Sunday, August 7, 2011

A Brief Wedding Planning Guide

By Adriana Noton


If you are have recently gotten engaged you may be shortly starting to think about putting your wedding together. For those of us not lucky enough to be able to hire a planner to take care of the details, there can be an awful lot to think about and arrange and this wedding planning guide could help you. Your wedding can be as simple or complicated as you desire, however there are a few key things that need to be arranged no matter what your style and budget is.

The first and most important thing that you should research is the process of getting a marriage license. Each state has different rules regarding marriage. Some states will require you to apply for a marriage license in advance. Once you have purchased your license and fulfilled the necessary identification requirements you will have to get married within a certain time period. It is worth checking out in advance what is required in your state early on so that there are no problems at a later date.

You will have to decide early on where you wish to get married. You may choose to have a religious service followed by a reception elsewhere or you may decide to hire a hotel and have a non religious service and reception all in the same building. Popular choices for location include beaches, private gardens and hotels, but depending on your state there could be plenty of other options for you.

When you have decided where you will hold the big event you can discuss with the venue what availability they have. It is very popular and expensive to hold a wedding in the summer but it can be just as nice to have a wedding at other times of the year as long as you plan everything else accordingly. Try to take public holidays into consideration so that it is easier for guests to take time off of work if necessary.

Once you have your venue secured you can begin consulting with them on choices for food and drink. You could have a formal sit down meal or a help yourself style buffet. You will also need to decide how many drinks you provide your guests with. You could provide an open bar, but if this is too expensive for you, you could provide wine for the meal and champagne for the toasts while the guests pay for any other drinks they would like.

There are several ways you can go about getting your dress. If you have a small budget you could order something online. Do this with plenty of time to spare in case it does not fit and you need to return it. If you have a slightly bigger budget you can look at dresses in shops and have them altered to fit you and if money is no object you could have your dress designed and custom made especially for you.

After you have chosen your dress you can start to look at the clothing for the rest of the wedding party. Most brides like to match their bridesmaids dresses with their own. There are various different options available for the groom and groomsmen.

Once you have sorted the key things in your wedding planning guide you can start to think about the extra details like table arrangements and flowers. If you plan on taking a honeymoon, remember to book your tickets and check your passports are up to date.




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