The first day of your marriage is your wedding day. Obvious fact? Maybe. But what's not so obvious and something that we often forget, is that our wedding day really IS the first day of what we hope will be a long and happy marriage. Many times, the foundation for that marriage is set right on that day. The reason for that is because everything is magnified on our wedding day. Every word that's said, every action that's taken. The last thing you want to do on this special day is say or do anything that's going to mess things up. But things happen.

The photographer comes late. Or he's a real pain in the behind bugging you every ten seconds for a photo. Maybe you've got a headache from all the excitement. Maybe the caterer screwed up the menu. Maybe the limo broke down on the way to the church or the reception. Maybe the weather is lousy. Maybe it's that time of the month. The number of things that can go wrong to put a damper on your wedding day are just too numerous to get into. But the worst part of these potential problems is how you react to them. More importantly, it's how you react to them to your spouse. This is where problems start.

Well, there are ways to keep these problems from becoming real problems later on down the road. Again, things that go wrong on your wedding day get magnified because of how big a day it is. On a normal day, most of these things wouldn't matter much. But today is different. That's why the following tips are so important.

For starters, don't blow things out of proportion. A nuisance photographer is not the end of the world. He's just doing his job. The weather is totally out of your control so there's no point getting upset about it. The caterer screwing up the dinner menu is something only you and your spouse will know. The guests have no idea what they were supposed to get so don't worry about it. You can professionally approach the caterer after and ask for a partial refund because of the mistake. Your guests will still have had a good time and you will have saved a few bucks.

The most important thing about the day, should something go wrong, even if it's serious, is that it's not something that your spouse wanted. He or she is just as upset about it as you are. So don't take it out on them. This is absolutely the worst thing you could possibly do. Lashing out at the person you just married can leave a lasting impression on them, possibly for the rest of their life. Again, this day is magnified so much because of the importance we place on it. In reality, it's really just the first day of our marriage, not to minimize our wedding day. It's just so often we do blow things way out of proportion. These days are the ones where that is easiest to do.

These two little tips can very well mean the difference between spending the next 50 years in wedded bliss or ending up before a judge in six months.

There's an old saying. "Don't sweat the small stuff...It's ALL small stuff".