Too Much Tattoo?

In high school, I was a little…different. I often visited my neighbor’s home for tea and Mehendi. She’d cover my palms in ornate designs and we’d chat about life. At 16, I’d go into school, a German/Irish blonde, with amazing henna tattoos displayed on my hands, as if I were to be married to a sheik within hours. This type of tattoo originated in Egypt, India and the Middle East.

I've never been a fan of permanent tattoos for myself. I've seen beautiful ones and not so beautiful ones on many people. Fiance has one on his shoulder that says in beautiful Arabic script, "I put my trust in God." Though he’s not of Arabic decent, it’s always been coincidentally funny to me how he has been drawn to the beauty of the language and the aesthetic of the art from that culture. We both studied Arabic in college before we ever met. And this coincidence is just one in a thousand that assure me God created Fiance and I for each other, that we’ve always grown to love the same things even before we met.

So now, as the wedding gets closer, there has been talk by Fiance of wanting to get a second tattoo, and the occasional question of whether or not I will get one, too…and we’re not talking about getting tattoos of each other’s names or anything wedding or us-related at all. Just a general tattoo.

I’ve been thinking about surprising him on our wedding day by having my feet covered in traditional henna tattoos…

...and also getting a real one. Something he wouldn’t know about until our wedding night. I’ve been bouncing ideas around of what, exactly, I would get..considering I have a father who has on many occasions told me he would disown me if I ever got one. It’s not something I ever even expected myself to consider. Whatever I get, it'll be small and unable to been seen in a two piece bathing suit.

I could pull an Angelina Jolie and tattoo the latitude and longitude of the place we first met or where we exchange our vows, like she did with the birthplaces of her children.

I could get his name in the same Arabic script he has. I could get his life’s mantra, “It’s not what you look at, but what you see.” Any thoughts? Have you guys ever seen anything cool that’s not too overdone and small enough for a very apprehensive tattoo-ee?