You’ve planned your wedding for months—maybe even years. Every last detail, from the corsages to the canapés, has been carefully crafted, so why should those first blissful moments between the nuptial sheets be overlooked? Whether you are a virgin on your wedding night or a virgin-again, a few simple steps in the week leading up to the Big Day will make your first time as husband and wife magical and memorable.

Build Toward Climax

Don’t have sex the week before your wedding. I’m serious. And tell your fiancé it’ll be worth the wait. Or, if you guys are planning to consummate for the first time on your wedding night—you may want to institute a no make-out policy for a week prior—it will build anticipation for what’s to come. However, make sure to titillate each other all week with naughty text messages or notes. Be descriptive and uninhibited about what you want to do on your wedding night (just make sure no one is looking over your shoulder). Try sending them in the form of a countdown: “Seven days until I can kiss you all over.” “Six days until we can make love all night long,” etc. And if you live together, spend the night before the nuptials separately.

Get in Shape

Check the calendar—if your monthly friend is due to arrive around your wedding, ask your gynecologist about ways to delay your period. Once your nether regions are free for fun, spiff them up with a bikini wax and tone them up by practicing Kegel exercises. Kegel exercises increase sexual gratification for both partners by raising your ability to reach an orgasm and making the vagina tighter. To practice, simply tighten and relax your pelvic floor (the muscles you would use to stop the flow of urine) 100 times per day.

Have the Room Prepared for Your Arrival

As you assign friends and family tasks for the wedding day, make sure you enlist someone to prepare your wedding suite. Cupid’s little helper should make sure your room has the basics, like food and bottled water to help you recharge, as well as extra touches like champagne, chocolate-covered strawberries, and candles (don’t forget the matches). Ask your florist to provide rose petals to be scattered on the bed, and if your room has a soaking tub, arrange for the concierge to draw a steamy bath for two.

Pen Your Passion

While christening the marriage bed is a must for many couples, others find they’re too exhausted for anything other than sleep. And besides, you will have a lifetime to make up for sitting this one out. So just before you close your eyes, remind each other what made you fall in love in the first place with letters that you each write about the first time you met or the first time you knew you’d fallen in love. Set a date to write them—maybe the day you get your marriage license—but don’t read them until you’re snuggling in bed and officially married.