Once the wedding proposal has been made and accepted, one of the most important things to do is to select the right wedding date. This may not seem to be a big deal, but in fact it can be one of the most important factors to pulling off a successful wedding. There are many considerations that can go into this decision, since it is as, after all, going to be one of the most important events of your life: they don't call it "The Big Day" for nothing.
 
One of the things you should consider is the type of wedding you've got planned. If you want a big traditional wedding with reception hall, cake, and dozens of guests, it's going to take a while to plan and organize -- up to 250 hours or thereabouts. You may also need time to save up for a while, or to tap rich Uncle Delmar for a loan, or arrange alternate financing, since this type of wedding averages tens of thousands of dollars in total costs. Informal weddings may cost less and take less time, though that's unlikely to be the case if you decide on a Hawaiian beach wedding and have to fly everyone in. In any case, experts suggest you set the date nine months to a year in the future.
 
Another thing a long lead time does is give all your guests a chance to fit your wedding into their schedules. Most people are unlikely to be booked up nine to twelve months in advance, so they should be able to pencil your wedding in and make it the most important thing for that particular month -- and wouldn't you do the same for them? You also need time to send out the invitations and get back the RSVPs, buy your wedding rings, find the perfect dress and have the fitting done, and -- if you want to go this far, and it's an expensive option -- hire a wedding planner to take care of all the details while you handle the important stuff. They may cost a hideous amount, but by all accounts a good wedding planner can be worth every cent you pay them.
 
In choosing the right wedding date, you should also take into consideration the realities of the yearly round. Scheduling your wedding too near a major holiday can be a real pain, not just for you but for all your guests. If they've just spent ten hours -- each way -- driving somewhere for Thanksgiving, do you really think they want to do the same five days later? Not. There's a practical reason that most weddings are in June -- and it's simply because there are no major holidays in that month, and August (the other holiday-free month) is just too darn hot. It's a good idea to avoid holidays when you're planning your wedding. Big birthdays in the family tend to be a no-no too, especially Grandma's hundredth. On the other hand, everything's already decorated, so you could save a little money there.
 
Another consideration to keep in mind which selecting a wedding date is anniversaries. Nearly all couples, all the way back to Ugg and Uggina, have special days in their relationship that they celebrate: the day they met, the first date, the first kiss, all sorts of special events and moments that you cherish. Wouldn't it be romantic to get married on the first or second anniversary of your first kiss? Then there's the family angle to consider. Many couples prefer to bow to family tradition when setting a wedding date, or may do so to honor a loved one (like rich Uncle Delmar).
 
Then again, there are more practical things to consider. Should you set the date so that it falls on a weekday, or a weekend? Most people are better able to attend if it's a weekend. What time of day should you get married? It won't help if you thoughtfully set your wedding on a Friday afternoon at 5 PM, and all your guests (or, worst, your limousine!) get stuck in rush hour traffic. Another pointer: check to see if there are any large events taking place near your wedding location on the day of the wedding. If the Bulls are playing the Knicks two blocks away, or there's a celebrity walkathon going on, it would be a good idea to pick another day. Fortunately, events like these should be easy to avoid, as they're scheduled well in advance.
 
See? It can be more difficult to set a wedding date than you might have imagined, so you and your spouse-to-be need to put your heads together and give the issue some serious thought. You may not be able to account for all the variables involved, but with a little planning, you can set a date that can help everything go just that much more smoothly -- something every wedding needs.

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Although a wedding planner or wedding organizer can do many things for you, one thing they'll rarely do is select the location for your wedding. They may very well arrange its use and make sure everything is where it needs to be when it needs to be there, but traditionally, as with the selection of your perfect fairy-tale wedding dress, the location for the ceremony is a decision for you and your groom to make. It's a personal task that shouldn't be delegated.
 
