!  (And for the record, a swatch of this dress is a perfect thing to put in a wedding time capsule!)

It can be more than accidents as well.  Sometimes people think they are being humorous, and are playing jokes.  Things like writing “S.O.S” or “Help Me” on the bottom of the Grooms shoes, so when they kneel at the alter it is shows.  Or pretending to forget the rings and presenting the bride or groom with something else instead, such as a life saver, a piece of yarn tied in a circle, or even a doughnut.  While some jokes are in poor taste, other can be quite funny.  My personal favorite was when I was a best man, the Bride asked me to “make sure the groom was ready” for their first kiss.  So, when the pastor said, “you may kiss your bride,” the groom turned to me and I “brushed the lint off” of his tuxedo, straightened his tie, sprayed his mouth with a freshener, and gave him “two thumbs up.”  The entire thing was planned, with both the bride and groom’s approval, and received a fantastic laugh.  To this day, most of the wedding guests still think it was something the groom and I had planned, and no one believes the bride was in on it.

Planning fun on your Wedding Day

You must really be careful when you plan something of this nature.  All parties need to agree to what is happening.  When my parents were young, my father sent a note to the “honeymoon suite” of their friends wedding on their wedding night that stated, “We found you.”  Needless to say, this spoiled the “planned events” of the evening as the couple was afraid he might show up at any moment.  These kinds of jokes are typically not found to be funny. For 10 great prank ideas for your wedding day check out this fun article here. Also check out these fun videos here, of examples of how to entertain your guests on your wedding day. Whatever you do, don’t forget to save these fun, memorable moments and videos in your Wedding Time Capsule.

What did you do for your first day of marriage? (besides…. you know…)

For my wife and I, we chose to go home for our first night together.  We left for our honeymoon three days after the wedding, but were able to spend that time undisturbed, at home (in our own bed for our first night of marriage).  We were able to start by opening our wedding gifts, and telling stories about the precious relationships we had with the people who had blessed us with so much.  We didn’t worry about who might show up because no one knew we were there. (They all thought we already left for our honeymoon). Our wedding photos were taken digitally, so our photographer dropped off a CD containing all of our photos the first day and we were able to view the images of the wedding before even going on our honeymoon.  This was truly amazing!

There were some jokes that are truly harmless and just make people smile.  Our wedding centerpieces were bowls of water with floating candles in them.  My father-in-law decided it would be a good idea to put two goldfish in the wedding party’s table centerpiece.  This surprised me as I was eating and noticed a goldfish staring at me from under a candle.  Not only did it make me laugh, but it confirmed in my mind that my father-in-law thought of me as “one of his kids.”

Whatever happens on your wedding day.  Be sure that you are planned as much as you can be.  Relax and enjoy the day . . . after all, it is all about you!  Things will go wrong, but it is not something to stress about.  Roll with the punches and make the best of it.  Stressing about the moment will not change anything.  If something comes up that can be fixed, fix it.  If it cannot be fixed – forget it and move on!

So how did you turn your lemons into lemonade at your wedding? Share below in the comments. We would love to hear your story too.

Making Milestone Moments Count,

– Mark

The post Fun Wedding Pranks appeared first on Time Capsule | Personalized Gifts.

As much as we try to plan ahead, wedding disasters can and will happen. The invitations were not the only problem with our wedding.  So much changed in the 72 hours before our wedding, you could literally say that it was a completely different wedding than we planned!

The week before the wedding, I came down with a case of Bronchitis and a severe sinus infection.  One of my three groomsmen vanished off the plant, and wasn’t found until three weeks after the wedding!  (He claimed it was a money issue, but I know it was something else – Still don’t know!)  A second of my groomsmen had a grandparent pass away, and his parents scheduled the funeral at the same time as our wedding!

One of our bridesmaids woke up the morning of the wedding with a child that had a 104 F fever and needed to run to the hospital. So we had to find someone else quickly to replace her. My fiance, at the time, asked her sister in law to jump in and help. Graciously she accepted. However, the dress needed to be quickly hemmed for her. Luckily, my birth other is a seamstress and helped hem her dress. God works in mysterious ways sometimes, yet always provides.

