Decide where will you live. One extremely important question to decide well before the wedding day is where you will live after you are married. If one of you already has a house it may be easiest to move in together there; however, the place may not be big enough, particularly if it is a typical single person’s flat or bedsit, so this may not be practical. Or, you may be setting up your married life in a completely new area, and may have to find new accommodation from scratch.

If you are not well off you may decide to live with one or other sets of parents, or with another relative, until you can afford a place of your own. This, like most living arrangements, has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantages are that you don’t need to get involved in the trouble and expense of buying a house until you have had a chance to adjust to married life; you will be able to live more cheaply than if you were living on your own; you should be able to share some of the chores such as cooking, washing, cleaning, gardening, shopping, etc; and both couples will have someone else around for companionship. Potential problems are, of course, manifold, and this situation may be particularly difficult for the son or daughter-in-law who has married into the family; he or she may feel that they have not taken on a marriage partner but a whole family! (more…)