Whether you’re hoping for an upcoming proposal, beaming at your ring because you recently got engaged, or stressing out because you’re getting hitched this weekend, a lot of women think that their wedding day is the thing most worth looking forward to about marriage. Of course your wedding day will be a momentous and memorable occasion, but the best days are those that come in the weeks, months, and years that follow. Aside from having the wedding of your dreams, here are seven other reasons marriage is pretty awesome (and believe me, there are more!)

Laura Ivanova Photography

1. You Know Someone Loves You as Much as You Love Them

You know that giddy feeling you had when you first got engaged? Remember how you spent every waking minute staring at your ring, watching it glisten, holding your hand up to the light to see it sparkle from every angle? And then, after a few days, it became a part of you, almost like something you’d owned forever. It will always be special because it’s the physical symbol of your love…the reminder of that OMG moment when you originally said yes. Well that feeling you had when you first got engaged doesn’t even hold a candle to the feeling you’ll have when you look your love in the eyes and say “husband” or “wife” for the first time. As a hopeless romantic, I have to believe that most people get married for love. Sure, some people make the commitment for other reasons (money, practicality, children, pressure from family, friends, and society), but most of us get married for love. No matter how long you’ve been together, once you say those vows, everything changes. You look at each other in a new light. You call each other husband or wife. You can’t believe that you are lucky enough to have found someone who loves you as much as you love them. It’s a pretty awesome feeling!

Mad Chicken Studio

2. You Get to Spend Every Day with Your Best Friend

Often, the strongest marriages are those that are based as much on friendship as they are on love. My husband and I lived together for seven years before making it official, and as our love and respect for one another grew, so did our friendship. Friendship takes time to cultivate and grow, and the more time you spend with someone you enjoy, the more likely you are to let down your guard. It becomes okay to cry uncontrollably when you hear a certain song. There’s no shame in acting silly when the situation calls for it. Then there are the little things like sharing inside jokes that only the two of you think are funny, quoting unknown movie lines to one another that no one else understands, or feeling the need to dance and sing out loud to that favorite old song every time you hear it.

Maison Meredith Photography 

Getting to spend endless hours and days with your best friend is one of the most amazing things about being married. Knowing that you have someone beside you who is always willing to indulge in pancakes on a Sunday morning, who will always take your side (even when you both know you’re wrong), who will always let you taste whatever they ordered for dinner, who will let you warm your toes beneath them in bed on a cold, snowy night—those are the best feelings of all. It’s the little things that make time spent with your best friend so amazing. When you’re married, those little moments all of a sudden seem to take on so much more importance than they did when you were just dating.

3. Support That Comes Without Question

I knew my husband was the one when, on a whim, I walked away from a successful and lucrative corporate career to become a freelance writer. I’ll never forget that day when I called him and told him that I had quit my job, planned to live on my savings for a while, and intended to embark on a brand new career (with no guarantee of money, security, or success). He looked at me like I was crazy, but he took my hand and said “I’ll support you no matter what you want to do.” And he meant it. He believed in me, possibly more than I believed in myself, and his support meant everything at that moment and for the months that followed. To this day, he encourages and supports me no matter what spur-of-the-moment decisions I make and no matter how hasty I may sometimes be. I encourage and support him as well, and I always will. It’s this type of uncompromised devotion and belief in one another that makes marriage (and true love) so awesome!

Tandem Tree Photography

4. Getting to Build an Honest, Real Relationship

There is something undeniably exciting about meeting a new love interest for the first time. You take that extra time to primp and prep for a first (or second, or third) date, you feel those butterflies in your stomach when you enjoy that first kiss, and you try to suppress that little smile that comes across your lips every time you get his phone call or text message. But no matter how exciting those initial feelings can be, there is almost nothing as exciting as getting those texts or planning those dates with your husband or wife. If you know how to keep things fresh—and you must!—then you’ll never miss that first date excitement or first kiss bliss. You’ll get to experience it each and every day as you build an honest, meaningful relationship that continues to grow with time.

Laura Lee Photography

5. The Sex is Amazing

I won’t go into graphic detail here about where, when, or how my husband and I do it, but I will say this—having sex with your spouse is perhaps the greatest thing of all. Sharing yourself in that way with someone who already holds a dear place in your heart and mind is one the most beautiful expressions of love one can experience. We had a great sex life for years before we were even engaged, but since we’ve gotten married, it’s just that much better!

6. Your Family Instantly Grows

If you like your in-laws (and thankfully, I do!) then the joining of your two families can be an amazing and joyous thing. Family is perhaps the most important thing of all, and it’s a beautiful feeling knowing that you now have that many more people on your side to be there for both the good times and bad.

7. Knowing Someone Will Be There When You’re Old and Sick

Aging is a fact of life. The smartest among us have yet to figure out how to avoid the inevitable, and it’s likely that no one ever will. But when you’re married, you instantly feel that you have someone by your side who will be there with you no matter what. Whether you’re old and gray or young and ailing, knowing that someone has made the commitment to endure the span of time with you, well, there’s almost nothing more romantic than that.

One One Photography

Marriage is pretty amazing! Whether you’re anticipating a proposal or planning your wedding day at this very moment, getting married really does change your life. As a newlywed, I’m still living with that blissful, dreamy feeling of disbelief mixed with romance and surprise, but I believe that if you truly find your soulmate in this life, then marriage can feel that way forever. Feeling that special bond and commitment to another person, expressing yourself in every way possible without critique or judgement, and knowing that your best friend will always be by your side—these are just a few reasons marriage is pretty awesome (and believe me, there are more!)

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