Here's some advice on starting your life together from the book " Where to Seat Aunt Edna and 500 Other Great Wedding Tips" (Hundreds of Heads Books, www.hundredsofheads.com, $13.95), straight from people who've done it.
“When he carried me over the threshold after the honeymoon, it was really the first time we would live together. We spent much of the first week unpacking and arranging things so that we would both be comfortable, but we decided to make the first day special. I cooked a big dinner, and we ate by candlelight. If you want to keep romance a part of your marriage, for goodness sake, start right away. If you can’t be romantic right after you’re married, when can you be?”
—Loraine, Boston, number of wedding guests: 200
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“On your first night back from the honeymoon, you’ll be exhausted and kind of dazed. Make the first meal something special, even though you’re tired. Not necessarily fancy, but sweetly memorable. We had take-out Chinese, in our pajamas, but we ate it off of the new china we’d just received for our wedding. It was our first time using these dishes, and if that’s not a special occasion, what is?”
—J.C., San Francisco
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“Wedding certificates are too beautiful to stash away in a drawer. Consider framing yours instead. My husband and I were married at Walt Disney World, and our wedding certificate is stunning. It features a drawing of Cinderella and Prince Charming, and it’s signed by Mickey and Minnie Mouse. (Seriously, no kidding!) We had the certificate and one of our favorite wedding photos matted and placed within one large frame. It hangs right in the entryway of our home.”
—Anonymous, Hellertown, Pa.
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“We were very disappointed to discover that our wedding certificate was just a small black-and-white sheet of paper—hardly something to put on display. We looked around online to try to buy a fancier certificate and weren’t able to find one. So my husband and I designed our own and had a professional illustrator complete the picture. We started giving them as gifts to friends and family, and soon people started asking to buy them.”
—Tara Green, Atlanta, number of wedding guests: 120
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“My husband and I set it up ahead of time that for the first few months we would talk every Sunday and Wednesday about mundane household stuff, whether we thought we needed to or not. No matter how little I thought we had to discuss going in, we always ended up talking for hours about who would do which chores, how we liked them to be done, what was bugging us, setting priorities about spending, paying bills, and that sort of thing. I recommend this for all newlyweds to help avoid a lot of arguments!”
—Sarah, San Francisco, number of wedding guests: 168
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“By the time we got back from our honeymoon, it was just a couple weeks until Christmas. On the flight home we were talking about all the preparations we had to do for the holiday and how little time we had to do it. When we walked in, we saw that my family had completely cleaned our apartment and decorated it with a tree and everything. If you have a chance to do something for the newlyweds to make the start of their marriage easier, it will be appreciated.”
—Todd Charlesworth, Boston, number of wedding guests: 160
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© 2007, Hundreds of Heads Books, Inc.