Getting married is a huge step, and most couples spend around 18 months planning for it. There’s so much to do and to think about that very often what you need to do AFTER you tie the knot, gets forgotten about. As you take your first steps into your new journey, there are a few things you need to put on your checklist that will help you set off on the right foot! When the honeymoon phase ends and normal life resumes, you are going to want to have these 4 essential things ticked off your list.
Get organised with wedding day items
On your Big Day you will be given gifts, cards, and all sorts of lovely things. What you need to remember is, that when your wedding day is over, you will need to bring it all home with you.
You will hopefully have some of your beautiful wedding cake remaining, and any decor bits you may have provided yourself. so it’s a REALLY good idea to plan where it’s going to go in your home. Why not buy a couple of large storage boxes? (The Really Useful Storage Box company make stacking boxes in 35 litre and 64 litre which are available from Amazon, Hobbycraft, Viking Direct, etc). Have these ready to take to the venue with you on the day after your wedding to pack everything into. Ask your best man or MOH to help fill the boxes with all your wedding bits and bobs so its all in one place.
When you get them home, they can live in a pre-planned space until you are ready to go through them, instead of being spread all over your home. Don’t forget to make a note of who gave you each gift as you open them – it is really embarrassing when someone asks if you liked their gift, and you have no idea what it was! It also makes writing the thank you notes much easier. This brings me to the next item on the list…
Write your thank you notes
Make sure you and your new spouse do this together. You will probably receive gifts not only on your wedding day but possibly beforehand and afterwards too, so get cracking with those pesky thank you notes! Handwritten thank you notes are still much preferred and appreciated by your guests, an email just seems too impersonal for a wedding gift.
Writing a few thank-you notes per day isn’t too much of a burden, but this will ensure that you don’t get behind and end up with a too-overwhelming pile of unwritten notes. A great tip is to write a few templates and pick the one that fits that guest the best, then personalise it. Sometimes it’s the getting going that’s the hardest part, so why not plan a takeaway evening and get them done that way.
Take time to relax
For the last goodness knows how many months, you have been planning your wedding. Whether that was in your mind or dealing with all the “wedmin”, wedding venue hunting, suppliers, dress/suit fittings, food tasting, and the million other things planning a wedding involves. It’s important that you take the time to look after yourself and your new spouse.
You want to start married life happy and healthy, not feeling grumpy and ill. If you aren’t going on a honeymoon, be sure to book a day alone together where you can just be present and in the moment with your new husband or wife.
Changing your name – if you wish to
Write a list of all your accounts & important documents, starting with the most important. Then do a little research on how you go about the name change. From experience, we know that name changes on driving licenses and passports carry a fee, whereas things like bank accounts and insurance policies will be free.
For all name changes they will need to see your marriage certificate, so keep it in a safe place after your big day. This is something that can be a bit of a nightmare if you don’t get completed in a timely fashion as we all know paperwork likes to hide in forgotten places. If you find it too difficult to complete on your own, there are companies out there to help you.
Top tip: Be sure to inform your employer and GP surgery of your marriage, even if you are not changing your name, they need to update your next-of-kin information.
Just following these few tips will help to smooth the pathway into married life, when there seems so much to do and you are still on a high after your fabulous wedding day.