When our tuxedo’s arrived, they were completely wrong.  We had 3 Hunter green vests and 1 Navy Blue vest.  We had 3 long ties and 1 bow tie.  The store agreed to deliver the correct tie and vest, but when they arrived, the vest had no buttons!  They returned a second time, with buttons, and sewed them on for us!  Needless to say, I was glad that we arrived in enough time to have this all taken care of. This is why it is important to plan ahead for your wedding. However, life happens sometimes. People make mistakes. However no matter how much you plan for special events, sometimes plans change.

Out photographer, who was also supposed to provide us with a video of our wedding “forgot” to bring the video camera!

While lighting the unity candle, my mother had difficulty working the lighter to light her side.  What can I say about that?  My mother’s lighter was “childproof!”  I’m not sure if that means she is just one of those people who cannot operate the childproof caps, or if she is just a child . . . But either way, it is funny to me!  Anyway, after giving up on her lighter, she reached for my soon-to-be mother-in-law’s lighter and managed to dump our entire goblet of grape juice (for “Our First Communion as husband-and-wife together”) down the front of my mother-in-law’s dress.

Now as horrible as that sounds, it turned out to be ok because the dress “perfectly color matched” the grape juice and, other than a wet spot, was completely un-noticeable!  (Although, our photographer managed to capture the horrified look on my mothers face perfectly!)  This also made for an interesting moment for me later as I was to “server” the communion to my wife with, what I found to be, an empty cup of juice.  Many things ran through my mind, but we just “rolled with it” and made it work.

Finally, to top everything else off, my fiancé managed to leave my wedding ring in her bag in the brides dressing room.  A quick-thinking-maid-of-honor pulled off a pearl ring she was wearing, and handed it to my fiancé.  (Marcie wouldn’t let anyone else “hold” the ring for fear they would “loose it!”  How ironic is that?!?!?)  So, we complete the ceremony with a tiny set of pearls on my pinky finger instead of my white gold wedding band that we had picked out.

Without all these memories of wedding disasters, we wouldn’t have anything funny to save in our own decorative Wedding Time Capsule. So years later, now I am glad it all worked out and we made lemonade out of our lemons for the wedding day.

The afternoon of our wedding, they were predicting “A light dusting of snow.”  It snowed 3 inches and made it difficult for my family to return home!

Many people would worry about what all this “says for the marriage,” but I can tell you that we are going strong!  A few months later, the quick-thinking-maid-of-honor got married as well.  Marcie and I were both part of that wedding as well.  She made a comment to me that “her wedding was better planned out, and that is why she didn’t have substitutions” in hers.  I simply laughed.  Yes, she had planned every last detail, but so had we!  Many of our issues were well beyond our control.  I mean, really, what was I supposed to do?  Stay away from people for 3 weeks so I don’t get sick?  Tell my Best Man that he cannot go to his Grandpas funeral?  Tell our Bridesmaid that she must come to the wedding and leave her sick child at home or just drop her off at the hospital?

The reality is, no matter how well you plan a wedding, or any event, there will be problems!  The key to it is to work the issues and “roll with it.”  This is your day!  It is a day that you both will remember for the rest of your lives!  Don’t let a few problems stress you out and ruin your day!  In the grand scheme of things, I suppose I am just glad that we didn’t burn down our church in the process of getting married!

In the end, we got married.  We found the ring I was supposed to get, and before we went to the reception.  Our photos came out great.  The church is still standing.  The dress was cleaned, and you still can’t see a stain.  We are still married. Going on 11 years now.  And, above all, I have a great photo that I can black-mail my mother with when she starts talking about breaking out the “naked baby photos!”  We also have some great stories to tell, which is really helpful when you wife asks you to write a blog for her! 

For helpful tips on how to avoid wedding day disasters, plan ahead with these tips here.

Remember:  This is your day!  Whether you are a man or a women – You will remember it!  So, make it what YOU want it to be!

What all problems happened at your wedding? If you have the courage, comment below.

Making Milestone Moments Count,

– Mark

The post Plan Ahead – Wedding Disasters appeared first on Time Capsule | Personalized Gifts.

