With the wedding season coming to a close there are tens of thousands of newly wed couples that are trying to put the craziness of wedding planning behind them. So what are the next steps to normal married life? How do you dig out from under all the gifts, moving boxes and start normal life?
Here are 7 tips to help you get started.
1. Unwrap the Gifts – Start with the fun things first. Once you get back from your honeymoon sit down with your new spouse and open all of your gifts. Make sure you have a spreadsheet handy so you can write down who gave you each gift. This will come in handy when you start to write your thank you notes.
2. Send Your Thank You Cards - A thank you card is an essential part of any wedding. After all the hype of the wedding is over many couples may find it difficult to get the motivation to write their wedding thank you cards. Don’t fall into this trap. Your friends and loved ones took the time to support you on your big day and deserve your gratitude.
3. Pick Your Photos – Make sure to get with your photographer to select the photos you would like in order to give them time to touch them up. It may take your photographer weeks to do the final editing so don't delay in letting him/her know which ones you would like in order to not delay the process.
4. Change Your Name – Getting your named changed is a little bit of a process because you will need to get it changed with Social Security Administration, Your employer, DMV, banks, credit card companies, and the passport office. So start early and just work your way through them.
5. Updating Your Marriage Status – Getting married means you will need to update your health insurance as well as changing your tax status with your employer.
6. Get Rid Of Your Doubles – Many couple will find that once they get married they may have doubles of everything or that they may even have 5 of something thanks to their generous guests. If you know where the gift came from see if you can return it and if you don’t…get to know your new best friend eBay.
7. Plan a new adventure – You just started a new exciting life of having your best friend with you all of the time. Start planning your next big adventure to help fight off the after wedding blues.