One woman who made the choice to stay celibate until her wedding night has opened up about the five things she wishes she knew before the act.
Alicia and John Tucker, a Christian couple who hail from Canada, first tied the knot back in 2020, and opted to abstain from sex before doing so.
The pair frequently post on their joint YouTube channel, Alicia and Joshua, where they talk about the ins and outs of their relationship as well as providing 'Christian dating' tips and advice.
Earlier this month (4 November), Alicia, 23, uploaded a video titled 'Wedding night tips for the celibate brides'.
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She started by explaining to her 1.96k subscribers: "It can be a lot, all the anticipation leading up to the wedding night. So, I've compiled a list of five things you should know before your wedding night."
Admitting it was 'kind of an awkward thing to talk about', Alicia explained: "It can be a lot, you know, all the expectation and anticipation leading up until your wedding night."
Alicia then got straight into the first tip on the rundown, which was to 'talk about it beforehand with your fiancé'.
"So if you have a little bit of nerves about sex hurting you for the first time, definitely voice that to your fiancé," she went on.
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For anyone nervous or 'intimidated' about going from 'no sexual contact' to 'straight into sex', Alicia suggested couples showered together beforehand to 'ease into it'.
Next up was something 'very practical', but something Alicia believed fellow Christian women wouldn't know about.
"It's so important to pee after you have sex," she said. "You can so easily get a UTI if you don't pee after having sex because there are a lot of fluids that happen during sex and if that goes into the wrong area, you can be in a lot of pain."
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Third up on the list saw Alicia warning viewers their first time could involve blood.
She suggested laying down a towel on the bed or have some 'extra bedding ready to go' in case.
Number four, which ties into the third, is to simply 'laugh at the imperfections'.
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"Just laugh it off," Alicia advised. "If things are awkward, if it's uncomfortable, if it doesn't go super smooth, just laugh it off. "That's a big part of the intimacy experience."
And the fifth and final piece of advice? Being present in the moment.
She said: "It's so difficult when your adrenaline is so high and it's a new experience that you have wanted for your whole life and your emotions are so high that it's really hard to be present.
"If you can just, somehow, try to relax yourself and really take in every single moment rather than being too much in your head and not being present - you will be so happy about it afterwards because you will remember the night."
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She penned in the video's description: "I hope that after watching this video, you are left feeling like you have just had some quality girl talk with your sister/best friend!"
Topics: Real Life, Sex and Relationships, Wedding, Advice, Social media
Rhiannon Ingle