You’ve spent the past few months in a wedding whirlwind. Once you’re back from your honeymoon, it’s time to start really living. There are, however, just a few things to sort out before your happy ever after.
Honeymooning couple
1 Order Wedding Photos
As soon as you get back in the door, the first thing you will think about is your wedding photos. You’ll be desperate to see how they look and yet it can take several weeks to get them back from the photographer. Get in touch as soon as you can to arrange a viewing and get your wedding albums or disc ordered. You might also want to consider ordering a photo book and some framed portraits or canvasses for your home and extras for your close family. Framed photos make a lovely thank you gift for your bridal party and you may want to send a wedding photo with your thank you cards.
Photos courtesy of Rebecca and Peter’s Real Wedding
2 Send Thank you Cards
You might have received some wedding presents before you went on your honeymoon but chances are you will receive even more on your return. Now is the time to go through each gift, note down who it was from and thank them for their present with a very special thank you card.
Photo courtesy of Claire and Conal’s Real Wedding
3 Invest Any Cash Wedding Gifts
If you didn’t have a formal gift list but instead asked for cash then these cash gifts will need to be banked as soon as possible. If you asked guests to pay into a newly set up account then this is the time to check your balance and make a decision together on how the money is to be spent or invested.
4 Change Your Name
When you signed the register you legally took on the choice to use your husband’s surname or continue using your own. If you want to keep your maiden name for personal or career reasons then you are legally entitled to do so and no documents need to be changed. If, however, you would like to take your husband’s surname then you can change your name on all official documents such as your passport, drivers license and bank accounts by showing your marriage certificate. If you both want to change your names to double-barrel your surname then you will need to do this through Deed Poll.
5 Have Your Wedding Dress Cleaned
Whether you intend to wear it again for special occasions, sell it, or keep it, you will need to have it cleaned. Take your dress to a specialist dry cleaners where it will be boxed in acid-free tissue paper to ensure it does not discolour. The Empty Box Company do beautiful wedding dress boxes so you can keep it in style.
Photo courtesy of the Empty Box Company
6 Preserve Your Bouquet
If you decide to preserve your bouquet you could have it dried and framed to hang on the wall. It could even become a family heirloom in years to come.
Preserved wedding bouquet
7 Spring Clean Your Home
A new beginning is the perfect time to spring clean the old and start afresh. Make space for all your new wedding gifts with a thorough spring clean you do together.
8 Plant a Love Bush
If you have a garden, or even if you have just a window box, it’s lovely to mark the occasion of your marriage by planting a bush to symbolise your growing love for each other. Pick a hardy evergreen that will blossom and flower year after year and remind you how strong your love can grow.
9 Plan a Party
For anyone who couldn’t make it to the wedding, particularly if you got married abroad, plan a party. It will help you to beat any ‘post-honeymoon blues’ you may be feeling now all the excitement has died down and give you both a new focus and something to look forward to.
10 Start as You Mean to Go On
This is more important than any spring clean or name change document, it is about building strong foundations for your future together and making a commitment to always be kind to each other, to never go to bed on an argument and to learn the art of compromise. Because after that comes your happy ever after.
