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List of things to do after your wedding

After the stress of planning your wedding, and your wedding day is a fond memory, there is a list of things to do after your wedding that not many people remember. You can also explore our Wedding Ideas as you plan your day. Some of the things on the list can be as important as some of the things you planned for the wedding when you consider the fact that the entire reason why you spent so much energy planning your perfect day was not only for you, but also for your friends and family. It’s best to get these out of the way sooner rather than later too, as many of them require the memory of the day to remain fresh in your mind. So don’t forget about this list of things to do after your wedding, as in some cases you might set yourself up for disaster!

List of things to do after your wedding

Send out your thankyou cards

One sure-fire way to have guests complaining about your wedding day is to not show gratitude for them making the effort for being there. They’d also probably left you a generous gift, in addition to possibly giving you a gift for your engagement and spending a small fortune to get to your wedding day – if they live some distance away. A small token in the form of a thankyou card goes a long way to make everyone feel loved. Often you can ask your wedding photographer to quickly edit up an image or two to use for this occasion. Particularly if you plan the shot and bring along a sign, or banner that says ‘thank you’ or something similar.

Change your name

For those brides out there that are planning on changing their name as per tradition, I hope you’re aware that it doesnt automatically change? You need to go through a bit of a process to have your name changed, and your marriage certificate is only the start of the process. You will need to visit your bank, insurance brokers, immigration office, etc in order to actually change it!

Choose your photos

Once your wedding photographer has completed editing your photos, nows the time to select those precious few to create a timeless piece of art from. As a photographer, there is nothing better than seeing beautiful imagery framed professionally and printed on beautiful paper stock or canvass. This would also be the best time to select a larger number for your wedding album, the book that will be within arms reach for years to come in order for you to reach over and reminisce about your big day. It’s no use keeping your images on the USB, or your computer’s hard drive where no one will appreciate them, please PLEASE invest in producing proper heirlooms from your photography. You won’t regret it.

The Legal stuff

Ok, this bit is boring, but you must, for your new family’s sake, visit a lawyer and make sure everything is in order. Consider your finances, are you going to combine incomes and bank accounts? Have your sorted out any life insurance and executors of estates? Definitely sort out a will, and if there are any children involved, ensure their future. Make sure you add any new items such as engagement rings, or expensive gifts to your insurance. Possibly also consider family health insurance to save money?

Review your wedding suppliers

Many wedding vendors are small businesses that rely heavily on your testimonials after the fact. As a wedding photographer most of my business comes from people surfing the internet or hearing about my work from friends. Many couples will read reviews I’ve received from previous clients to gain an insight on how good I am. Leaving a favourable review on places like Facebook, Google and ABIA go a long way in supporting the business that made your day so memorable and will help any new couples with selecting the very best.

Head to the dry cleaners

Of all the things on this list of things to do after your wedding, this one may well be one of the first you’ll do before heading out on that honeymoon. Go and get that expensive dress dry cleaned! Unless of course you’re planning on having a ‘destroy the dress’ photoshoot. Same goes for the men’s suits if you bought them and not rented.

I’m sorry if you think I’ve just given you so much more to do on top of the stress of planning your perfect wedding, but going through this list is pretty important! Many newly weds forget about some of these and can be worse off for it. If you can think of any other items to add to this list of things to do after your wedding please feel free to comment below and I’ll add them!

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Why are wedding gowns white? A History

Elegant bride in white lace wedding dress holding a bouquet in a softly lit room.

Why are wedding gowns white?

It is perhaps the most iconic scene from any wedding day, the white wedding dress adorning the beaming bride. But why are wedding gowns white? And why do brides wear white? There is a huge number reasons, not in the least the fact that white is the brightest of colours, further enhancing the bride’s visibility on her big day, but it’s a tradition that has evolved over hundreds of years for a variety of reasons.

Why are wedding gowns white? A bit of history.

To be perfectly pedantic, the traditional colour of a modern white dress isn’t actually white, it’s more “Candlelight,” “Ivory,” “Ecru” or “Frost” when putting my graphic designer hat on.. But to the common layman, they all look like a white wedding dress, right? Anyway, the answer to the question of why are wedding dresses white all has to do with the popularity of some people who happened to wear white on their wedding day, and as a species who like to copy our idols, the fashion caught on and became tradition.

Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria of England who reigned from 1837-1901 was the first to make white wedding dresses fashionable by wearing a pale gown trimmed in orange blossoms for her 1840 wedding to her first cousin, Prince Albert. Naturally, because she was the queen and the center of all things high society at the time, whatever she wore, everyone tried to copy.

Kind of like how it is now with everything Kate Middleton, or any red carpet celebrity wears being reported on. As a bit of a side note here, Anne of Brittany also made white wedding dresses popular all the way back in 1499, believing that white was a symbol of virginity – despite being married once before. Royal brides also chose white as it was the most difficult solour to achieve using the washing methods of the day.

