Your First Year of Marriage

Congratulations on your engagement or your wedding. Here is a small gift from us to the two of you: twelve short notes, one for each month of your first year of marriage.

Download your free copy (PDF)

Would you rather hold a real book? It is now in paperback and hardcover.

It began with a simple idea. My wife and I mailed a card, with a real postage stamp, every week for a year. The response was so warm that we wanted to share what was in those cards with more people. We have been married for over fifty years, and these notes hold the things we wish someone had told us sooner.

What is inside

Each month has a short note, a little more to think about, and a “Try this together” list of simple things to do as a couple. Read it together on the first of the month, over coffee.

• Month 1: A Budget Is Freedom
• Month 2: Romance Is a Daily Choice
• Month 3: Talking, and Really Listening
• Month 4: Saving and Investing Together
• Month 5: Family, In-Laws and Boundaries
• Month 6: Friends Who Lift You Up
• Month 7: Forgiving Quickly
• Month 8: Dreaming, Planning, Doing
• Month 9: Traditions of Your Own
• Month 10: Staying Confident Through Change
• Month 11: The Power of Pausing
• Month 12: Looking Back, Looking Ahead

Give it as a gift: paperback and hardcover

Looking for something meaningful for a couple you love? The notes are now a real book. Each month has ideas to try together, questions to talk over on a quiet evening, and pages where the two of you can write down what happened that month, and a few words to each other. By the end of the year they will have something money cannot buy: the story of their first year, in their own handwriting.

A gift for the two of you

Your First Year of Marriage: Twelve Notes for the Year Ahead

A thoughtful gift for a wedding, a bridal shower or an engagement. The hardcover is the one to choose if it will sit on a shelf for fifty years.

Paperback on Amazon Hardcover on Amazon

Or keep it simple: print the free PDF, tie a ribbon around it, and tuck it into a wedding card. For more ideas, see our wedding gift guide and Christmas gifts for engaged couples.

How to use these notes

These are not rules. They are offerings. Some will fit your life today, and some may not make sense until later. That is fine. Make a note your own if it helps, and set it aside if it does not.