I am not intimidated by too many things in life.  I do not really get “star struck” around celebrities.  I realize that most of us in the human race put our pants on the same way!  There are a few people who I get intimidated by, and a few people who I have a hard time speaking up in front of, but they are few and far between.  I would not say that I was intimidated by my future father-and-mother-in-law, but I felt very weird about calling them and asking them to meet.  Primarily because I knew the subject matter.

I had tried three times that morning to call.  Each time I would pick up the phone and dial part of their number, then hang up.  In years past, I have been an on-stage performer.  The stomach butterflies I was experiencing were similar to what I would experience before getting up in front of my church to sing.  I always have been able to deal with those feelings by pushing through and “just doing it.”  This was not one of those times.

Finally I made the conscience decision that, no matter what, I was going to do it.  I dialed the number.  I held my breath, thinking about what I was going to say to them.  The phone began to ring.  It seemed like an eternity for the phone to ring four times.  Finally, I heard the click on the phone answering and the word, “Hello.”  I let loose like a water balloon that was mostly filled and slipped off the faucet spraying everyone in the room!  “Hi.  It’s Mark, and I would like to meet with you tonight for dinner to have a . . . . .”  Suddenly I realized . . . I had received their voicemail.  Ugh!  I stopped, laughed a little at how uptight I was and left a message asking them to call me.  I also mentioned not to say anything to Marcie about me calling.

I was much calmer at that point.  They called me back a few minutes later and I asked if I could take them to dinner that night.  They agreed and we set a place and time.

I was much calmer the rest of the day, but it seemed to drag on forever.  Marcie was busy with school that night, so I did not worry about her finding out.  Her parents lived near her, almost an hour away from me.  As I left work and made the trip to meet them, I rehearsed in my mind what I would say to them.  I knew there could be some push-back from them about the time-frame in which we had known each other.  I knew they liked me, and approved of our relationship, but I also knew that we had not known each other for more than a few months.  This was a big concern.  I worried about them saying, “no.”  It didn’t really matter what the reason would be, a no was a no.  Still, I felt it was important, even though some would say a little old-fashioned, to get her parents permission.

We sat down and had a lovely dinner.  We had some great conversation.  I love talking to them.  They are truly wonderful people.  They truly have a kind spirit that comes from a true relationship with Jesus.  They are great people.  I love talking to them and when her dad and I get going, there is no stopping us!  As our dinner came to a close, I still had not brought up the reason for this dinner.  I finally came to a place where there was a slight lull in the conversation and I said, “well, none of that is why I wanted to have dinner with you.”  They both looked at each other and smiled, like they knew what was going on.  I spent the next few minutes fumbling over and trying to find my words.  It wasn’t coming out like I had rehearsed it on the way there.  Finally, her father looked at me and said, “It’s ok, Mark.  You don’t have to do this.”

I don’t know what it was about that moment, but I remember a weight being lifted off my shoulders.  I smiled back at him and said, “Yes, I do.  This is important to me.”  With the weight and burden of knowing they were behind me, and in my corner, I told them how much I had grown to love Marcie in this short period of time and how I wanted to ask her to marry me.  I asked for their permission and blessing.  They both laughed a little, not being disrespectful at all, and simply told me that they knew what was going on.  They agreed, giving me both their permission and their blessing.  Her dad even offered to provide me “a ladder” in case I decided to come get her in the middle of the night to run off an elope with her.  He was kidding of course, but it made the point that he was completely fine with this.  It made me laugh and feel really good.

I drove home and put the final touches on my plan to ask her.  I had it all planned out.  It was going to happen that weekend.  Most of the plans were in place.  Now, just one more day, and I could make this happen!

Asking a girlfriend’s parents or dad for her hand in marriage may seem old fashioned to some. We are all about keeping tradition alive here at The Original Time Capsule company, since that is one of the reasons why the time capsules were created. We want you to preserve your family stories, keep your traditions, and pass them on to your children. There is great wisdom in old stories. For more ideas of how to ask her parents or father for permission to marry, check out http://www.artofmanliness.com/2008/05/15/asking-a-womans-father-for-her-hand-in-marriage/. Ask in a creative way, and pull the engagement ring out of a decorative Wedding Time Capsule from http://www.timecapsule.com/product/milestone-collection-wedding-time-capsule/.

