3 Ways Your Relationship Changes After Marriage

Saying those two words — I Do — can change your life in a thousand big ways and a million small ones. Some of the changes that marriage brings are only noticed after years of being Mr. and Mrs. Happily Ever After, while others are immediate and obvious.

But it’s these changes that make married life such a joy and an adventure, and it offers you many ways of looking at yourself differently, and not always in a bad light. Your relationship with your partner will also naturally go through changes after you’ve tied the knot. Suddenly, mortgages, kids, retiring, and many other things become more important than what club is the trendiest now or what happened in the latest episode of The Bachelor.

Here are three ways your relationship with your significant other will change after you get married:

Your Money-Spending Habits Are Different

Once you’ve gotten married, the way you look at money and spend it is a lot different. For starters, you will likely now have a joint bank account and it might feel a bit strange at first. It could take a while to get used to knowing your partner is aware of all your spending and can even comment on it. Of course, you’ll also see exactly how much your partner spends and on what.

On the positive side, this will make you way more aware of how much you’re spending and maybe even help you learn to spend more wisely.

The way you look at things like life insurance and estate planning also changes. For example, if you’re married, a proper will and living trust for the two of you, along with asset ownership, only ensures that the first $10,860,000 of your estate goes to your kids without estate taxes. (For single individuals, this amount changes to $5,430,000). That’s certainly interesting food for thought!

Time Seems to Fly By

This may seem like a strange change to happen, but many married couples report that once they’ve ‘put a ring on it’, time just flies by. For people who are in love, time seems to stand still while they’re infatuated. Dating someone can go on for years and you’ll feel it. This could be what got you to get married in the first place! “We have been dating for a few years now, maybe it’s time to get married.”

But once you’ve taken that step, time can seem like it’s been sped up. Before you know it, you’re celebrating your first wedding anniversary, then the next one, and soon you’re celebrating a decade together! The reason for this can be that you’re focusing on more serious goals like buying a home and raising kids now, and it can feel like you’re not getting enough time with your partner.

You’ll Come Up With Your Own Cute Traditions

Married couples have the exciting prospect of creating their own adorable traditions that they can stick to for the rest of their lives together. The traditions depend on what the pair of you enjoy doing the most.

Maybe you like finding secret spots in public places and claiming them for yourselves, or perhaps you find joy in showering each other with gifts. Shopping together once a month or buying the strangest, weirdest things you can for each other can be wonderful and bonding traditions. (Maybe it’s because of cute traditions like this that global retail sales were expected to hit $27.7 trillion by 2020!)

Find Joy in Every Change

These three changes are only the tip of the iceberg. There is so much happiness and so many thrills that await a married couple! Of course, these changes can happen for unmarried couples as well. About 5.5 million American couples live together in the same way a married couple does and have the same kind of relationship.