The classic wedding, of course, takes place in a church -- typically the family church of either the bride or groom or, if you're lucky, both. This fits the standard stereotype for the wedding, and it's the kind we see portrayed most often in the movies and on TV (from The Graduate to The Runaway Bride). Serious celebrity weddings (real or otherwise) always seem to takes place in a church, the more massive and grandiose the better. In fact, most weddings do take place in a church, with drinks, dancing, and speechmaking taking place at a reception hall located nearby shortly thereafter. Increasingly, however, couples are opting for more informal wedding locations, such as a loved one's home (especially nice if that loved one is wealthy), a public park, someone's back yard, or on the beach. This doesn't mean that the attire or any of the ceremony need necessarily be informal; we've all seen or been involved in deliciously formal weddings that have taken place somewhere other than a church.
 
On the other hand, entirely informal weddings have also become quite popular in the past decade or so, especially for older couples and couples renewing their vows. In fact, manufacturers make whole lines of informal wedding dresses for exactly such occasions. For example, have you ever considered getting married at sea? Even if you don't want to go to the trouble of arranging a cruise for yourself and your guests, you can always hire a nice, big yacht to take you out onto the Big Briny to get hitched. Just make sure you've got the Dramamine handy, and don't overindulge on the champagne and caviar.
 
Beaches are also popular informal wedding locations: there's something elemental about the meeting of the sea and the land that inspires awe in most folks, and makes them more open to the spiritual experience that all weddings should be. Naturally, there can be negative facets to a beach marriage: not only do you have to get your feet wet (it's a major part of the whole symbolic experience), you may have to deal with dive-bombing sea gulls, who aren't exactly renowned for their nice dispositions. One way to avoid this is to get married in Hawaii, which has no sea gulls, a fact that few people are aware of. This brings up a whole new category of wedding location: the destination wedding.
 
Destination weddings are becoming especially popular options, especially for Americans. A good destination wedding allows you to combine your wedding and honeymoon into one fantastic experience. What could be more romantic than getting married on a beach on Kauai, the Hawaiian island that's the very definition of "tropical paradise," or in Paris, with the Eiffel Tower in the background? Wouldn't you like to say that you skied the Apennines on the afternoon of your wedding day, with all your family in attendance? But you don't have to cross an ocean to enjoy a great destination wedding. The contiguous United States is large enough and varied enough to provide eye-popping marriage locations from end to end. Imagine getting married in a verdant volcanic crater in Oregon, or beside the Grand Canyon, or in Glacier National Park, or in the tropical Florida surf, or, well, you get the drift. You've also got easy access to the various Caribbean islands, Mexico, and Canada: a true embarrassment of riches when it comes to potential marriage locations.
 
The downside of destination weddings is that they're expensive -- especially so if you don't just chuck all your marriage plans and decide to elope. If the relatives you want to join you can't afford to attend on their own, you'll probably have to fly them in. This might not be so bad if the destination is domestic, but Paris and Hawaii can get very costly very quickly. Modern weddings already average into the tens of thousands of dollars, even without airfare to an exotic locale and the necessary lodging for you and your guests. While a destination wedding would create especially fond memories, if your funds are limited, it would be best to make do with a standard church or informal wedding in your hometown. There's no shame in a hometown wedding location -- most of your ancestors probably chose that option, all the way back to the caveman days.

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A wedding without flowers just wouldn't seem quite right. Not only must the bride have her bridal bouquet, the groom should have a matching boutonniere on the lapel of his tuxedo. Depending upon the type of wedding and your wedding traditions, the bridesmaids might have their own bouquets, and naturally the Best Man and groomsmen need their own boutonnieres to match them. Then there are the floral decorations, the table settings, the floral crowns for the attendants, and all those rose petals for the little kids to throw around everywhere. In the end, you're likely to make some florist very, very happy. Even if you opt for an informal wedding, you'll need at least a bride's bouquet and the occasional floral touch to brighten things up.
 
Flowers, then, are de rigueur for any traditional wedding, and for most non-traditional ones too. Here's another one of those things you'll need to discuss in detail with your wedding planner, assuming you have one, as well as with your wedding attendants. Why with your wedding attendants, you may ask? For a very mundane reason, actually: consider what might happen if the Best Man were violently allergic to the rosebud boutonniere you got him. Only the people in the pews are supposed to be crying, not the ones standing with you at the altar. A runny nose would be doubly embarrassing. To avoid any such drama, just ask the folks handling flowers if they're allergic to them. If you have to, you can substitute that person's bouquet or boutonniere with one of a different type, or even with artificial flowers. Nobody has to know but the two of you.
 