So do you think men should still ask your girlfriend’s parents for hand in marriage? Comment below.

Making Milestone Moments Count,

– Mark

www.timecapsule.com

The post How to Ask Parents Permission to Marry appeared first on Time Capsule | Personalized Gifts.

Several months after I had given Marcie the Promise Ring, I decided it was time to propose!  Everything had to be “just right.”  I   wanted everything to be perfect.  I began to look for “the diamond.”  Now, you need to understand something about Marcie.  Marcie likes bright colors, and things that sparkle.  Not like a normal woman, but more like a 6-year old who believes that the glitter wrapping paper on the outside of a birthday present is just as much of a gift as what is inside.  To her, the most beautiful the world can get, is when the night sky is lit up with fireworks that rain glitter down on the people below!  A few years ago, she literally came home from Walmart with some weird kind of pine-needle-bush that was covered in glitter!  This was the best form of plant that could exist!  Now, I am sure she didn’t think the glitter was growing on the plant, but she was truly disappointed when the glitter fell off!

I tell you all of that to make the point that this ring had to be special!  Diamonds are notorious for sparkling, but hers had to sparkle more than most!  It didn’t matter what color it would be.  She wouldn’t care about the size.  It wouldn’t matter what clarity it was.  It didn’t even matter how many incursions were in the stone.  There were only three things that would matter to my beautiful, soon-to-be-fiancé . . .  Sparkle, Sparkle, and Sparkle!

The Ring Shopping

So I began my quest.  And it was just that! A quest!  Webster’s Dictionary defines a search as, “to look beneath the superficial aspects of to discover.”  While I was certainly looking beneath the superficial to discover the right ring, there was more to it!  A quest is defined as, “a long or arduous search for something.”  This was more like it!  I have a particular store in our area that is known for their customer service and quality jewelry.  I went to this store about 20 times total to find “the one” that she would wear on her hand for her lifetime.  I found her ring on the second trip, but the diamond . . . that is what I was concerned about!  I literally looked at every diamond the store had in my price-range.  I was allowed to have four diamonds out at a time.  They would bring them to me, I would narrow them down, and keep my top one.  They would then take 3 back to the vault, and bring me 3 more.  I would scrutinize them and find my top one again, and we would start the process all over again.  On day 6, I found one that I believed stood out from the rest.  I kept coming back to it.  They saved it for me as the days went on. 

When I had exhausted all the diamonds they had, they brought in a new shipment and I went through all of them as well.  I kept coming back to the one from day 6.  I kept comparing to that diamond.  Nothing I could find was quite as bright as that one.  Nothing sparkled quite as much.  It was beautiful.  Still, I didn’t want to “just settle” on one because I kept coming back to it.  I wanted to make sure it would be the diamond that I would be happy with and would make her smile every time she saw it.

The Promise to Propose

Finally, I chose that diamond.  I remember it clearly.  It was a Wednesday evening.  I had been debating my top three choices for five days!  I went in every night to see them to make my decision and every night I walked away without having made it.  But, I made my decision that night.  I paid for the diamond.  I had already paid for the ring.  They told me it would be ready in 4 to 5 days!  That was an issue.  I told them that I had made plans to propose that weekend, on Saturday!  They assured me they would have it ready for me on Friday night.

As I was driving home that night, I was filled with all kinds of emotion.  Anxiety about all the plans I had to make over the next few days to pull this off.  Worry that the ring might not be ready.  What if she said, “no?”  I made plans to meet with her parents on Thursday night . . . What if they said, “no?”  My heart fluttered.

I didn’t sleep much that night, but I still had a huge smile on my face!

 Photo from: http://womaninthrisis.com/2011/12/08/easily-distracted-by-shiny-objects/

So, what steps did you take to pick out the “perfect” diamond for “the one” you love dearly? Did you go shopping together, or without your fiance? Check out this other great article from The Knot to help you know “What’s Her Engagement Ring Style” at http://wedding.theknot.com/wedding-planning/wedding-quiz/quizzes/whats-her-engagement-ring-style.aspx?MsdVisit=1. There is a lot of different personality styles, interests, and designs that play into what many women like for an engagement or diamond wedding ring. Picking the right one, will help you start your marriage off right. It shows how much you love each other, and how much you listen to what the other person likes.

