Someone posted over on thenest about advice before her wedding. Timely, as 2 years ago today I was gettin' hitched. So, here are my observations. Take them, leave them or ignore them!Some things that have surprised me about married life:* I still haven't printed out any of my wedding photos. And I'm an amateur photographer with photos all over my home! I love my wedding photos, but they aren't the End All, Be All that I thought they would be when I was planning my wedding. I like the things I remember best. I also don't watch the (amateur) video of our first dance.* Wedding planning really helped my husband & I work on our communication skills. He was very involved (much to my surprise) and have *very* definite ideas of how our wedding should go. I'm glad we had a chance to practice conflict resolution when discussing flowers & wedding colors before it was something bigger.* While I was super pissed the day of (and I admit it, a few weeks afterward) about some things that fell through the cracks, I barely remember them now. Seriously. This includes my dance floor vendor cancelling 5 days before the wedding.Some things I'm super glad I did before we got married:* We discussed, at length, our role in the marriage. Who's going to clean the bathroom and cook dinner? Who's going to pay the bills? Who's going to take out the trash? Setting up expectations in advance was really helpful.* Discussing, at length, financial goals and our plan to achieve them. This included coming up with a detailed budget. Most divorces happen because of financial issues, so it pays to get on the same page from day one. If you need help, the Money Matters board on thenest is really good at looking at budgets. They definitely aren't all puppy dogs & rainbows but will give you honest feedback & constructive criticism.* Stopped doing anyting wedding related a few days before. I mean, we did the RD & rehearsal but no more tying of ribbons or projects of any sort. Some things didn't get done by my deadline but at the end of the day, no one missed them.I can honestly say that being married is a thousand times better than being engaged. Saying "yes" to this guy was the best thing I ever did! Good luck to you all!