What We’d Change About Our 4K Backyard Wedding

In July 2007 we celebrated our wedding exactly the way we wanted: a small, intimate ceremony in our own backyard. Ten years later, we still love that memory, but there are a few things we’d change if we could do it all over again. In this post we reflect on those wedding-day details, share how we marked our 10th anniversary (some traditions never die), and reveal a current debate about a home purchase. We’ll also admit I probably need an intervention about an accessory I’ve kept longer than Sherry has been around.

You can download the episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Overcast, and TuneIn Radio — or listen on your preferred podcast player. Use this page to find links, notes, and photos we mentioned in the show. If you’re reading in a feed reader, you may need to click through to the post to see any embedded player or media.

What’s New

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  • To celebrate our 10th anniversary we slipped away to Puerto Rico for a few days. The trip struck a great balance between downtime and activity: plenty of beach and pool time for reading and relaxing, plus adventures like kayaking, hiking, and paddleboarding. We also enjoyed wandering Old San Juan and sampling local flavors. We’ll post a full trip write-up with lots of photos soon, but below are a few snapshots from the trip.

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  • If you’re curious about our original honeymoon, you can read about our Alaska trip in 2007 — that one leaned much more toward adventure than relaxation.

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What’s Not

  • During the episode I quizzed Sherry about trademarked colors. If you want more background on trademarked and proprietary colors, there are several good reads that list examples and explain how companies protect specific hues.

Our Wedding

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  • For the full story of our backyard wedding—including the budget breakdown and lots of photos—check our virtual wedding album. We walk through the planning, the DIY details, and the moments that made the day feel uniquely ours.

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  • Sherry later dyed her wedding dress gray so she could wear it to other people’s weddings; it’s a fun example of repurposing something sentimental into something practical.
  • If you’re in the mood for nostalgia, we also shared our engagement story and a look back at how we’ve celebrated past anniversaries, including a cake tasting we did for our seventh year together.

We’re Digging

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  • Sherry has been daydreaming about four potential couches for our living room. The images above show the models we like most: Andres, Harmony, Shelter, and the Antwerp slipcover option. She’s imagining different fabrics and finishes, so color shown in the photos isn’t necessarily final.
  • On a more personal note, here’s photographic proof from our 2012 book tour of my long-running attachment to my college-style backpack. It’s the same bag that has hauled my laptop to speaking events, come with me to the gym, and even joined me at a recent triathlon. It’s been a loyal companion, but I’m ready for a grown-up upgrade.

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  • We showed a few bags we’re considering as replacements. The Rickshaw options are pricier and feel more polished, while the vinyl styles from Rareform offer a bold, recycled-material look. We’re leaning toward a backpack silhouette—still practical and hands-free, but more refined than my current, well-worn pack. If you have suggestions, we’d love to hear them.

If you want to revisit anything we’ve recommended in past episodes, we’ve compiled a master list of our favorite picks from previous shows. It’s a handy reference when you remember liking something but can’t recall which episode mentioned it.

Finally, a thank-you to Modsy for sponsoring this episode. They created a realistic rendering that reimagined our home office as a modern living room, which helped us see new possibilities for layout and scale. If you’re interested in a similar redesign, Modsy has tools that make it easy to visualize your space.

Thanks for listening, everyone!

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