by Sherry Amatenstein, LCSW, BRIDES
The majority of couples have the intention of having sex on their wedding night. Think: romance, candles, and an intimate consummation of your marriage. But for these seven women, fate had other plans. Here are their stories.
"My husband and I didn't have sex on our wedding night because family and friends stayed in the house with us. In fact, friends slept in the guest room next to our master bedroom and, with thin walls, it seemed better to rest and be prepared for Sunday brunch." --Tosh
"My new husband fell asleep while I was removing my makeup and taking down my hair! I knew he was exhausted so I didn't have the heart to wake him." --Ann
"To begin with, we didn't really have a wedding. We got married at City Hall. It was an impulsive decision. First, we talked for hours in our hotel room. There were a lot of things we didn't know about each other until then -- and we'd been together five years! But once married, we figured we were stuck with each other and could tell our deepest, darkest secrets. Then, there was the fire alarm. After falling exhausted into bed, there was a small fire in the building and we awoke at 3AM to a buzzing fire alarm and sirens. Our 30th anniversary is in July. Hopefully no fire alarms go off on our weekend away this time." --Elisabeth
"The party went late, and we preferred some zzzs before heading off to our honeymoon." --Laura
"When my husband and I married, his two children were staying at our home to attend the wedding. Matt was 17 and independent, but Izzy, 10 at the time, was very clingy to her daddy and insisted on sleeping in our room. Because the idea of a new stepmom was uncomfortable for her, we decided it would be best if we did what we had to do to make her comfortable. I certainly did not want her to think that she was, in any way, being replaced." --Lynn
"My husband and I were so excited to have all our friends and family together on our wedding day, that we wanted to spend as much time with them as possible. We had an after-party at the hotel bar, and when the bar closed, we invited people back to our hotel room to come and hang out. Spending time with our friends felt more important to us because there were so many we didn't get to see often because of distance or family obligations. We knew we had the rest of our lives together to have sex whenever we wanted, but it would be quite some time before we saw many of these people again." --Mandy
"My mom bought me some of those fancy, lacy hose to go under my gown. Unfortunately, while I was dancing all night at my reception, they were rubbing the inside of my legs raw! It put a damper on the wedding night mood, that's for sure." --Kerri