Something Borrowed: 5 Nuggets of Marriage Wisdom from Friends and Family

For us girls, a wedding announcement guarantees an emotional torrent. Saying “I’m getting married” merits at least several of these responses: shock, relief, jealousy, elation, and kilig interspersed with copious amounts of tears and shrieking in between and punctuated by the obligatory “OMG!” and “Congratulations!” in various tones.

I was able to experience that a couple of months back when I gave the press release to friends and family. My husband and I decided that the wedding was going to be a low-key affair--no long engagements, no proposals, and definitely no grand celebrations. And in keeping with the nature of our solemn ceremony, we didn’t spill the beans early on. In fact, only a handful of people knew about it.

When I finally broke the news, I was unprepared for the ensuing responses and barrage of questions that immediately followed, with the infamous ones being, “Bakit?” ("Why?") and “Buntis ka?” ("Are you pregnant?"). I think the considerable lack of exercise and my unhealthy eating habits became the basis for the latter.

And I thought the buck stopped there--but, as any woman who has once planned a wedding will tell you, of course it didn't. Inquiries soon evolved to suggestions, and I found myself taking a lot of advice from marriage experts, solicited or not. Admittedly, I was initially cocky about it at first. After all, my husband and I had been together for more than seven years before finally deciding to tie the knot.

Only later did I realize that a lot of wisdom can come from an outsider, and sometimes, all it takes is a different perspective to turn things around. Three months into married life has taught me that I do need a truckload of advice to maintain sanity at home. So here are my top five:

(Photo by Jaymee Gamil)