The Aftermath of a Wedding

1) My nails are in terrible shape. You can tell exactly how much they’ve grown in the past month because you can see where they filed the heck out of them before gluing on the fake nails. It’s going to take some time for them to grow enough to get rid of the ugliness that also makes them break off in sheets a lot faster than normal. Argh. I think this is a thinly veiled ploy by the nail salons. They make your real nails look like crap so you have to keep going back to them to make them look pretty…

2) Adam is constantly telling me that I need a hair cut. I started growing my hair out last year so the hair stylist would have a little more to work with. I haven’t cut it since a week before the wedding. Adam wants me to chop it off back to above my shoulders. I want to grow it out indefinitely. Let the power struggle begin.

3) I have a wedding dress taking up room in the guest room closet because I can’t decide what I want to do with it. I really don’t have any reason to keep it other than the fact that it’s, well, my wedding dress. I’m 99.99% sure I’ll never wear it again. I don’t plan to keep it for a hypothetical daughter of mine to wear. So I’m at an impasse. Do I get it cleaned and preserved and keep it in the back of the closet or in the basement? Do I sell it (on eBay, to a consignment store, etc.)? People I’ve talked to so far are divided. There are those who look horrified when I suggest I might sell my wedding dress. Others are of the more practical camp and understand that it takes up space and is pretty much useless. I don’t know. I suppose I should decide eventually.

4) Along the same lines we also have a unity candle, wedding bears, and a bunch of other wedding stuff from the reception. Are you supposed to keep that stuff? Is it wrong to throw it in a box in the basement? Are you supposed to display it somewhere?

5) We still haven’t gotten around to printing any of the hundreds of reception and honeymoon photos. We recently got the professional pictures back and they’re sitting in a box by the computer. I think we need to go photo album and picture frame shopping…

6) My name-change process is moving along slowly. The corporate HR person at work is having problems getting me the paperwork (read: She keeps “forgetting” to send them to me through the intercompany mail system…) so although my email has the correct name, my paycheck, benefits, and 401(k) are all wrong still. I’ve changed my name at our main bank and ordered new checks with the correct address as well. I have a couple more credit cards to change along with the second bank. That’s the bank where the mortgage is though so I have a few more steps over there since I need to add Adam to that (well, not to the mortgage, but to the house deed.) My new SS card arrived today so I can get my new license now. Then we'll head to the insurance company and hope that our rates go down now. It’s going along easier than I anticipated but I’m sure I’ll still be in last name limbo for a few more months.

7) Thank-you cards have all been sent out for gifts received. I tried to do that as soon as I could so I didn’t forget about it. It seems like such a tedious process and most people (myself included) probably don’t really even read them unless you’re close to the person. Meh. Etiquette is annoying.

8) I’m already tired of people asking, “So, how’s married life?” It’s not really that different from “living in sin life.” What has changed? I guess I’ve got a slightly heavier ring to wear. I don’t know. It’s not that getting married wasn’t important. I just don’t see the life-changing aspects of it. Maybe I’m missing something or I need an attitude adjustment. Or perhaps since Adam and I lived together for awhile before we made it official I went through that transition a long time ago. I don’t really remember moving in together being some big shock or struggle though. It went pretty smoothly. But maybe I’m repressing memories… We do annoy each other occasionally, that’s for sure. We both have habits that the other finds obnoxious but that’s just how it goes. We’ve managed to be married for 27 days without fighting. Yay for us!

9) Fortunately the “So, when are you going to have kids?” questioning hasn’t started up yet. Well, except for one of our waitresses on the cruise ship. She served us at Le Bistro for our complementary honeymoon package meal/wine/cake deal. When she discovered we had just gotten married she suggested that perhaps we could start our family while on the cruise. I just laughed. No way.

10) I don’t really have anything else wedding related to say here but I figured a list with ten items was better-looking than a list with nine. Wait, I lied. We’ll be sending out announcements soon… whenever we get our act together and print some pictures. *sigh*