Last July, I hosted my first event in Milwaukee. A styled photoshoot, which I curated a staged wedding day with a bride and groom and all the details. I invited a handful of other photographers to capture the look alongside me—the planning took months. That morning, I woke up to flowers and a handwritten card from Phil waiting on the counter for me. It really is the little things.
The Power of Small Gestures
When you’re in the thick of raising small babies together, your time alone seems almost non-existent. It disappears before you know it and if you don’t remember to make a conscious effort of setting time aside for one another, your relationship can become lost very quickly. One of the ways we maintain this, without having to find hours of time in our chaotic schedules, are small gestures.
Small gestures show that the other person spent time thinking of you, regardless of the lack of free time available on your schedules. From flowers (which isn’t my first ask—simply because I do not like taking care of them, haha), bringing home food (now THIS is where it’s at!), leaving a small note, a kiss before leaving the house…
All of those small gestures truly add up and are so important for the emotional connection within your relationship.
Creative Ideas for Everyday Romance
Thoughtful Communication
The power of learning to actively listen and communicate in a relationship is game changing. Spending 20 minutes at the end of the night to recap one another’s day, check in on how one another is feeling, discussing missing connections, feelings, etc. is so important. Learning to listen and validate, versus listening to respond is huge and leaves your partner feeling incredibly valued and heard within your relationship.
Acts of Service
Preparing your significant other’s favorite meal after a long day or taking over a dreaded chore when someone feels overwhelmed, are small acts of service that can truly benefit your partnership. There is simply no 50/50 in a marriage or relationship. Some days you may have to give a bit more while your partner refuels. Being able to communicate and respect that is vital (and without keeping tabs!).
Personalized Gestures
Love languages are a real thing and sometimes we get caught in using our own love language to express love to our partners. And that’s the exact opposite of their purpose! You have to know your significant others love language in order to provide love in that way to them, regardless of your preference. For us, my love languages are words of affirmation and quality time and Phil’s are words of affirmation and physical touch. I’ll be honest, we sucked at this for a long time and still work on it all the time. But the first step is understanding how your partner receives love best.
The 5 love languages are:
Words of Affirmation
Gifts
Acts of Service
Quality Time
Physical Touch
Figure out which ones you and your partner receive love in the best. Make an effort into actually using them and watch the emotional transformation that happens!
Keeping the Spark Alive: The Importance of Making Time
I must admit, we are insanely terrible at committing to regular date nights or doing things outside of the home together. But, what we are insanely committed to is finding one another on the couch at the end of each night. It’s our moment to wind down individually, but also be together. It makes us available to one another if we want to have a lengthy conversation. We get to watch tv shows that we share together. Sometimes it’s just touching base on our days ahead and how we can make our schedule feel less heavy on one another.
But adding in surprise date nights, sharing a tv show together, planning small gifts, simply laying next to one another after a long day. Those are the small gestures that tap into our love languages and keep things alive.
Okay, now, BEST date night ideas! Share ‘em with me! Because Lord knows we need to schedule in some more date nights!
