Getting engaged is a heart-fluttering, knees-buckling, smile-till-it-hurts kind of experience. But there’s more than fancy dresses, pretty cakes, and sparkly rings to getting married—there’s the relationship you’re hoping will last forever.

“Often, the issues couples face during the intense period of their engagement later become the perpetual issues of the marriage,” says couples counselor Lori Gunnar Kolle, a social worker and clinical director at Jewish Social Service Agency in Rockville. “It’s an important time to note, for instance, how your partner handles stress and whether tensions arise within a bride or groom’s own family and among future in-laws.”

For more than two decades, Kolle’s been working with couples before, during, and even near the end of marriage. What’s one sure-fire way to give your marriage the chance it deserves? Talk before you tie the knot. Here’s Kolle’s premarital checklist of topics worth discussing sooner rather than later.

As much as we’ve loved following Eleni’s adventures in wedding planning over the past seven months, her wedding is fast approaching—and that means we’re on the hunt for her successor!

Are you engaged and planning a wedding? We want to hear from you. Do you want to share your lessons learned (and get advice from readers), your most—and least—favorite parts of wedding planning, and lots more with Washingtonians?

If you’re a bride-to-be (or groom-to-be!) who’s willing to share your story, send us an e-mail with why you think you’d make a great wedding blogger. 

We can’t wait to hear from you!

More>> Bridal Party Blog | Wedding Guide | Wedding Vendor Search

Jennifer and Michael Zukewich at booth number 1.

Love in John and Jackie Kennedy’s Camelot is the stuff of legend—literally.

The story of the couple’s engagement is disputed. Some say that JFK popped the question over the phone (others claim he sent a telegram) to girlfriend Jacqueline Bouvier in London while she was there covering the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II for the Washington Times Herald. Another version says he proposed at Boston’s Omni Parker House hotel, in a restaurant near the press room where friends threw his bachelor party and where he made his first speech at six years old.

Yet one rumor sends Kennedy fans, history buffs and romantics straight to the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and N Street, Northwest. Martin’s Tavern, an intimate spot in the heart of Georgetown, says its booth number three is the where the Kennedys got engaged. And fourth-generation owner Billy Martin says the Kennedy clan has thrown its weight behind the story.

A haunt for the nation’s political elite in its heyday, Martin’s is known for food, service, and a clientele that never changes. In its 75 years, the restaurant has served every president from Harry Truman to George W. Bush, and the staff is itching to get Barack Obama through the doors.

Did you or someone you know go looking for love in the "In Search Of" ads in The Washingtonian?

We're looking for stories about personal experiences, dates gone right or very, very wrong, and marriages that started from an ad in The Washingtonian.

If you have a story to tell, please e-mail Lifestyle Editor Leslie Milk.

To read more Bridal Party posts, click here.

The author, Emily, married her high-school sweetheart, Chris, when she was 21, after they'd dated for five years. (Photo by Cheryl Pino)

I started dating Chris when I was 16, right after getting my driver’s license. We went to a private school in Pennsylvania. He was a junior; I was a sophomore. He was my first serious crush.

On our first date, we got takeout, had a picnic in the park, and talked for hours. By the time I got home, I was floating.

Over the next five years, we had our ups and downs, including the heartache of living in separate time zones during college. There were tears and fights, but the distance seemed to make our relationship stronger.

If you had told me after our first date that Chris and I would get married, I might have believed you. On June 25, 2005, when I was 21 and he was 22, that’s what we did. His aunt handled the flowers, friends made the cake and snapped the photos, and my brother-in-law—a minister—performed the ceremony.

Before I knew it, we were moving into our first apartment, starting our first jobs, and having our first marital argument. All that, plus graduating from college, in less than six months. It was a lot to handle at our ages.

Still, we never thought we were too young, and neither did our families. My parents met in high school and married right out of college. Chris’s parents married later, but they weren’t shocked by our engagement—I’d been part of the family for years.

Three years later, we’re still among just a handful of our friends who have gotten married. When people notice my ring finger, they usually ask, “How old are you?” When I tell them I’m 24, I have to stifle a smile as they try to hide their surprise.

After work, I’m jumping on the $25 bus bound for my NYC bachelorette party. My girlfriends have the weekend pretty much under wraps, but I’ll give you all the juicy details in a post next week!

This past weekend, Drew and I drove down to Virginia Beach for a sunny July Fourth to visit a friend, Charlotte, who is also our wedding’s singer and scripture reader. We had a great time catching up with her and her family, playing in the pool, zooming on the Jet Ski, and swimming in the ocean, though we did get sunburned, stung by jellyfish, and bitten by horseflies. Note to self: No crazy adventuring right before the wedding unless we’re okay with lobster-colored (maybe peeling) skin and red welts in the wedding pics.

Last week I mentioned scheduling a meeting with our wedding photographer. As anyone who has planned a wedding knows, photographers are très cher. In our online search of Nashville photographers, we found many who charged $4,000-plus for just a few hours, which would not include rights, prints, or an album.

As the office emptied early on the final Friday before The Washingtonian’s July deadline began, I hunkered down at my computer to listen to my brother Blake’s baseball game. His Lipscomb University Bisons had traveled I-24 East from our native Nashville to Athens, Georgia, for the first round of the NCAA tournament, and I didn’t want to miss a pitch.

For Blake, I knew this was as good as it gets. School was out, and his one care in the world was the game.