After the vows: what to do post-wedding

You’ve tied the knot, danced the night away, and maybe even returned from your honeymoon. But your wedding journey isn’t completely over yet. There’s a surprising number of tasks left to wrap up post-wedding.

From final payments to thank-you cards and legal paperwork. To help you close the loop and start a stress-free married life, here’s your post-wedding checklist.

Tasks to tick off post-wedding

Settle outstanding payments

There’s a lot of vendors and suppliers who help to make a wedding come together. Although some take full payments beforehand, there’s a few who will take deposits and will want full payment after the day. Make sure that you have paid all outstanding invoices. If you want to tip any vendors or staff, now is the time to do it.

Leave your vendor reviews

It might not seem that important for you, but leaving honest reviews for your vendors can really help future couples. Giving your vendor a nod of appreciation can go mile for their business. It only takes five minutes.

In fact, if you leave a review on Easy Weddings, you could win $2,500 for your honeymoon. Win!

Send thank-you notes

Your guests came from far and wide, and they might have even bought you a gift. Within 4-6 weeks post-wedding it’s time to send out some thank-you notes. Sure, snail mail might seem like a thing of the past, but a personalised thank-you goes a long way. 

Bonus: including film photos of those guests at your wedding and reception for the guests’ own keepsake so they can also have long-lasting memories of your big day.

Organise and preserve your wedding photos

Choosing your favourite weddings photos will be overwhelming, as there is so many that capture the big day. Spend some time picking the best selects and create a digital album that you can share with the guests to relive the memories.

Save them down onto the cloud should disaster ever strike and get your favourite ones printed, because there’s nothing that says romantic nostalgia like flipping through the physical album.

Take care of the legal stuff

Prior to getting married, you should have filed your notice of intended marriage (NOIM). After this has been done, you or your celebrant will file the marriage certificate and get you officially married in the eyes of the government! Sure, it’s not romantic – but it’s making it official

Review your budget and receipts

Yeesh, no one likes this part. It’s time to look at what your budgets were and what the outgoings were. You’ll need to sit down with your wedding spreadsheet and reference your receipts. Store the paperwork for any returns, exchanges or even tax deductions. 

Preserve your dress and bouquet

Weddings are a big day, and it’s not unusual for your dress to come out, well, not exactly spotless. Drinks, the floor, a bit of food, some makeup. These are totally normal consequences of a brilliant day well spent! But it should be professionally cleaned within the month.

As for your wedding bouquet, if you chose not to toss it you might be wanting to get it preserved. Air-drying and preserving flowers or choosing to repurpose them into keepsakes has become popular. 

Return or donate items and decorations 

From suits to linens and decor, there’s a lot that you might have rented for the day that charge daily fees after late returns. It might not seem like the most romantic thing to do a post-wedding haze, but returning those items will save you in the long run.

If you went down the road of decorating it yourself and picked up knick-knacks along the way, vintage stores will love it! Table runners, candle holders, unused tea light candles. Put it back into the vintage and wedding economy for that hit of sustainability.

If you’re after a stylist who can help you source the perfect trinkets and decorations, peruse our suppliers.

Enjoy the ride

After all the dust has settled, the bills are paid and the paperwork is taken care of, it’s time to enjoy wedded bliss. Put your feet up, have a glass of wine. Look at your husband/wife and remember what it was all for.