Proposal Idea

As an added bonus, put the engagement ring in a decorative Wedding Time Capsule, then take her to the special place you want to propose. Pull out the ring, from the Wedding Time Capsule and tell her you want to fill the time capsule together with her for many years to come, with special mementos from your life together. How touching and romantic is that? Get your own Wedding Time Capsule from http://www.timecapsule.com/product/milestone-collection-wedding-time-capsule/.

So will Marcie say Yes? You will have to tune in to our next blog in the “Meeting the Love of your Life” category to find out.

What is the best ring company you know? Share below and what you like best about them. We love to hear stories about other companies who have excellent customer service.

Making Milestone Moments Count,

– Mark

www.timecapsule.com

Notes: “Easily Distracted by Shiny Objects” picture is from https://www.etsy.com/listing/60944704/warning-easily-distracted-by-shiny

The post How to Choose the Perfect Diamond Engagement Ring appeared first on Time Capsule | Personalized Gifts.

www.maneteeze.com

On with the story about meeting the love of your life.

So, we were finally an official couple, and I had made a promise to pursue her, and only her.  We enjoyed  the next few weeks together.  Our phone conversations went from a few times a week to every night.  We talked every evening until the wee hours of the morning.  Yet, somehow, we both managed to get up the next day!  I went to work, and she went to school and work.  I don’t remember being tired.  I don’t remember struggling at work.  I remember enjoying life and soaking up a little more each day.  There were many times that the day seemed to drag on and on, waiting to talk to her again.

I couldn’t wait for the weekends.  I don’t mean like a T.G.I.F. (Thank goodness it’s Friday) kind of way, but more of an, “I can’t wait to see her” kind of way.  Fridays used to be the best day of the week for me, but they quickly became the longest day of the week for me.  I knew I wanted to spend my life with this girl, yet waiting until after work to go pick her up, and then having to drive for an hour before I could see her was excruciating!  That was the longest hour drive in history!!!

I can remember one weekend she was over, and it was relatively cold outside.  We spent most of the weekend at my place with a fire in the fireplace.  We invited a lot of friends over and played a lot of games.  Marcie apparently did not plan on it being that cold as she did not pack a sweatshirt.  Needless to say, I loaned her one of mine.  It was a green IZOD sweatshirt.  For a guy, that is really one of the best feelings . . . It shows that a girl is comfortable with you.  It also makes a guy feel like he is doing something to help her.  I believe that God hard-wired this desire into every man.

Sundays were the worst day of the week!  As afternoon would approach, so would the reality that it was time for her to be taken home.  I hated those moments.  We didn’t discuss the impending separation for the week.  We didn’t discuss how hard it was for me to drive home after dropping her off.  We both knew it was coming, but we didn’t dwell on it.  We simply tried to enjoy the time we had together.  As the weeks went on, this became harder and harder.

On Monday, I picked up the sweatshirt that Marcie had worn all weekend long to put it in the laundry, and I noticed something . . . It smelled like her.  Ahhhhh . . . The comfort this brought to me!  Suddenly I realized that I wanted to be with this girl for the rest of my life!  I realized that just the smell of her was able to put me into a much happier place.  I decided not to wash it until Friday.

If only there was a way to capture this smell forever. Oh wait, there is possibly. You can spray your grandmother’s perfume, your girlfriends perfume, or any other special smell on a piece of paper or better yet, soak it into material to last longer. Then save this smell in an air tight small container to preserve in a Wedding Time Capsule from http://www.timecapsule.com/product/milestone-collection-wedding-time-capsule/. Then years later, on your marriage anniversary open your time capsule and see if she still wears that same perfume, or reminisce about what your dating days were like. How much fun would that be?

All week, when I thought of her, I smelled that sweatshirt!  I held it.  I hugged it.  It made me feel close to her.  It made the distance between us a little smaller.  I decided that I had a yellow IZOD sweatshirt, just like my green one, and we could swap them out every weekend.  I would have one . . . she would have one.

