Tom and I celebrated our
first anniversary a week ago, and if you look around our apartment, it is very clear that we are newlyweds. Maybe a little too clear? The vast majority of the pictures hanging on the wall are
wedding pictures, two shelves of my curio cabinet are full of our
serving set,
flutes,
unity candle, and
ring bearer pillow. The sailboat that greeted everyone at the reception lives in my dining room, I have one of our
candle centerpieces in there as well. We also have
artificial starfish, artificial coral, and seashells scattered around, and our tablecloths are sitting in my closet, waiting for me to make
something with them.
Even though we live near the ocean, the decor of our place is definitely not going in the beachy/cottage-y direction, so a lot of the stuff from our wedding really feels out of place. At the same time, it's from our wedding, and I'm a bit emotionally attached. Now, I know that there are certain pieces that will be displayed for the long term, such as our wedding portrait and the items in my curio cabinet. This question pertains to the rest of the stuff:
At what point is it time to put away the wedding decor and move on?
I think this question goes along with another question that Tom and I are trying to figure out the answer to, what exactly is a newlywed? I always thought that a couple was considered to be newlywed during their first year of marriage, but my grandmother seems to think that it is for the first five years.
Is it a subjective thing? Kind of like how a high school student thinks they are an adult, but and adult still views them as a child? If Tom and I have indeed lost our newlywed status by celebrating our first anniversary, then what exactly are we now? I feel as though we are stuck in sort of an awkward phase between being newlyweds and being parents, perhaps this is why we still have most of our wedding stuff hanging around? Part of me says I should just leave everything as is, and once Tom and I become parents, the pictures on the wall will gradually change from pictures of our wedding to pictures of our children. Part of me says the same thing about the seashells and the starfish, that as we purchase furniture and start to decorate each room, the excess wedding stuff will filter itself out and the new will replace it. On the other hand, I cannot help but question how many friends and family visit our apartment and think, "Oh my goodness people, your wedding was over a year ago, get over it!" Any input on my little dilemma would be greatly appreciated.
In my own world, which is probably not the same as the real world--you can claim newlywed status till you have kids, at the very least. Everytime an elderly friend of my grandparents sees me sitting on my husband's lap at their house, she says, 'Oh, I guess the honeymoon hasn't ended!" I find that hilarious!
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure that the putting away of your wedding decor will happen naturally, for the most part, as time goes on and life changes. We had fake flowers at our wedding, which means that I still have my husbands boutonniere in a drawer in our house. There's no real purpose in keeping it, but I smile everytime I see it in that drawer, so that's the purpose for me! I'm all for keeping wedding pictures up forever--I know people who have been married 10+ years who still have wedding pictures on their walls, and I think they are fun to look at!
Whatever it's your house! Do what you want with it. :) I love purple too!
ReplyDeletehi there i saw ur post on bbn! my husband and i keep our wedding bears n souvenirs n even the tiara i was wearing lol. we used to display them proudly then we moved and i never bothered to take them out of the boxes! at the end of the day, your house your rules. if it makes u happy looking at the special reminders then do it! xx Mandy @ makemeupmandy.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteThank you for your responses!
ReplyDeleteRachel, I'm pretty sure you hit it right on the head. I think that as our tastes change, and rooms are redecorated, wedding stuff will be packed away and new mementos will take it's place. The same will likely happen with pictures, as children are born, and we get to travel more, wedding pictures will be updated. Although, our portrait will never come down.