5 Tips to Keep a Marriage Exciting

The buildup to the wedding is so exciting; making arrangements, laying out a plan for your future lives together.  But after the honeymoon ends, life begins.  And while you may have the most wonderful marriage, even the most devoted couple is certain to find the married lifestyle to be at times, well let’s say, less than exciting.  I mean let’s face it, you love the other person, but spending all day with the same individual makes for a lot of routine activities, that if you are not careful can drag on your relationship and make you both feel unsatisfied with what is otherwise a very loving relationship.


As a result, it is vital that couples not simply sit back in the belief that a marriage will remain exciting merely on its own momentum. Rather, it is important that spouses take some basic steps to infuse their relationships with a bit of excitement.


1. Have Independent Interests

You cannot have anything interesting to say if you spend every waking moment doing and experiencing the same things.  Having independent interests is not a sign of a weak marriage, as some newlyweds believe, but rather a sign of its strength.  Having independent interests means that you have something unique to bring to conversations, ensuring that you both always have something interesting, and yes exciting, to say to one another.


2. Spontaneous Events

While you were dating, planning the spontaneous event seemed rather innate.  But, as we grow comfortable in our relationships and more busy by life’s obligations, we have a tendency to rely upon the strength of our relationships and in so doing fail to keep things spontaneous.  So to mix things up; plan an afternoon or evening event that is completely new.  Try that show your spouse has been dying to see, or visit that new restaurant that just opened up.


3. Never threaten separation

This is less a rule to keep things exciting, and more one to keep them sound.  A relationship can only grow and remain exciting if both parties are confident in their commitment to one another.  As a consequence, make it a rule between you and your partner that you never threaten separation or divorce.  Establish an understanding that if you threaten separation, you should be heading out the door to back it up.  It is a harsh rule, but one that needs imposition if your relationship is to survive the ups and downs which are a part of all marriages.


4. Weekend Trips

One sure-fire way to inject some romance into your marriage is to take a vacation with just the two of you.  But with the rigors of life and the costs of a trip, a full-blown vacation can seem hard to justify.  So instead opt for a one night local vacation. Plan a dinner and evening out, and cap it off with a night in a hotel.  The expense isn’t a lot considering the excitement that a trip, no matter how small, can bring into a relationship.


5. Spice up the bedroom

The final tip to bring excitement into any relationship is to spice things up in the bedroom.  Your sex life has a strong correlation with the strength and satisfaction of your relationship.  So try exploring a new position or even a sexual fantasy or adult toy with your partner, and in so doing share something intimate and bring some excitement into your marriage.

INTERRACIAL COUPLES: Multicultural Weddings - a New Kind of Celebration

Planning a wedding is a very personal matter, and a stressful one too. Many interracial couples are encountering even more stresses when attempting to prepare a celebration that combines two cultures. There is little in the way of resources for those planning for a multicultural wedding, and thus, the current and past generations of planners can be considered pioneers of the multicultural wedding evolution. With over 1.6 million multicultural marriages in the United States, it is apparent that multicultural weddings will be the trend of the future. While many couples prefer their weddings to be culturally neutral, others are facing the multiethnic issue face on and are incorporating both cultures in a unique style of their own.

There are many cultural groups that are currently practicing multicultural wedding traditions, including Jewish-Korean, Japanese-Protestant, and Hindu-Catholic, just to name a few. These pairings are facing increasing social acceptance and as a result the popularity of having multicultural weddings is on the rise. Multicultural weddings are difficult to organize because a variety of factors, over and above the normal elements of cultural neutral weddings must be considered. Choosing the right mix of religious, ethnic and traditional parts of the ceremony is time consuming and emotional. Even the basics, i.e. location, food, and clothing can be the most strenuous problems to solve. Deeply cultural families and paying families tend to get involved and feel the most offended when portions of their traditions are omitted. Sometimes, the best decision is to compromise and create new traditions that are composed of both cultures.

Interracial couples do not necessarily have to be practicing members of their culture in order to celebrate with traditional customs. To give a wedding character and to celebrate one's family, couples will draw upon their favorite and most appropriate customs to include in the wedding. Multiethnic weddings can contain as much or as little cultural detail, giving the couple more control over the overwhelming interests of both families. Weddings consists of such a vast variety of factors from invitations, flowers and music to dress, food and the ceremony itself, that there are an infinite number of ways of adjusting and tweaking the wedding to suit everyone's desires.
Although there is no such thing as a cookie-cutter multiethnic wedding, there are still many ways of getting help with difficult planning choices. Wedding planners, caterers, friends and family are excellent resources for designing a custom multicultural wedding. Weddings are personal experiences, and the best one's are the most unique.