What should you do after your wedding? Once the planning, the organizing, dreaming, is over, what do you do next? You spent so much time getting ready for this day, but it is over in the blink of any eye. Are you having wedding planning withdrawals? It was a big part of your life for so long. You dreamed of your wedding day since you were a little girl. Depending on when you got engaged or started really deciding what you wanted your wedding to be like, you have been preparing for your big day for months if not years. Do you feel a void now that it is over? Some newlyweds do, but being married is an adventure in itself. Now you are on the next chapter of your life and you should enjoy every moment. Now that your wedding is over, look at it in this perspective: I don’t have to feel stressed anymore. No more seating charts or making favors. I can just sit and relax and enjoy being an Mrs. Enjoy being with my husband and establishing our lives as a married couple.

I planned for my wedding for quite a while. My husband and I have been together for over eight years, so I had plenty of time to dream of and plan for my wedding. I did most of the planning myself, only having a day of coordinator, but I loved every second of it. I made a binder, did my own research, and had a ball with it. Our wedding was the most wonderful day of our lives thus far. The wedding was a blast. The reception, the way everything turned out beautifully and, of course, the hora. People are still talking about it. As much as I enjoyed planning, I have to say I am glad it is over. I do remember mostly everything that happened on our special day, but it did feel like it was over in a flash. We had an amazing honeymoon. Read about it here and here. We have been married for about five months now and marriage is bliss. However, sometimes I do miss preparing for my wedding.

So what can you do to fill that void? Spend time with your spouse. That after all is the reason why you planned an amazing wedding. Go on dates regularly. Dating should not end after you say “I do.” Every couple needs that alone time and bonding with their husband or wife.

Once you get married, and you attend other weddings, it is really fun to just be a guest at a wedding. All the fun with none of the stress. If you are in the wedding, you kind of get to re-live your own wedding but with a different perspective. You can give advice and help plan for your friend’s wedding too. After all, you are now an expert!

Another thing that will fill the void of no longer planning a wedding is looking at your pictures or your video. I have made several photo books of our wedding and honeymoon. The best sites are: Shutterfly.com and AdoramaPix. You can also scrapbook your wedding photos. I am in the process of making the ultimate wedding scrapbook. By the time I finish it will be massive, but I love paper crafting. I am also making a scrapbook for my honeymoon and all the wedding events, including engagement photos, showers, the rehearsal dinner, etc. Cut costs down on your honeymoon scrapbook by taking brochures from all the places you went and things you did and cutting out pictures from those to have unique embellishments and then you don’t have to buy as many stickers. And there’s always looking through your wedding board on Pinterest. I just looked though mine and it was neat to see the transitions in my planning process and what I liked from my pins compared to how the aspects of my wedding actually turned out. Looking at that Pinterest board actually inspired this blog post.

Things to do as Newlyweds

Here are some things you should do after you tie the knot:

• Enjoy your honeymoon: Spend time just the two of you somewhere tropical without the distractions of work/friends/family and the outside world.
• Write thank you notes: Make sure to do this within a couple months of your wedding. It helps to do them as you get gifts. I did all the thank you notes myself because I wanted to, but ask your husband to write some of them to share the task.
• Return the gifts you don’t want: Everyone gets gifts they wish they didn’t receive. It just happens. Going to the stores you registered and exchanging things you don’t want and getting the items off your registry that you really need/want. We still have credit to one store we registered at and don’t really need anything else. We really don’t know what to buy with it!
• Change your name: I am still going through the process. It is a headache. Go to Social Security before DDS first since Social Security (at least in GA) does not accept paper licensees that you first receive at DDS. Your new license will be mailed to you. Don’t forget to bring your certified copy of your marriage certificate. The most trouble I’ve had with the name change is the banks. What a pain! Here is a checklist for changing your name from The Nest.
• Review your vendors: I actually got a lot of free stuff for doing this. I got a free canvas print and a Shutterfly photo book. It makes your vendors feel great about the service they gave you, helps their business, and helps other brides planning. Not to mention it feels good letting your vendors know how much you liked them. I did reviews on Wedding Wire, WeddingChannel.com, and also sent emails to vendors as well as writing on their Facebook pages.
• Preserve your wedding gown: I was told not to go to a dry cleaner. Go to a processional wedding gown preservationist. They will clean and preserve your dress. I couldn’t justify spending as much money as the gown preservation business I contacted charged, so I went a different route. I called the place I got my wedding dress at and they told me about Memories Gown Preservation. You buy a kit, pack up and mail your dress and accessories and in two weeks they mail you your preserved dress in a keepsake box. It will last for thirty years. Maybe one day my daughter will want to wear my mother’s veil that I also wore.
  

  My preserved wedding dress!

Once you get engaged, everyone always asks you, “When’s the big day?” Once you get married, everyone asks you, “When are you planning on having kids?” I get asked this all the time, and it gets really old. The other day I stated that I was starving and a co-worker asked if I was pregnant. Some day down the road it will happen for us. We are not ready yet and want to live our lives, enjoy being married, and travel to Europe and other destinations before having kids. So, I know I speak for a lot of newlyweds when I say this- stop asking!

I hope this blog post gave some insight on life after the wedding. Wedding planning was a big part of your life for so long, so it’s natural to miss it. But what happens afterwards is something you want to cherish. So, enjoy married life and what’s to come!