It was a plan.

What makes you feel closer to your loved ones?  Pictures? Mementoes? Clothing?  Video?  Save some of these things in a time capsule. Check out this great article about preserving the memory of you pet at http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2010/01/a_personal_touch_keepsakes_hon.html. What a touching story.

What smells do you wish you could preserve forever in a time capsule? Comment below.

Making Milestone Moments Count,

– Mark

www.timecapsule.com

The post How to Preserve Smells in a Time Capsule appeared first on Time Capsule | Personalized Gifts.

As I continue our story of meeting the love of my life, we will share in the end a truly romantic way to give a promise ring.

Over the next few weeks, I would pick up Marcie (my future wife) on Friday evenings and bring her to Indianapolis.  Each weekend we spent together brought us closer.  Each weekend she spent with me over the next month, she was snowed in!  In Indiana, where we are located, it is uncommon to have so many snow storms back-to-back!  Especially storms that are bad enough to prevent travel.  Yet, somehow, this particular winter, it happened . . . weekend, after weekend, after weekend.  Five weeks in a row!

By this time, Marcie was my girlfriend.  She was the most amazing girl I had ever met.  By April, I had decided that I wanted to marry this girl, but I wasn’t ready to ask!  Our relationship was progressing, but I didn’t want to scare her away.  As a Real Estate Agent, I was showing houses to a couple of friends that were recently married.  Their names were John and Mel.  By this time, they were looking at building a new home, so I was showing them several model homes in the morning and had planned to meet Holly (my other good friend) that afternoon.  Marcie knew that we were going to go to “look at promise rings,” but she did not have the whole plan!

The night before, Mel, Holly, John, myself, and several other friends had found the promise ring that I wanted to give her.  After purchasing it, we all went to the Build-A-Bear store and made a beautiful Teddy Bear in my own image.  (The teddy bear was dressed in a polo shirt and khaki shorts as I would wear.  He even had a top-of-the-line flip phone, just like the one that I was currently using.)  I named the bear Te ‘Ama, which means ‘I love you.’  Holly helped me make the bear and Mel photographed the occasion.  On the way out of the mall, with the ring, I happened to see a small stuffed bear, wearing a tuxedo.  I thought this would make a great place to put the ring until I presented it to Marcie.  Later that evening, I used the photos to make a “Baby Book” for Te ‘Ama.

The stage was set.  The plan was in motion.  Now it was time to execute the whole thing.  John, Mel, Marcie, and I all went and looked at several houses.  We found several things they liked, and several things they didn’t.  Once finished, John and Mel went their own way, and Marcie and I met Holly at the jewelry store.  The three of us went in and spent about an hour looking at rings.  I kept saying things like, “do you like this kind” and “what do you think of this?”  The funniest part was knowing that the ring and both bears were laying undiscovered by her in my van.

As we were leaving, we said goodbye to Holly and returned to my van.  In my van, we began to have a conversation.  That conversation ended with me surprising her with the small bear that had the ring on his arm.  She was shocked and speechless, but happy.  As I put the promise ring on her finger, I made her a promise to respect her and to move us toward a married life together.

We went to dinner together and had some really great conversation.  I was falling in love with this girl a little more every moment.

What is the meaning of a promise ring? There are many different meanings for a promise ring. Make sure you tell your girlfriend or fiance the meaning of the promise ring you are giving her. There are many different ways you could give a promise ring, like the suggestion in our story. You could also put the promise ring in a decorative Wedding Time Capsule and let her open it to find the ring and a promise letter to marry her in the future. How romantic would that be? You can get this unique Wedding Time Capsule from http://www.timecapsule.com/product/milestone-collection-wedding-time-capsule/. To learn other ways of how to give a girl a promise ring, check out http://engagementrings.lovetoknow.com/wiki/How_to_Give_a_Girl_a_Promise_Ring.

What would you give a promise ring for? Comment below.

Making Milestone Moments Count,

– Mark

www.timecapsule.com

The post Romantic Promise Ring Ideas appeared first on Time Capsule | Personalized Gifts.