Before modern wedding gowns were made to be white by Queen Victoria’s wedding, it was quite common for wedding gowns to be any colour. In biblical times, blue (not white) represented purity, and the bride and groom would wear a blue band around the bottom of their wedding attire, contributing to the poem of ‘Something old, something new, something borrowed, something BLUE’.

The Traditional Colour used to be Blue!

Generally though, before Queen Victoria made it a tradition to wear a white wedding gown as a bride, the most common item of clothing a bride would wear was simply what her favourite, or best garment she had available to her and could be any color, even black. To convince her groom that she came from a wealthy family, brides would also pile on layers of fur, silk and velvet.

This was partly due to the fact that the more layers of clothing one wore meant the less body odor people were able to smell, being that bathing was not something people did often in those days.

In Modern times

Today though, the answer to the question of ‘why are wedding gowns white?’ seems to be primarily because in modern society the colour symbolises innocence, purity and certainly makes the bride stand out in a crowd, like the princess she’s made out to be on her wedding day. It may also be just ‘because’, as that’s what everyone else does right? It’s tradition! 🙂

Everything on a wedding day has some sort of roots in tradition, some going back thousands of years – others being quite a modern occurance. The fact is that the answer to the question ‘why are wedding gowns white?’ is simply because people today associate this with brides and this hasn’t changed since 1840. Perhaps in another 200 years, wedding ideas may be purple? Who knows?

Wedding Gown Trends Worldwide

Across the globe, wedding gown styles vary beautifully, reflecting cultural traditions and personal expression.

Globally, colours and styles differ. In India and China, red is favoured for its symbolism of luck and prosperity. In parts of Africa, brides wear vibrant patterned fabrics that honour heritage.

While many still wonder why wedding gowns are white, modern brides are increasingly embracing individuality. From champagne tones to floral embroidery, today’s trends reflect personal stories and values.

At SvenStudios, we celebrate this diversity through photography, capturing the unique details that make each bride’s look memorable and meaningful.

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Best man speech basics

Speech of best man

Best man speech basics

The Best Man speech can quite often make or break a wedding reception, and in some ways puts a huge amount of pressure on the person selected to deliver the speech. The general goal of the modern best man speech is of course to summarise the day, thank the guests and make as much fun of the groom as possible. As the Best Man is usually a good friend of the Groom, this shouldn’t be much of a problem, the Best Man usually draws ideas for jokes from embarrassing stories experienced together as friends, while (depending on the wedding) keeping it child friendly.

The Best man historically is one of the most important people at a wedding and it’s his speech that really tops off the whole day. It’s for this reason that our friends over at Loyes Diamonds have put together this amazing infographic to help out with the basics of writing your Best Man speech. It should also help out with any kind of public speaking you might have to do, and don’t think this advice is exclusive to the Best man, the Maid of Honour and others like the Parents of the bride and groom might find this information very useful.

It takes a special kind of person to come up with some of the best Best Man speeches, and I’m sure that whomever you have chosen to be yours are well up to the task, before you place them in front of youtube to research funny jokes and what’s already been done, have them read through this infographic to come up with their own ideas first, and then resort to youtube if need be 🙂 Seriously, I’ve been to over a hundred weddings now as a wedding photographer and I’m not joking when I say that 80% of speeches use the same jokes 🙂

This isn’t bad, but originality is a big asset to a good Best Man speech. For more help planning your day, explore our wedding ideas.

Here are some best man speech basics

Best man speech

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Ring warming ceremony

Close-up of wedding rings nestled in moss within a elegant glass gift box.

Have a Ring Warming Ceremony at your Wedding

A ring warming ceremony is a delightful modern wedding custom, developed in Ireland with the goal of developing a secular wedding tradition that didn’t draw on religious ideals in order to pass on the notion of love and belief of the gathering congregation towards the bride and groom. The basic idea is that your wedding rings are ‘warmed’ by each member of your congregation by having each of them hold your rings for a certain amount of time. Hence the name ‘ring warming ceremony’.

How to hold a ring warming ceremony

Generally a ring warming ceremony takes place just before, or during your wedding ceremony. One way is if you do not have a gigantic congregation, your celebrant, generally at the beginning of your ceremony, directs all the guests present to pass your rings around, and have them hold your rings to ‘warm’ them with their love and well wishes. Obviously if you have hundreds of guests, this really isn’t a viable option, so another option is to have your rings stationed some place at the front of your ceremony, with all your guests invited to hold them as they enter. A third option is to simply limit the number of people who participate in the ring warming ceremony, perhaps only having your parents and bridal party participate.

Things to consider

It’s a good idea to ask someone you trust to look after the rings, if you opt to have your ring warming before the ceremony proper, this duty could be given to the best man, who’s job traditionally is to safe guard the rings anyway. If you choose to have them passed around, it just pays to have someone dedicated to watching them, after all they should be destined for your fingers!

