Congratulations! You did it; you got married! The knot has been tied and you are officially newlyweds.
But now what? What happens after you get married?
After months (or even years) of touring venues, trying on outfits, creating timelines, scheduling appointments, gathering addresses and rewriting vows, the big day has come and gone. So where do you go from here?
Below we’re sharing five things to do now that you’re married. Some of them are practical (like writing those thank you cards!) and others speak more to how your life will change now that you’re past the wedding stage and entering your marriage.
Deep breaths! Remember, this is the whole reason why you had a wedding in the first place!
5 things to do now that you’re married
1. Take care of any post-wedding to do’s
Just because the band has gone home and the cake has been cut doesn’t mean your wedding is totally over. You may still have some tasks on your wedding planning to do list post-reception.
Here are a few post-wedding tasks you may need to take care of:
- Make any final vendor payments (including tips)
- Send thank you cards to your guests (we have a thank you card template you can copy!)
- Leave reviews for your vendors
- Donate, sell or return any wedding items you no longer need
- Store/preserve any special mementos, such as your wedding outfit or a piece of cake
2. Enjoy using your new names and titles
After your wedding day, you and/or your partner may decide to change your last name(s). This it totally optional, and there are more ways to do it than simply having the woman take the man’s last name in a hetero relationship.
If you’re interested in changing your last name, check out our guide to changing your last name in BC, Ontario and Oregon.
Once you’ve gone through the hard work of changing your last name officially, you can enjoy the fun part of changing your name socially (PS: you may also decide to only change your name socially and still use your given name legally). Have a blast changing your handles on social media and updating your work directory.
Even if you’re not changing your last name, you and your partner may still identify with new titles after your wedding, like wives, husbands, spouses, etc. There’s something so fun about using those titles when they’re brand new to you!
3. Experience the post wedding blues (they’re normal!)
Sadly, after a wedding usually comes the post wedding blues. This is a real thing and happens to many newlyweds. It only makes sense that after months of planning for this big event, you’ll feel a little blue when it’s all over. Accept that it’s totally normal to feel sad, empty or down after your big day.
Be kind to yourself and give yourself what you need to move through a time that isn’t rainbows and sunshine. For some people, that might mean carving out some alone time to journal, meditate, go to the spa or cozy up with a book.
For others, you may prefer to work through your blues by surrounding yourself with friends or discussing things with your new partner. If you don’t think you can handle your feelings alone, do not be afraid or embarrassed to reach out for professional help.
4. Keep the celebration going after your wedding day
Not ready to stop the party? Great, keep it going! You can keep your wedding going to avoid (or at least delay) the big come down.
You can do this by hosting post-wedding events, like a morning after brunch or a full out wedding weekend of activities. This is also a great opportunity to spend time with out of town guests who came in for the wedding. Host a BBQ on the beach, a picnic in the park or a bar crawl to spend more time with your far-away loved ones.
Of course, you can also keep the wedding celebration going in your daily life. Think of the things you loved most about your wedding – how can you incorporate those things into your everyday life?
Maybe you had the best time on the dance floor at your reception, so you sign up for ballroom lessons with your new spouse to keep your dancing feet from getting cold. Or maybe the food blew you away, so start trying out new recipes at home and checking out your local food scene. Or perhaps it was the moments with loved ones that meant the most to you, and so you start hosting dinner parties to see more of your favourite people.
5. Look forward to things outside of your wedding
Your wedding was awesome but surely there’s a lot more in your life and your marriage that you can start looking forward to. Maybe you’re heading off on an awesome honeymoon, putting a down payment on a house, moving to a new city, adopting a pet, planning to grow your family or getting a big promotion at work. All of these milestones will give you something wonderful to look forward to post-wedding.
Of course, there are small things to look forward to as well. Look forward to your weekly date night, a new movie coming out and getting all of the photos back from your wedding photographer.
And definitely look forward to all of the wedding chores you don’t have to do anymore. No more squeezing into uncomfortable fancy wedding shoes, no more emails with countless vendors, and no more annoying phone calls about napkins colours or guest lists with your nosy Aunt Vicky.
What comes next after your wedding? Your marriage!
Your wedding was one day. Hopefully, it was a great day. But it was still one day in your entire lifelong marriage.
It shouldn’t be that your wedding is this great highlight and everything else is downhill from there. Your lifelong marriage is the exciting part! Remember, the whole point of your amazing, incredible wedding is your marriage. That’s the reason for the party.
So what comes next? Making your marriage even more incredible than your wedding. All of that time, money and energy you spent on your wedding – put that into your epic marriage. Your relationship is worth it.
Sure, it might not be dressing up, dancing and fancy gifts every day. But it will be so much better!
