Why I'm happy our wedding is in the past

Since our wedding has come and gone, I still can't believe its August (and mid-August at that). The past year has been consumed by wedding plans and marriage prep. I always felt like I should be doing something wedding related and if I wasn't, it was in the back of my mind.

Some people worry that the wedding plans are consuming their relationship. What will we talk about after our wedding? What will we do on weekends? Then they joke that they'll have kids to talk about.

WELL NOT SO FOR ME. The thoughts and plans came flooding in immediately as we eased into our honeymoon and then back into regular life. I'm amazed at all of the free space in my brain and all of the things Aaron and I can now focus our time on. We did spend some time this year preparing for our marriage/life together, but now we can think in more immediate terms of what we want. And we can make an effort to get those things.

First up: enjoying the end of summer, and buying a couch, a new car, and going on another vacation.

While I'm happy we can put our finances towards other goals, I'm also happy that all of my energy can go towards things in my life I largely ignored this year. I can think about things like graduate school and all of the policy news I have been missing for the better part of the year. I can read news in depth like I used to.

Aaron and I both bought books and read them on our honeymoon. We definitely haven't done that this year, not even when we were unemployed (we were still wedding planning). Don't get me wrong, I'm pleased with how everything turned out and I did really enjoy our year of engagement, but I'm happy to never have to do it again. I'm happy to be newlyweds where all we have to do is enjoy each other without planning much beyond dinner. Cheers to that!