When it comes to purchasing your flowers, you've got a lot of options. This is a detail your wedding organizer can take care of if you've got one, but if you don't, keep in mind two things: 1) to arrange for the flowers well in advance; and 2) that your local florist may not be the best option for large masses of inexpensive flowers. First things first: It makes sense to make your initial arrangements months beforehand, and to confirm the order several weeks before your wedding date. This lets the florist order the necessary flowers well in advance, and design and create any special floral arrangements that you've ordered, a process that can take several weeks. Naturally, if you're working with a local florist, you don't want to pick up the flowers any earlier than the day before the wedding, if that early; sometimes the day of the wedding is best, particularly if you plan to get married late in the day.
 
But here's the kicker: you don't have to work with a local florist, especially if you're struggling to stay within your wedding budget. The advent of the Internet allows you to purchase flowers online from just about anywhere in the world for truly excellent prices. Another positive facet of the Internet option is the fact that it's so convenient. You can order flowers from any computer, anytime, and the vendor will be happy to send your flowers anywhere you want, except Antarctica -- so if that's your destination wedding location, you'd be well advised to rethink your wedding plans. In any case, all it takes is a little Web-savvy and a credit card to order your wedding flowers online. Heck, you can even order flowers while you're getting your dress fitted, if you're that pressed for time.
 
Especially apropos are vendors from the equatorial nations of Central and South America, where the flowers you're after grow all year 'round -- especially those beautiful wedding favorites, the long-stemmed roses. Most of the online flower merchandisers will be happy to provide you with any number of wedding flowers, roses or otherwise, all the way into the thousands. You could literally fill a room full of roses, which will be shipped to you by overnight mail. Fear not -- the flowers will arrive fresh and dewy, ready to be used for decoration or bouquets. Most such retailers also offer wedding packages, complete with bouquets for everyone, all the boutonnieres you can handle, rose petals for the throwing, table decorations: the whole nine yards. You can even buy enough flowers to make that bed of roses he's been promising you.
 
As for the rose petals, you can easily order those in fresh, freeze-dried, or silk versions. Nothing beats fresh, but freeze-dried rose petals last for weeks given proper care, and of course silk rose petals (which are actually made from a tough polyester) will last for years. Rose petals make great floral accents as well as providing ammunition for the flower girls. They'll look sweet scattered on the reception dinner tables, or among the pews at the church. Just remember, fresh petals have a tendency to be slippery, and can stain clothing. If you want to avoid something slick underfoot (since nothing ruins the solemnity of a wedding like someone falling down), then dried petals would be best.

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Weddings cost a heckuva lot of money. For most of us, the response to that simple statement is a roll of the eyes and a simple statement of our own: "Well, duh!" But have you really given the matter much thought? Unless you or your Mr. Right are wealthy, or you can get your Dad to spring for a traditional wedding, you're going to have to consider how much you're willing to spend to get hitched. According to some sources, the average wedding (just the wedding, mind you) costs -- are you ready for this? -- about $27,000. That's more than many people make in a year. How yours compares depends on how much you can afford to spend. It's not unheard-of for people to re-mortgage their houses in order to enjoy a lavish wedding, but you don't need to go overboard -- unless, of course, you really want to.
 
Putting together your wedding budget should be among the first things you do, once the question's been popped and appropriately answered. (We're assuming, here, that you're looking for a more-or-less traditional wedding with a full range of guests, rather than a quick jaunt down to the local Justice of the Peace office.) You should get started right away, since it's been estimated that planning for a wedding, either formal or informal, can take up to 250 hours. To put that into perspective, that's over 10 days of solid work, and you don't even get paid for it -- which is why making a budget, and sticking to your budget, is crucial. For the average wedding, as mentioned above, the money goes out at an astonishing rate of $108 per hour. Everything has to be considered: the church, minister, reception hall, dinner, rings, flowers, dresses, tuxedos; the list is extensive, which means that you'll need a formal budget to keep everything in order and on track. It's enough to make you want to run off to Las Vegas for the weekend and get married there.
 
