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Weddings come with a lot of planning. Many couples may feel overwhelmed with the process of creating their perfect day and flinch at the thought of additional post-wedding planning. Others might be caught up in the moment and fail to think further ahead than the ceremony and reception. However, it’s important to also participate in planning for your post-wedding life and setting yourself up for happiness as newlyweds and beyond.
Planning for Life After Your Wedding
1. Prepare for Your Thank You Notes
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Thank you notes haven’t gone out of style and it’s important to send them to all of your guests, as well as your wedding vendors. While some sources say completing them any time within the first year of being married is acceptable, Brides.com says proper thank you card etiquette involves sending your cards within one to three months after your big day.
As much as you can, be sure to include personalized notes in your cards; though pre-printed cards are becoming increasingly acceptable for weddings with larger guest and vendor lists. Digital cards sent online are also becoming more popular for couples who don’t have the time to handwrite a card for every guest.
When it comes time to write and send out your thank you cards, consider ways to overcome the potential challenge of writer’s block. For example, if you’re stuck on what to include you can use a template for your cards. Or, if you need to break up handwriting and sending out your cards, then separating them into batches is a great option for you and your spouse. Make sure to keep detailed notes on things like which guest gave you which wedding gift so you can personalize all of your cards, regardless of what batch they’re in. If you do decide to batch your thank you cards, make sure to include your family, wedding party, and vendors in your first batch.
2. Plan Your Honeymoon
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There are a lot of details to plan in order to make your honeymoon run smoothly, and for many couples this means planning it at the same time that you’re planning your wedding ceremony and reception. The first big thing is to determine what type of honeymoon you and your partner want. Maybe a traditional honeymoon is your dream. Or, if you’re tight on budget or time, you could consider a minimoon. Another option that couples are choosing more and more is to take a solomoon. While it strays from tradition, the solomoon is a great possibility if you both work remotely or otherwise spend the bulk of your time together, allowing a change of pace and a relaxing start to your married life.
Regardless of the type of honeymoon you and your spouse plan on taking, it’s recommended you book your trip eight to twelve months in advance. If you’re planning to follow the tradition of embarking on your honeymoon right after your nuptials, then you’ll have to plan the trip while you plan your wedding. However, if you’re one of the many couples choosing to take a little time between your wedding and your honeymoon, you’ll have more wiggle room in your booking timeline and can reduce some of your planning related stress.
When booking your honeymoon, a travel agent can help by taking some planning and work off of your plate, but you should first be positive that your honeymoon budget allows for the use of an agent. Regardless of if you have someone else book it or you handle all of the planning yourself, it’s important for you to sit down as a couple to look at your finances, create a budget for the trip, and actually stick to it so you can avoid starting off your married life with financial stress.
When creating a budget for your honeymoon, you should also look at ways you can stick to and stretch the budget. Helpful things to consider include creating a separate savings account for your honeymoon fund and utilizing the option for your wedding guests to contribute money to your honeymoon as a wedding gift. You can also look into using credit card rewards or airline miles, check if resorts you’re interested in offer honeymoon packages, or consider booking alternate lodging arrangements, such as an AirBNB, for the trip.
3. Plan for Your Family and Your Future
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You’ll receive no shortage of advice on financial advice for newlyweds from various family, friends and professionals. This should tell you that finances are an important topic in a marriage. If you’ve never lived together or haven’t really discussed it in the past, you should create a household budget and set financial goals as a couple. Even if you don’t want to comingle your finances, it’s smart to consider a joint account you both can contribute to and use for household expenses like utilities and other bills. It’s also smart to create a savings account for any emergency expenses that you may encounter as a couple.
Another financial aspect to plan for is where you want to reside. If you currently rent but would like to own a home together, or your current home is small and you plan to have children, then it’s a great idea to start planning for buying a home early in your marriage. As part of this process, it’s important to ask yourselves “how much mortgage can we afford?” Talk with your spouse about how much debt you have combined, as well as your incomes, and determine what price range you should be looking in and how quickly you can save for a down payment. Be sure to include this savings goal in your household budget! Then, start discussing your dream home, must-have features, preferred cities and neighborhoods, and anything else that’ll be important to you when house hunting, and begin to execute your plan for homeownership as a couple.
Also, ensure you make space for handling necessary legal arrangements in a timely manner. Though you got a marriage license before your wedding, you still have to file your wedding certificate. The deadline to do this varies from state to state, so make sure you’re aware of when it needs to be done in your state. Also make sure to file for a name change if you plan to take your spouse’s name. Make updates to policies such as your life and health insurance if needed. And finally, update or make a will. These, and other, post-wedding tasks are necessary but can get lost in the shuffle of all the other planning you’re doing at this stage.
Final Thoughts
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Though there may be a lot of work that goes into planning your wedding, your future self will thank you if you take care of post-wedding planning at the same time. Consider making these and any other arrangements that may arise before you say “I do” so you can relax at the start of your married life.
Hearts, Joy, Love!
Jean
Looking for fun ideas, or need help with your wedding plans? Contact me today at [email protected] or by phone or text at 937-581-3647!
