For the many modern couples who decide to have sex before marriage, the wedding night no longer marks their special "first time" together. Still, there is a certain expectation that sex on your wedding night will be something incredible. Between the rose petals strewn across the bed of the bridal suite and the day-long anticipation of your romantic night between the sheets, how could it not be?
While it's true that some people say wedding night sex is every bit as blissful as they imagined, others find the experience a bit, well, disappointing. We asked our readers to tell us about their first time as a married couple and what it was really like for them. Scroll down for six real-life stories that run the gamut from absolutely amazing to downright disastrous.
"Well, the joke is on us. I belong to this curious breed called Bengalis (residents of eastern part of India) and we are forbidden from having sex on our wedding night. In fact, we can't even have sex the next night, which is called "Kaal Ratri", which roughly translate to Doomed Night. It's only on the third night that we're allowed to finally share a bed but it's awful sex because the bed is decked out in foul-smelling tuberoses, which don't preserve well in our humid weather." - Samhita
"My husband and I got married last December right before Christmas. We rented a hotel room in a nearby lovely town. We arrived later than we wanted to and both of us were tired. He had a horrible sinus infection and I was pregnant. But somehow it was the best sex we'd ever had." - Cindy
"My husband and I decided to get married on Glacier Point in Yosemite, Calif. in September of 2009. It was a beautiful ceremony with a beautiful view. However, as a native Floridian, I was not ready for the altitude, and neither were our guests. The corset in my dress made breathing a issue to begin with, but when I added the altitude of 8,800 feet, I was gasping for air. After the ceremony we all went down the mountain for the reception dinner. We all found ourselves very parched and couldn't get enough to drink. Since we were all in a festive mood, the wine and champagne tasted even better and went down like water. After we adjourned to the marital bed, my new husband, try as he might, could not 'rise to the occasion.' We tried everything...and I do mean everything. Finally, we were so exhausted that we collapsed and just slept in each other's arms. With all of the 'wedding night issues' we were having, we did forget to turn off the fireplace before we went to bed. The last thing I remember of my wedding night were flames shooting out of the fireplace and the hotel manager pounding on the door. Talk about romantic. (Luck was on our side and we did not burn down the hotel!)" - Andra
"After the rush of the wedding day and hardly seeing each other the whole day it was such a sweet and wonderful way to reconnect and it was great to know that I'm actually allowed -- no, expected -- to do it ;-)" - Jacqueline
"Sex on my wedding night felt like something that had to get done, almost like a chore. I had been with my husband for almost five years at that point and I had had sex with him countless times, in various positions in a myriad of places, cities and countries; sex was nothing new for us. I love my husband and love having sex with him, but the whole day of the wedding was so long that by the time we finally got to bed, all I wanted to do was sleep. We had our ceremony at noon which was proceeded by three hours of picture taking, lots of talking, lots of food and a little too much wine. To be honest, I was so tired I didn't think I could do it, but I managed to do the deed and fell asleep within minutes of being finished." - Meaghan
"We did not have sex on our wedding night. He fell asleep. I cried. We've been married 10 years." - Kina
Click through the slideshow below to see some of the most interesting findings from iVillage's 2013 Married Sex Survey.
