Our wedding day… awww! What a night! Friends, family, dancing, great food, the best Moscow Mules, beautiful flowers (of course!), and tasty cake. The best night of my life! The honeymoon suitcases were put in the closet, and it was time to begin this journey together we have been dreaming of. The busyness of life creeps up faster than imagined though. How do you make sure to continually let your true love know they are the pesto to your pasta? You have to spend quality time with them to keep your marriage a priority. And not just the kind of time when you are in the same room binge watching Seinfeld, but when you set aside the cell phone and demands of the day to look into the other person’s eyes and give them your whole self.

After “I Do”

Just a heads up, the expectations of what life is going to look like after you get married are usually a little different from what actually end up happening! The weeks following our wedding were similar to our dating life. They were filled with the good stuff, like having friends over for dinner, making our house a little more like a home together, and spending evenings practicing west coast swing, a smooth version of swing dancing. We love to dance together! We were both working at our jobs during the day, and sometimes spilling work into the night. A few months into marriage we realized we hadn’t been devoting quality time to our relationship like we used to do when we were dating. We realized we had to be intentional and make quality time a priority.

Making time for your spouse sounds so silly. You see them every day and share so much together, from splitting a morning smoothie before running out the door to cleaning the kitchen up after dinner together. However, making your marriage a priority is more than just spending physical time with your love, It means investing emotionally too. Justin and I are learning more about each other all the time. Now that we share a home together, this adventure is greater than either of us could have ever expected. But it seemed like something was missing. We realized we had let date-night fall to the side and it was time to get it back in our routine!

Date Night Details

We chose to carve out time for each other on the sexiest night of the week, Tuesday. I know what you are thinking, Tuesday’s aren’t sexy, you must mean Friday or Saturday with a little black dress and a sharp looking polo. Plans come up during the weekend and sometimes other ideas sound more fun on weekdays, so Tuesdays work for us since no one and nothing gets to cramp our un-sexy Tuesdays! You have to figure out what works for you as a couple.

I am married to the thriftiest person I know. Justin will pursue a deal on OfferUp for socks if they are a bargain. Our Tuesday nights started when he found a special at a local pizza place, Federal Pizza. We could split a pizza and a bottle of wine and roll out on our bikes without feeling guilty for having spent too much on a meal. For those nights that called for a sweet ending, we would head across the street to indulge in delicious ice cream at Churn. We kept our phones tucked away during date night and we made memories by investing in quality time with one another.

Continuing the Tradition

A couple years into our Tuesday date night ritual, we have found ourselves frequenting Base Pizza. Some of you may have even bumped into us there! We are HUGE fans of their cheese, sauce and crust combinations. Tuesday are still my favorite night of the week. It’s OUR time, and nothing trumps it in the scheduled. It contains all the trimmings of a pre-marriage date. Justin makes a point to open the door for me and is quite the gentleman! Life gets crazy, schedules get hectic, and there are always more chores to be done. We make our marriage a priority by making each other a priority. On Tuesday nights, I know I get to spend quality time making memories with my love.

What are some of your favorite date spot ideas? Let me know in the comments so we can check them out!

Photography | Emily B. Photography