You are officially married and your wedding day was everything that you hoped and dreamed! Now that the wedding is over, there are a few things that you need to do to officially wrap everything up.
Take Care of Any Preservations
If you are planning on preserving your florals, wedding attire, or anything else; you will need to do this ASAP! Your wedding flowers will need to be preserved as soon as the wedding is over to make sure they will look their best. You will also need to get your wedding attire cleaned as soon as possible too before any stains set it. Even if you don't see stains on your wedding attire, they could still be there and present themselves later on. Go ahead and get them cleaned and preserved as soon as you can.
Return Any Rentals
If you rented anything for your wedding (such as suits), these usually need to be returned the next day or you will be billed for overtime. Package everything up and drop it off as soon as you can so you won't incur any additional charges. This is also something that you can delegate to someone else. Arrange for a friend, family member, or wedding party member to transport and return the rentals.
Send Thank You Notes
Although thank you notes do not need to be sent out the day after your wedding, you will still want to get these taken care of soon so you don't forget and so they don't get pushed to the back burner. If you received gifts before your wedding day, you can pre-write and send those as you receive those gifts. For gifts that you received at your wedding and for any thank you cards that you would like to give to your vendors, etc, go ahead and write those and send them. Ideally, thank you cards should be received by your guests within 3 months of the wedding day.
Review Your Vendors
If you are able, leave your wedding vendors a review. Just think about how you relied reviews when it came to choosing your wedding vendors. Your review can help other couples in their wedding vendor search. Your vendors will also really appreciate the review! For small business owners, reviews are invaluable!
Close Out Your Registry
Most registries will automatically close themselves out so many days after your wedding so you don't have to physically close your registries. However, some registries will give couples a small percentage off of anything that guests did not buy. If you had your heart set on a certain item and didn't end up receiving it as a gift, it may be a great option to save some money on that item!
Change Your Name
Lastly, if you are planning on changing your name after the wedding, you will want to get started on that process. You will need to start with the social security office and then update your drivers license, passport, utility companies, bank, payroll, and anyone else who has your name. However, if you are planning on going on your honeymoon, make sure you wait until after your honeymoon to update your drivers license and/or passport. Your airline tickets and reservations are more than likely in your maiden name and you won't want to run into any travel issues if the name on your ticket doesn't match your license/passport.
