Post-Wedding Checklist: To-Do List, Name Change, and Documents

You worked tirelessly toward your wedding day, and every minute of your planning was filled with anticipation and nervous excitement. And then that wonderful day flew by in the blink of an eye. What remains are beautiful memories of a day that will continue to bring you joy as a couple for a long time to come. But as lovely as it may be to reminisce, there are still a few things to take care of after the wedding.

We’ve put together a summary of the most important steps to take after the wedding—if you follow our guide, you’ll soon be done with the final wedding-related tasks and can—if you haven’t already—devote yourself entirely to your honeymoon or a little break at home. And then you’ll really have plenty of time to look back on your wedding with a fine glass of wine and the wedding album in your hands …  

Dealing with Government Agencies After the Wedding

If you schedule your church wedding and civil ceremony for the same day, you can tackle the formal administrative procedures right after the wedding. If you have a non-religious wedding ceremony followed by a civil ceremony, you’ll be able to take care of some tasks after visiting the registry office. Here are some specific tasks you can complete right after the civil ceremony:

Your tasks after the civil wedding:

• Name Changes
• Inform employers
• You may need to declare a new tax bracket (Note: In Austria, married couples are automatically assigned to tax bracket IV. After that, spouses have the choice of remaining in that tax bracket or selecting one of two other options—either “III/V” or “IV-Faktor/IV-Faktor.” You can read exactly what this means on this informative page.)
• Review your insurance policies (For example: Check whether the life insurance policy needs to be updated to reflect the husband's or wife's new name)
• Review related contracts (land registry entries, loans, lease agreements, etc.)
• Sort through gifts and deposit cash gifts at your trusted bank
• Pay Outstanding Invoices
• Send the first thank-you cards

Optional things to do after the civil wedding:

• Revise or draft new general power of attorney, living wills, and related documents
• Consolidate savings accounts, bank accounts, and other assets
• Draft a prenuptial agreement (this can also be done retroactively)

Formal To-Dos: Notify and Visit Government Agencies

Yes, as newlyweds, there are certainly more enjoyable things to do than running from one government office to another to get documents updated. Since there’s no deadline for most of these “post-wedding tasks,” many couples put off these not-so-exciting to-dos for the time being. Our take: That’s not a good approach. It’s better to get these few (there really aren’t that many!) administrative tasks out of the way right away; for example, use your vacation days after the wedding for that. Some of the administrative updates can even be handled via email or taken care of with a quick consultation.

Name Change, Assets, etc.

After getting married , newlyweds can choose to keep or change their names in various ways, which requires making adjustments in different places:

• Once you get married , your tax bracket will also change ; in most cases, the tax office will notify you of this automatically. You’ll be classified in tax bracket IV, but you have the option to change it—for which we recommend seeking personalized advice from your tax advisor. Don’t forget to involve your employer as well.

• Review your insurance policies, including life, liability, home, and retirement insurance, as well as policies for disability, legal protection, and others. Consolidating your policies can offer financial benefits. This is also the right time to discuss retirement planning.

• Updates all active contracts. If you own real estate, you must notify the land registry office. Also reviews lease agreements, home savings contracts, and registration for the broadcasting fee. If you have children, the child benefit agency will notify you.

• If you'd like, you can draw up a prenuptial agreement —now that you have time, you can sit down together and work out a prenuptial agreement that's fair to both of you. You can also seek legal assistance with this.

• For some married couples, it makes sense to combine their bank accounts , while others prefer to keep both a joint account and separate accounts. It's best to discuss this with your bank advisor.
  
  
• On top of that , you can discuss your assets in detail , draft a will, and grant each other powers of attorney (durable power of attorney, advance healthcare directive).

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After marriage, a new chapter begins. Make it visible!

The name change entails a number of updates in various places: You can have your ID card and passport updated at the district offices or, in some cases, at your local municipality. You should also update your driver’s license and vehicle registration certificates. You can also notify your health insurance provider; at the very latest, during your next doctor’s visit, you should provide your new information to the doctor’s assistant.

And then there are a few other changes that, while obvious, are often overlooked by many married couples for months on end: Be sure to update your doorbell, your mailbox nameplate, and your email address (plus your signature in your email templates)!

Unwrapping Gifts & Making a List

Even if, the day after your wedding, you’re feeling absolutely thrilled as you look at your gift table and, out of sheer joy at all the beautiful presents, you’d love to open everything right away, hold off for just a moment. Grab a pen and paper—or fire up your MacBook—and make a list of guests’ names, gifts, or monetary amounts. That way, you can personalize your thank-you cards after the wedding with heartfelt messages—which will delight your friends, family, and coworkers alike. In addition to family and friends, don’t forget to thank your vendors; of course, they’re paid for their services, but you have them to thank, among others, for making your day so wonderful—and they’ll surely appreciate a few kind words on your thank-you card.

To find out who you should send thank-you cards to and what they should include, check out our blog post “Wedding Thank-You Cards.”

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Saying Thank You After the Wedding

Speaking of gifts—as you’re unwrapping your own presents, you might as well start thinking about gifts to give to others. To whom? To the maids of honor and groomsmen, who put so much time and love into planning the wedding. Or to your best friend, who helped you pick out your dress and took care of buying the kids’ outfits. Or to your neighbors, who gave you such a warm welcome the day after the wedding. The gifts don’t have to be anything big. A flower, some chocolates, and your thank-you card are enough—it’s more about the thought itself.

Returning Borrowed Wedding Decorations & More

If you haven’t hired a wedding planner, you may end up having to return the wedding decorations, bar tables, and other items yourself—though many decoration rental services also offer pickup. If not, it’s not a big deal, because this is usually a good opportunity to stop by the venue and check if anything was left behind—and, more generally, to find out if everything went smoothly for the venue staff on the wedding day.

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Pay invoices from wedding vendors on time

All of our vendors listed on Austria Wedding—from venues to makeup artists to musicians—do outstanding work. That’s why we ask you to keep your vendors’ invoices neatly organized in a folder or sorted digitally. Then, in the next step, please pay them within the payment deadline.

Sure, a wedding costs a lot of money overall, but every vendor has played a part in creating that magical wedding experience and therefore deserves to be paid on time. On behalf of all the vendors, we’d like to say thank you in advance.

Engagement Ring After the Wedding: Keep It or Switch It to Another Finger

After the wedding, you can continue to wear your engagement ring on your left ring finger or wear it on your right hand as a ring to be worn alongside your wedding band. By the way, we explain in our blog post “Left or Right—Which Hand Should the Engagement Ring Go On?” that there are generally no strict rules about wearing an engagement ring.

Now that you know everything there is to do and keep in mind after the wedding, we’d like to offer you our heartfelt congratulations on your wedding and send you off with this advice: As a couple, make the most of the next few days and take your time looking back together on your wonderful wedding day. But first: Check off those few (admittedly somewhat tedious) to-dos at government agencies, offices, and banks—and then dive right into your life together as a married couple!