Tell your guests about it also, a ring warming ceremony is still quite a new wedding tradition, so chances are not many of your guests will know what one is. It’s a good idea to perhaps have your celebrant work the explanation into his speech, or even add details about it in your wedding invitations.

Think about how long the ceremony would take. Find more inspiration in our Wedding Ideas. I mentioned before that sometimes handing your rings around a huge congregation wouldn’t be particularly smart, considering you’d be potentially waiting at the altar for your rings to reappear after the procession.

Consider tying your rings together, and possibly attaching them to something like a pillow, or box. One downside of this otherwise well-meaning and beautiful ceremony showing family love is that your rings will be moving around a large area, with the possibility of them being dropped and lost. Particularly if your wedding is taking place outside. Having them attached to something larger will minimise this risk.

The idea of a ring warming ceremony is that your wedding rings have been ‘warmed’ forever by the well wishes and positive thoughts of each of your guests. This is a wonderfully personal way to get your guests involved in your wedding ceremony, rather than simply turning up 🙂

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‘Tying the Knot’ – History

‘Tying the Knot’ or to ‘tie the knot’ is a saying synonymous with getting married to day, but where does it come from? It’s funny thinking about these types of saying we use on a daily basis, not really knowing where they originate from, but gleefully use them without thinking about what they really mean. For a related exploration, see the science behind “Happy Wife, Happy Life”. In the case of ‘Tying the Knot’ however it’s no where near as dark as the origin of the tradition of having a Best Man, it’s actually quite nice 🙂 I was thinking about the origin of the saying as I have just become engaged myself, and we announced it on Facebook using an image we produced together of a tied knot in between our hands.

Origin of the saying ‘Tying the knot’

So, where does “tying the knot” come from? While “getting hitched” is associated with hitching a horse or tying it securely, “tying the knot” is commonly, and incorrectly, attributed to the same practice. Some interpretations extended this idea to a couple being tied together, with less flattering comparisons suggesting a woman was being tied down.

The phrase “tie the knot” has earlier roots in the Renaissance ceremony of handfasting. In this marriage custom, joining hands—and in some traditions binding them together—represented the agreement between two people to marry. Oxford English dictionary as “to make a contract (of marriage) between parties by joining of hands.” Kind of like a handshake. This could also be interpreted today as a proposal of marriage for a specific period of time, traditionally a year and a day. the notion of marriage by the way has not always been an eternal one, with marriages in the past being made for  “a year and a day,” “a lifetime”, “for all of eternity” or “for as long as love shall last” depending on your vows.

The old way in Great Britain for couples to pledge their betrothal was for them to join hands, his right to her right, his left to her left, so from above they looked like an infinity symbol. ‘Handfastings’, which is an ancient word for ‘wedding’ were traditional before weddings became a legal function of governments or formal religions in the early 1500’s. The very word ‘Handfasting’ derived its origin from the custom of tying the the bride and groom’s hands and wrists together. In this period of time, it’s actually quite interesting to note that during the traditional period of time for a wedding of ‘a year and a day’ or 13 moon cycles, the bride was referred to as a Virgin, or ‘a woman not owned by a man’. It was after this period of time that, if the marriage survived that long, longer vows could be taken.

So there you go! Another wedding history tidbit from my research of the history of the modern wedding!

Symbolism Behind the Knot in Wedding Ceremonies

The phrase “tying the knot” carries meaningful symbolism when included in a wedding ceremony. The act of tying a knot reflects unity, strength, and the commitment a couple makes when joining their lives together. It is a physical representation of a lasting connection, often seen in a tying the knot ceremony where hands are gently bound using ribbons, cords, or fabric.

Today, couples include it to honour tradition or simply to add a heartfelt moment to their ceremony.

For photographers, this is a wonderful moment to capture. The emotions, gestures, and symbolism involved add depth to your wedding story. At SvenStudios, we often find that these quiet, meaningful traditions help tell the most powerful parts of the day. For more Wedding Ideas to help you plan your Big Day, explore our collection.

How to Include a Knot-Tying Ritual in Your Wedding Ceremony

Including a tying the knot ceremony is a meaningful way to personalise your wedding and symbolise your commitment. For another way to personalise the celebration, explore ideas for neon wedding signs. It can take place during your vows or just before the ring exchange. The couple’s hands are gently bound together with a ribbon, rope, or cord, creating a visible symbol of unity.

You can choose materials that reflect your story: fabrics from family garments, colours with personal significance, or textures that align with your wedding theme. For more ways to preserve meaningful details from your day, explore our creative wedding keepsake ideas. A friend, celebrant, or family member can perform the ritual while reading a few heartfelt lines.

This tying the knot wedding moment offers a powerful addition to your ceremony and creates a natural pause for reflection and photography. At SvenStudios, we often capture this ritual as one of the most tender and memorable parts of the day.

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