Saturday, January 30, 2010

Our Wedding Announcement!!

Yes, I'm very happily married, which is why I have been away from blogging this month!! I finally got all of our family/friend addresses together (well almost all) and got our announcements sent out this week!! So I hope you received yours!

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Just wanted to send our happy news your way!
We will still be living in Fremont,
but our permanent mailing address is..

P.O. Box 8162
Fremont, Ca 94537

So keep in touch
and have a wonderful 2010!

Love,
Kristin and Martin Murray


If I missed you, please email me your address. I had my mom and Martin's mom get a bunch for me, and Cindy helped a whole heck of a lot, (thank you very much ladies) but I know there are plenty missing. My email is kristinannbeck@gmail.com if you want to get your address to me, at least for future reference. We've been moving most of the month it feels like (mainly I have been moving) but it's coming along.

Bridal shower plans are in the works, so keep a look out for the invites!!

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Thursday, January 21, 2010

Our Story...

I have a little story for you all. Because I was never actually engaged, not too many were able to ask or hear much about Martin and I, and how we came to be. I don't keep a journal, I know I should, and so, I thought I would write it all out and share. Life is great, this last year has been more than amazing, and the best year of my life, and all thanks to the man of my dreams.


Although Martin and I have known each other for about 4 years, our romantic relationship only trails back to around April of 2008. We met while working at Outback Steakhouse in Fremont, where I stayed for only about a year, although he was there about 5 (wow). During the year I worked there he had started a new relationship and was off and on in an old one, so dating wasn’t something on my mind. I found a great group of friends while working there who all thought highly of Martin, but didn’t necessarily spend a lot of time with him or his group of friends. He was one of the few that I tried to make conversation with regularly; if ever we were closing or opening together, so when there was downtime.

Just over a year after starting, because of many outside sources, I decided it was time to make a major change in my life, so.. I moved to Utah! My sister and favorite cousin were in the midst of moving themselves, and I thought, why not?

I kept in touch with a few people from work after I moved away, thank goodness for social networks like myspace and facebook. And for whatever reason, I would check every now and again to see how Martin was doing. Although I knew his brother better (he also worked at Outback with me, and actually trained me, and was my age) I had always felt a slight connection to Martin. Every time I was back in town I would try to visit Outback and have dinner with a few of my friends, or at least visit those working, and would love any opportunity to talk to him, just as friends, never with anything else in mind though.

After living in Utah about a year and a half and having so many problems with school, work, my health, living situation, and my financial situation, I decided that I wasn’t supposed to be there anymore. I moved back to Fremont and knew that I would find more what I was looking for in life there. On top of that, school would be cheaper, living would be cheaper, jobs pay more, etc. etc.

When I finally moved back and had let everything soak in after a few months, I met up with some friends at Outback just like old times. They were discussing some plans for the weekend and Martin’s show came up. I knew he had written some songs and played the guitar, but I had no idea he was pursuing a career in music. With a few friends I went to his show that weekend. Just happy to have gotten out of the house and been around some new people, it was enjoyable. On my way out, I said great show and goodbye and he said, let’s get some coffee later in the week, and I said sure. And that’s really where it started. After work one night we met up and went to bay street coffee, where we both found out neither of us drank coffee and we got hot chocolate. Talked for a few hours and I guess I kind of knew he was the one. In a nut shell at least. (Within the next week or so, I told my mom we were soul mates, but we weren’t going to date, we were just too different).

At the time we had very different lives; I had just met someone I thought I could date, and he did not want to date anyone, but we clicked. The following week I went out to dinner with him a few times, had a few more long conversations and then I spent a week away, visiting the one I thought I could date, and it turned out I was very wrong. It took that trip for me to realize a guy like Martin was what I really wanted, whether or not he was the one, wasn’t as important at the time. Long story short, it turned out we loved being around each other. We could see each other almost all day every day and not get sick of each other and from there it all happened so fast. He left for a cross country tour/vacation with his brother. After a month of being a way, a group of my friends went out to New York to surprise them, where I didn’t know what would happen, at that point we were friends, and that was it. He told me he loved me as we watched the sun rise in central park the first morning I was there, and we’ve been inseparable ever since.

After about a year of dating I knew I would never find anyone as amazing or someone even with the deep down ability to love me as much as he did, and so I knew, that was it. I think it was probably around the same time for him as well.

Never once had I been the one to initiate marriage conversation, yet it was brought up often. Whether to me, or my sister, he found a way to bring up “future wife” comments or “future brother-in-law” comments. Finally I asked, when’s this going to happen, since you seem so sure of it. And Martin replied with a “you’ll see.” At this point I think I just melted inside and was just hopelessly in love. We found ourselves happier than we had ever been and more in love than we ever expected. Random days would be thrown out (by Martin) of when we would get married and I just went with it. I had no idea the seriousness or how soon it was going to happen, and I was just overjoyed that I didn’t have to worry about it. I knew I would never find myself in a 6 year + relationship wondering, what am I doing, or what does he want to do. (Which was a fear of mine in the beginning).

