According to experts, one in ten brides find themselves suffering from a very real condition known as Post-Nuptial Depression. These brides can become so low they question their day to day life and even their new marriage, blaming their husband or their marital status for making their life unbearably dull. In severe cases this depression can last for months, women starting married life barely able to function, unable to leave their beds or contemplating ending their marriage before it has even begun.
It’s easy to see how this can happen. After months, sometimes even years, of planning and dreaming, picking out the dress you’ve been drawing since you were a child, the cake you knew you wanted before the groom even had a name, arranging the perfect evening event to impress your guests, the canapés and wine they’ll enjoy the most, the music you’d love to see them dance to, all of sudden you’re back down to earth with a bump. There’s not many other times at which you’ll find yourself go from hero to zero overnight like that.
Some of us are lucky; we get a week or two basking in the glow of newlywed bliss somewhere exotic before we’re thrust back in to the boredom. A honeymoon can be the ideal buffer between your wedding day and the Post Wedding Blues and even if your budget doesn’t stretch to a Maldives spa break, you can still get away from it all at home.
Take some time off work, unplug the phone and enjoy being Mr & Mrs with your leftover sparkling wine and wedding gifts. This is the ideal time to embrace the sadness, acknowledge that you’re feeling low and cry to your heart’s content. Trying to muddle through will only make the blues hit harder.
Many brides who have been through what you are now facing made it their mission to focus on the next stage in their lives, whether that was decorating the marital home or planning a dinner for friends and family. Though it’s not good to ignore your sense of sadness after the big day, distracting yourself and accepting it’s time to move on can help.
The only way to really beat the Post Wedding Blues though is to be prepared plenty in advance. From the moment you start planning your wedding, do your darnedest to remember that this is one day, one moment that celebrates all that came before and all that comes after. While being the centre of attention is good for anybody’s ego, your wedding day is about so much more than you and your dress; it’s the gateway to a happy, long and fruitful marriage.
