Your Post-Wedding Admin List

So you've made it down the aisle, partied the night away and managed to get away for a honeymoon... now married life can begin!

The conclusion of your wedding day doesn't mean your wedding admin (aka "wedmin"!) can finish up just yet. There's still a few must-dos on the list before you can wrap things up. No stress though, let's cover off what needs done (and we will give you some tips along the way).

Get your wedding photos and video

First priority for many couples is reliving their day again through the magic of photography. If you've signed a contract with your photographer, check through this to see when you should expect to see your photos. Most photogs get their photos to clients between 4 weeks and 4 months after, as they tweak the colours and work their magic - while juggling shooting other weddings. Good things take time, but once they are here, you can move onto...

Thank you cards

This is an often-dreaded part of wedmin, but flip it this way - if you've got lots of thank you cards to write, you have lots of people who love and celebrate you!

Heres's some wording ideas and advice to make this wedmin a little easier: Thank you card wording ideas.

And here's some design inspiration. Pick something that strikes your fancy, or match the rest of your wedding stationery:

Unsubscribe from Wedding Emails

Now you're done with the wedding planning, you can go ahead and unsubscribe from all the wedding spam! If your wedding date is noted on your Bestie Guestie email subscription, our email system won't send you wedding-planning related messages anymore. You can update your details here just to be sure (plus go in the monthly draw to win a voucher to put towards your wedding thank you cards maybe!)

Store your Wedding Photos

It's vital to store your wedding photos safely, so make sure to save your wedding photos. Many wedding photographers will give you a time-limited download link, a USB or a CD with your photos. Save these files onto your computer's hard drive but I would also recommend an online storage product such Dropbox (think worse-case-scenario, if your house burnt down).

Don't rely on your wedding photographer to keep a copy of your photos and DON'T rely on downloading from social media. When you upload your wedding photos to Facebook/Insta, they (Meta) compress your photos to be a bit smaller quality. This makes it faster to load when you're using cell data, but also degrades the quality of your photos for things like printing.

First wedding anniversary gift idea

While you are backing up those photos, perhaps select a favourite to get printed for your wedding anniversary?! Paper is the traditional gift for 1st wedding anniversary presents, so why not get your vows, a wedding reading or lyrics to your first song printed onto paper?!

A wedding commemorative print designed to match your wedding stationery is also a thoughtful idea:

Return your Rentals

This is a great task to delegate, especially if you pop off for your honeymoon straight after your wedding. Get anything hired back as soon as you can to save on late fees and receive back your bond, so you have cash on hand to...

Pay your vendors

Many of your wedding vendors will have been paid prior to the wedding day, but some don't require paid until the day of, or just after. If you're heading away straight after the wedding, set up a bill payment online so there's no delays in receiving those final bits (like the edited video, or your photos).

Change your last name

For those of us with hard to spell and/or pronounce last names, changing our last name is a major perk of marriage. And you may want to practice your new signature by signing all those thank you notes.

Here's some tips for changing your last name:

• Options for last names once married
• How to change your last name once you are married in NZ

Clean your wedding outfits

Whether you wore a dress, a tux or something in between - it's a great idea to get your outfit cleaned. This stops any stains or smells settling in and allows you to store or sell this special clothing guilt-free. There are professional services that do this, but I have to admit to a DIY clean of my wedding dress with some soap flakes and warm water in the bath.