Making the post wedding blues a bit more pink...

For my first weeks's Wedding Wednesday post I'm going to kick off with the question I've been asked the most since we got back from honeymoon - 'is it really depressing being back in the real world?' My answer is a resounding 'um...no?' People seem to expect you to get hit with the post wedding blues and I suppose there's an element of feeling sad it's all over. But the way we have always seen it is that all the planning, designing, making and dreaming we went through on the run up was for one reason: to have an amazing day which celebrated our love for each other and to spend it with our favourite people in the world. We achieved this and the day itself was better than either of us could have hoped for, genuinely the cliche of the best day of our lives. To be blue that it's happened and went so brilliantly would, in my opinion, be churlish and a little bit ungrateful.

Besides, there are so many things to look forward to after your first night as mr and mrs. Here are my top ten tips for keeping the feel good factor alive and well in the days and months following your big day...

1. Have another shindig the day after your weddingThis may sound bonkers and the last thing you want to think about, but I'm not talking about anything stressful - just get your besties together again for a bloody Mary, some carbs and a debrief. If you're going away on honeymoon straight after the wedding this may be your best chance to see people properly, hear about the wedding from their point of view (I missed lots of gossip as it was happening at my wedding being too busy on the dance floor...) and bask in the glow of being newlyweds. If you've had a marquee wedding it's a great chance to reuse it and there's also the chance to buy another dress...

2. Go on or plan your honeymoon!Somewhere hot with your new life partner and a cocktail

 or twelve. Nuff said.

3. Get your photos and / or video Socialising Sharing your photos via an online album or over Facebook is lots of fun and lets you relive the day with those who were there and show the people who weren't all the details. And make sure you include all the sweaty dance floor snaps and early non made up ones as well as the gorgeous pro shots - it gives a fuller picture of the fun you had as well as how lovely it all was!

4. New project: photo album!Lots of photographers offer a fabulous photo album service and this is a great way to get your photos in a physical way to show chums and family quickly. If, like us, your post wedding purse is too light to stretch to getting one of these straight after the wedding, get inv
 olved in creating your own. We used a great company called Blurb Books and could not be happier with our beautiful photo book which cost less than £60. Be warned: this option takes time and patience - luckily my boy has lots of both so he did the bulk of the book designing! I'll do a full post about using blurb on here soon.

Our wedding album and DVD - pics by Tino&Pip,
produced by Blurb and film by Rozier Wilkinson

5. De-wedding your homeI love lace and bunting as much, no probably more, than the next girl but clearing it up and getting presents out of their boxes was pretty exciting. I can have people over without having to frantically shove yards of organza into our bedroom once more!

6. Enjoy all your new found time togetherAs fun as wedding planning is, it's really lovely to have weekends that aren't all about guest lists and menu decisions. You'll be surprised how exciting it is having evenings in without a to do list! The focus of your wedding planning has been about the romance of your relationship - keep this going with special dinners a deux, trips to places you l
 ove but haven't had time to visit, homecooked meals made together and even the odd weekend away. 

Photography credit: Vladimir Nikulin

7. Stick to your wedding and / or honeymoon budget!A big reason many couples feel depressed after their wedding day is that they have got into debt to pay for their wedding and honeymoon. Decide on a budget and stick to it so you aren't horribly poor after the big day. We did a honeymoon gift list so we got the money we spent on our honeymoon back into our bank account via contributions from our very generous guests - we used Buy Our Honeymoon and it was a great way to ensure your guests felt like they were contributing to the trip you were dreaming of, not just randomly giving you money.

8. Catch up with your bridesmaidsInvite your bridesmaids over for dinner or go out for some drinks to catch up on what's been going on with them while you've been in wedding land. After all, they did sit through you trying on 34 dresses...

9. Become the model wedding guestRSVP on time, offer your assistance at things you are good at, give a gift that you would have loved, attend the hen /stag do and hit that dancefloor hard - those who did it for you helped to make your wedding day so return the favour when you get the chance.

10. Keep things in perspectiveRemember that first and foremost your wedding is about the ceremony that officially unites you as a couple and commemorates this with the people you love. Keeping this in mind throughout the planning will mean it will be fun but not an obsession. Living only for your wedding day will mean you feel bereft when it's over - keeping a sense of clarity throughout will mean you'll find out that being newlyweds is pretty damn special too.