One day it came up again, let’s get married, says Martin. And I said ok. How soon? He says, I like 2010, it’s a cool year, and easy to remember the anniversary. I say, how about January 2nd. He says, perfect :) and that was it. That afternoon, we realized that January 2nd is a palindrome (01/02/2010) and a Saturday, and we were so excited. We looked up court information for Santa Cruz, because we knew we had wanted to elope in Santa Cruz and from there we quickly planned the whole thing. It was a weekend so we couldn’t do it in a court, and we decided we wanted our families there. We had a picture perfect setting for the wedding festivities, Shadowbrook, one of our first dates, and for the next month or so we kept it all a secret. Christmas morning we announced to our families that we were getting married the following week, although some knew (for planning’s sake) and others had a hunch, because we had asked everyone to keep that date open for a very important dinner they were invited to. It was perfect, the weather, the ceremony, our families, and of course, us. That last month actually felt like it was forever until we were getting married. And when the day came it was an amazing joy and a sigh of relief. We did it. We got married and we are just overwhelmed sometimes with the love we have for each other.

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Saturday, January 9, 2010

the stars aligned...

I know some of you may feel that we rushed things, or had ulterior motives (like pregnancy) but the truth of the matter is we and are so in love it just made sense. In the past few weeks I've been thinking about all the little things that just sort of worked out perfectly, leading the way for us to get married. We love just about everything about each other, and could not be happier. So, to make things read easier, I'll put it in list form.


The little things..

  • I have always wanted a very small group of people at my wedding. My sister and even brothers have planned and talked about weddings since before I can even remember, and some have just always known what they wanted. I never really had anything set. But I know that I often find myself much more shy in front of large groups, and I just have thought that a wedding should be a more intimate affair.


  • Members of my church tend to get married young and fast, and I've known that for me, this would probably not be the case. For more than just the fear of scaring him off, I never talked much about getting married. The future was spoken of (hopes and dreams and crazy ideas) but that's where I stopped it. Martin initiated the husband and wife talk. I really never knew how serious he was about it until we literally picked a day. Although I always knew how much he loved me, and how he wanted to be with me forever, so there just wasn't much of a worry there for me. I knew that if it was meant to be, he would need to be the one to make it happen, and he did.


  • I have never needed a diamond ring to know that I am loved. I'll admit there are engagement rings that are just so beautiful any girl would love to have one, but for me, it has never been necessary. I think this was crucial for Martin and I, because getting married wasn't something that had to be saved for, or well planned out. (Like him finding out what ring I like, my size, and then buying it, and proposing). Since the beginning I think we just knew. And I had told him, when the issue was brought up. I didn't need a ring, or an official proposal. The thought of just knowing you're meant for each other and knowing that you both feel the same way was how we decided to get married. (We both have beautiful white gold bands.)


  • In order to be married I didn't feel any major life changes needed to occur. I was more than happy to move in with Martin and his friends that he already lives with. I would live on a boat (he's thrown this idea out) or in another country, or in a loft, or an apartment, or with family, whatever worked for us. So when he started throwing out the big "M" word, the only thing we really had to think about was, is this really what we want, and how soon.


  • A big expensive honeymoon wasn't on the must list for me either. Just being married and moving in together was going to be such a thrill for me that I didn't need much else. Lucky for me, we already had a trip in the works to Australia, so when we picked our date (01/02/2010) I said perfect, Australia can be like our honeymoon. Which we couldn't be anymore excited for. (We'll be gone most of the month of April).


  • When the thoughts of marriage were floating around, I had no idea what martin had in mind (but he definitely had something in mind). I like cold weather, and winter, and fall, and I would be happy to be married at any time of year. When Martin was asking on a regular basis, wanna get married today? (joking or not, I didn't always know) I was ready at any moment. He thought 2010 was a cool year (easy to remember the anniversary) and I threw out the date. I knew the 2nd was a Saturday because Heidi wanted her baby shower on the first Saturday, and much to our surprise, the date is a palindrome. Whether or not Martin was originally 100 percent serious, he loved the date, and we just knew it was going to be perfect.


  • At the time of planning, Martin had Saturdays off work, so it was an easy yes. And other than a few quirks with the planning of my family, everyone was going to be in town.


  • Daniel had let us know a few months before that he would be moving out on the 1st of January (he happened to have the biggest room in the house) therefore, his room would be available for us, just after our wedding day. Note: this room is quite large and has a huge closet. So we never had to worry about whether or not I could fit, even though I have a lot of stuff, we knew it wasn't going to be a problem. Also, he lives in Fremont, pretty much perfectly placed between our families' houses.


  • A few years ago Martin put his name on a few affordable housing lists and we assumed his name would be getting closer to the top, which it is. So even though we are more than happy where we are, we have options that will be soon in the mix.

I know there are probably quite a few more little and big things that made everything perfect, but this is the bulk of how our quickly planned marriage came to be. We're coming on two weeks being married, and even though we've both had a cold, we couldn't be happier. Still working on moving in, and everything is honestly better than perfect.


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Thursday, January 7, 2010

wedding pictures continued...

Thank you to everyone for all the congratulations and love sent our way in the past few days.

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01/02/2010

As promised, here they are, my wedding pictures.
I am so in love with my husband, sometimes I can barely contain myself. Somehow we manage to light each others lives in ways never imagined. This past Saturday of January 2010, my dreams came true; I married my best friend, Martin John Murray.



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I have a few more pictures to go through still, hopefully I will have them up soon. Don't I have an adorable husband?

I would like to thank my family and Martin's for being so wonderful on the day of our wedding. With the last minute suprise I didn't know how everything would go, but it was perfect. Thank you family, we love you..

xoxo

Martin and Kristin Murray

p.s. Jana we love you, thank you so much for taking our pictures.


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Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Martin + Kristin = Husband and Wife

Yes, if you've heard the news, it is oh so very true. I got married!!! Martin and I said I do this past saturday 01/02/2010. Here's a picture for now. I promise I will have more soon. I haven't been posting lately, because I've been a little busy!!!!

Martin and Kristin get married


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