You’ve exchanged the requisite vows, cut and enjoyed the wedding cake, perfectly executed your first dance as a newly-wed, thanked the guests and enjoyed the honeymoon. Now what? It’s back to reality, that’s what!

Many brides-to-be anticipate the anxiety associated with planning a wedding but not the subsequent post-wedding blues. As a matter of a fact, not many brides talk about it at all!

While many couples plan the details of what they want for many months, and as thrilled as they are to finally be husband and wife, post-wedding anxiety does exist.

This usually kicks in when the newly-weds realise that they no longer need to focus on ensuring every aspect of the wedding is perfect. Indeed, while some newly married couples settle into their new lives together, others feel sad, and even let down once the much-anticipated celebration is over and there’s the sudden shift to their routine.

What is post-wedding blues?

This is a term used to describe the feeling of anticlimax after the ceremony and the honeymoon are over and the reality or ordinariness of married life kicks in.

What causes post-wedding blues?

1. When reality hits after the wedding.

2. The spotlight is gone.

3. If you’ve been using your wedding day as a way to get some much-needed attention, the comedown will be tough.

How to manage post-wedding blues

1. Focus on your long-term relationship. Pay attention to your day-to-day life, especially your relationship with each other. Having an open conversation will bring you closer to each other and this will help to prevent post-wedding blues.

2. Understand that the wedding and the marriage are different. While your wedding day may be over, your married life has just begun. Be mindful of this and shift your focus back from the excitement of having lived the best day of your life, to living with your partner for the rest of your life.

3. Planning something fun together with your other half is a great way to get through the period of the post-wedding slump.

4. Tack a post-wedding to-do list:

Send thank you cards — This is one of the most important and obvious things to do after the wedding. Sending out thank-you cards to various people. When it comes to putting things out into the open, the earlier you can do it, the better.

Create a wedding album — Between hiring a professional wedding photographer and crowdsourcing from your hashtag, you’re sure to have a big cache of photos and video content from your big day.

Change your last name — If you’re keeping your last name, you’re all set. If you’re taking your partner’s last name, hyphenating both your last names, you can start the process right after the wedding.

Plan something new to look forward to — Remember that you have a lifetime of memories to look forward to as a married couple, be it as complex as buying a house together, or as sweet and simple as planting a garden or adopting a new pet. When you focus on these, you’ll never be short on happy things to look forward to!