Southern Weddings

I’m sure you all know the feeling of following the Instagram rabbit hole… you click through an ever-lengthening chain of photos and profiles until suddenly you land on something that makes you stop and say aaaaah, this must have been what I was looking for. That’s how I felt when I stumbled upon Emma’s profile. As one half of a couple who loves to travel, I was immediately impressed by the adventures Emma and her husband Wesley had under their belts while still in their twenties. Today, they’re stopping by Southern Newlywed to share a few of their best tips for couples traveling together!

Husband and wife: Wesley Teague, 29, and Emma Teague, 27
Years married: 5
Where you live: Birmingham, AL
Tell us a little bit about yourselves. Wesley is enough extrovert for the both of us. He enjoys being active outdoors and is always making new friends. Emma likes reading blogs and books, amateur gardening, and cuddling with our cat. We love binge watching TV shows, spending time with our church community and our families and, of course, traveling.

Tell us your love story in one sentence. (Wesley) While sitting next to one another in a Spanish class, Emma’s first compliment to me was, “Hey, you have nice teeth.” (What she really meant was “I love you!”), and the rest is history ;)
What is your favorite part of being married? We don’t take ourselves too seriously; we’re constantly laughing and being goofy together. Finding humor in the day to day is just one small thing we enjoy about doing life together.
What is your favorite memory from your wedding? (Wesley) It was late August in Alabama; the heat was like a fog sitting over the property. Twenty minutes before the ceremony, it started to rain. We were minutes from moving everything inside a covered barn, but the rain retreated and gave us a beautiful background on which we could start our life together. During our ceremony, we planned to remove each other’s shoes as a symbol of the sacred covenant we were making with the Lord (and we were married on a farm, so it was quite fitting). As previously stated, it was warm outside and when Emma tried to delicately remove my shoes, they were stuck to my feet because sweat and leather don’t mix well. Haha! I eventually had to help out and it was just a beautiful and funny reminder that we’d always be working and fumbling through this adventure together.

Before getting married, I wish someone had told me… how it feels like we’re constantly doing laundry. We’re always cleaning out our closet in hopes that it will lighten the load.
Tell us about your favorite vacation you’ve ever been on. That’s such a tough question. The experiences are always different and we like certain places for certain reasons. We lived in Spain for our first year of marriage and that was like an extended honeymoon. It’s our favorite for sentimental reasons. Last year, we took a road trip down Hwy 1 and the scenery was amazing – something beautiful around every corner. We ended up in Palm Springs/Joshua Tree where we traded in our sweaters for swimsuits and fruity drinks. It was the perfect end to such an amazing road trip. It’s hard to beat that West Coast. We’re headed to Iceland in a few weeks and I’m pretty sure it’s going to give our other trips a run for their money.

Favorite city: Amsterdam
Favorite way to travel: By train
Do you have any tips for saving money while planning travel or while traveling? We usually have a budget in mind before we go anywhere. We pick a place and then make that trip fit the budget. We use AirBnB and Priceline a lot! We’ve bid and won so many great deals when we travel. Sometimes we stay in “cheaper” accommodations so we can splurge one or two nights of our trip. Also, we make our own food a good bit. That will save you $10-$20 per meal. Road trips usually consist of a lot of PB&J. Also, we don’t pay for tours very often. A friend of ours recommended we use Rick Steve’s FREE audio guides. It’s just one of the many great resources you can use as a self-guide when seeing a city.

How does travel fit into your life? Do you have to make any sacrifices to travel like you do? If so, what? We’re so thankful that we get to travel for work. We often tag on an extra day or two if we’re shooting in a place we’ve never been before. As far as sacrifices are concerned, we’re pretty frugal and we’re always saving for our next trip. We prefer experiences to material things most of the time.

The close proximity and unknowns of long trips can sometimes be stressful. Do you have any tips for a husband and wife traveling together? We’ll preface this question with the fact that we spend 98% of our time together because we both work (and live) at home. We like to think our communication has a slight advantage on the average relationship simply because we have a lot of practice. Haha!

We love this question because anything can happen on a trip. Wrong turns, missed flights, layovers, language barriers, other humans, appendicitis (on our honeymoon) and my pride… the list goes on. One time Emma and I lost each other for 20 minutes in a crowded train station in Belgium. We had no cell phones and our train was leaving. I had NO IDEA what happened to her. I freaked out – running back and forth, calling her name… it was like a scene from the movie Taken except I didn’t have to kill anyone. Turns out, she went to the restroom. Just like with marriage as a whole, forgiveness and communication is key. Don’t leave anything implied. You should apologize with no strings attached and if you need some alone time, you can do it on the plane, train, or car ride to your next awesome destination.

Any tips for those planning a honeymoon? We always say go big or go home. Do something or go somewhere neither person has experienced. If you are on the fence about anything, just do it! We promise you won’t regret it. You have this one honeymoon and the rest of your life to be frugal and save.
Why do you love to travel? To travel together? We’ve been traveling together since the beginning of our relationship. We studied abroad together in Spain and that’s where our wanderlust really began. It’s been an ongoing part of our relationship and something we truly enjoy doing together. We feel so alive when we’re out experiencing cultures and taking in new landscapes.

Favorite memory or experience while traveling: (Wesley) The last evening of a road trip through the South of France with Emma and my brother, we drove into the medieval town of Collioure. We ate crepes at 1am, roamed the city under the glow of “super moon,” tried to sleep in the car, and watched the sunrise over the water while sitting on the walls of a 1500-year-old church. Pretty surreal. (Emma) My visit to a public Hamman (bathhouse) in Marrakech is one I’ll never forget. I was invited by a middle-aged Scottish woman who happened to be staying in our hostel. After being told to strip down and wait, I wasn’t quite sure what I was getting into. I have an eye-opening memory of being scrubbed head to toe by a gray-haired Moroccan woman. A cultural experience that I’ll always cherish!

As photographers, we take a lot of photos and carry around a pretty big arsenal of camera gear when we travel. It’s ingrained in us to want to document each and every moment and subsequently share it with the world, but on the contrary we love the line from the movie “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, where the photographer, Sean O’Connell shares, “If I like a moment, for me, personally, I don’t like to have the distraction of the camera. I just want to stay in it.” We don’t have many images from the two experiences above, but they’ve changed us all the same.

Thanks so much to Emma + Wesley for coming to chat with us today! In addition to being travel bugs these two are talented wedding photographers, and all of these photos are theirs. Follow their adventures on instagram (@emmateague, @woonteague, and #travelingteagues).

Written with love by Emily