Wedding Day is Over, What’s Next?

Photo by lucas mendes on Unsplash

After months of planning and organizing and making hundreds of calls to ensure that everything goes as planned on your wedding day, it’s totally acceptable for you and your partner to feel exhausted.

Getting married to the love of your life is a big life event, and after focusing all your energy finding the most beautiful decor for the venue and hiring the best wedding photographer you can find, you and your now spouse deserve to have some time for yourself to just relax, unwind, and enjoy that post-nuptial bliss.

That being said, there are still a number of things to be crossed-off from your checklist, so if you’re not heading for your honeymoon immediately after your wedding, here’s what you can do next.

Even if you’ve put effort into planning a wedding registry and put a variety of things on it, chances are, you’re still going to end up with gifts you don’t want or need. Your guests may purchase duplicates, give you off-registry gifts, or give you gifts that are not exactly your style.

After your wedding day is over, you’ll want to take stock in your wedding gifts and see what you did and did not get. Then, you’ll need to take the items you don’t necessarily want or need within 30-60 days back to the store and exchange them for something you do want.

After you’ve purchased what you want, you can take down your wedding registry as well as your wedding website (if you’re paying to host it).

After the big day is over, you’ll want to preserve your wedding attire for as long as possible. This will mean having your wedding dress or a suit professionally cleaned – the sooner the better.

Even if you don’t plan on passing down the dress to your daughter, it’s still great to preserve it and keep it as a reminder of the happiest day of your life and how great you looked on your wedding day.

Speaking of memories, you will also need to order your wedding album. While you’ve probably shared digital photos on your social media profile, you’ll want to have an actual album – especially if that’s something you paid for as a part of your wedding photography package.

Photo by sept commercial on Unsplash

Moving in together after getting married signifies the official start of your future life together, although cohabiting before marriage is quite common in America.

You’ve probably had the talk with your partner about where you want to live after getting married. Some couples may decide to stay in close proximity to their families and friends. Others, however, may decide that it’s time to move to a different city or state as this gives them a lot more options.

For instance, places such as North Carolina seem to be attracting a growing number of homebuyers due to picturesque nature and a blend of community-style residences and urban residences. If this sounds appealing, checking out new construction homes for sale in Raleigh NC would be a great place to begin the search for your dream home. The city itself has seen a stable economic growth as well as a rise in population over the last decade or so, and newly constructed homes are particularly sought-after. With a wide range of layouts and designs to choose from, you and your partner will be able to easily find a place you can call home.

If you were planning on taking your spouse’s name, you will be able to do so after receiving your marriage license. Changing your name on all of your accounts can be a bit time-consuming, so it’s best to start early so you don’t forget to do it later on and cause any unnecessary headaches.

From social security card to passport to driver’s license, you will need to collect all your documents and cross them off of your checklist as soon as they’re updated.

If you and your spouse decided to move after getting married, your address is also something that will require some updating of its own. Make it a priority to notify the Post Office and your utility providers about your new address before moving.

All the secondary providers, including financial institutions, government and public offices, home services, insurance and subscriptions, can be notified after you move to your new place. Don’t forget to give your family and friends your updated address as well – sending a mass email would be perfectly fine.

While your wedding day may be over, your life together is just starting. Be sure to cross these things off your checklist so you can start married life on the right foot.