Frankly, your best bet is to hire a good, experienced wedding planner and let them deal with all the headaches -- it's their job, and they know all the little tricks to getting everything to run smoothly. However, wedding planners are very expensive, too; a good one can cost anywhere from 7% to 20% of the wedding's total cost -- $2,000-5,000 isn't at all unusual. If you'd like to wing it, you can head to the Internet for a little help. Wedding budget organizers and worksheets are available online that will help you break your budget down by percentages for each category of expenses. All of them are slightly different, but a good one will take all the major expense categories into account.
 
In a nutshell, here's how it works. You start out with the amount of money you're willing to spend; include in your total any credit cart debt you're prepared to incur, as well as any other funds (even your second mortgage). It doesn't matter whether it's a million bucks or a hundred, you've got to be realistic. Then it's a matter of breaking down the percentages. Surprisingly, the ceremony -- from location fees to the minister's fee -- usually isn't that excessive, making up about 3% of your total costs. Wedding rings run about the same. Gifts for the bridesmaids, transportation, and invitations all bite about 2-3% out of the budget, while flowers and clothing should take up 8% and 10%, respectively. The wedding photographer should cost no more than 12%, and the music -- whether band, DJ, or your Cousin Bob on the ukulele -- shouldn't go above about 8%. This leaves a whopping 48% (!) for the reception. Remember, though, this includes the location, drinks, food, dancing, cake, decorations, and all kinds of party favors.
 
Calculating what you can afford to spend on all these expense categories should give you a good idea of where to go from there. It should go without saying that this list won't work for everyone; if your uncle owns a nice mansion with a ballroom, then you just might not need to rent a reception hall, and your expenses for the reception category will be notably diminished. Keep in mind, also, that you do have a little wiggle room within the categories, especially if you can strike a deal with various vendors. Any money you save can go toward another category that needs padding -- generally the reception category (unless of course that uncle's around). In any case, whatever you end up with, be sure you do your best to stick to it -- or you may live to regret it. If you only have enough money in your music category for the VFW polka band, you can't afford to hire Bon Jovi. That would take living on a prayer just a little too far, wouldn't you say?

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It's your big day: you're about marry the person you're planning to spend the rest of your life with, and you don't want to mess it up from the get-go. While it's understandable that you'd prefer to do everything yourself (with the help of your Mom, sisters, and grandmothers, of course), sometimes that just isn't an option. You've got to deal with everything from finding that perfect wedding dress for yourself to hunting up some matching ugly dresses for your bridesmaids (to set off your lovely dress), not to mention things like ordering the wedding cake, signing and sending off the wedding invitations, borrowing something blue, and all the other thousands of little things that come with getting married. Studies have shown that the average wedding takes a full 250 hours of planning. If it's all a bit much and you can afford the cost, consider hiring a wedding planner instead. While they're expensive, you just might find that their services are the best thing you've ever purchased.
 
A wedding planner is a professional who will happily plan your wedding for a fee --usually a large one, varying from 7-20% of your total wedding budget. A good wedding planner does everything except perform the ceremony. Though their most important task is coordinating the large groups of people you can expect at your wedding, no task is too small or large for the wedding planner and his or her staff: in fact, finding the right cuff-links for the groom or scouting a location for the wedding itself are par for the course. They keep track, too, of everything from your DJ music to how many dinner courses the caterer is planning to serve. Because the wedding planning industry is a growing one, you should have your fill of options when it comes to choosing a planner. In a way, that's good, since you'll have a wide variety to choose from; but of course, you're presented with yet another choice, requiring significant homework. We're here to make that choice easier.
  
Your first step in finding a decent wedding planner should be asking around among your friends and coworkers, to see if they've got anyone they can recommend -- or any wedding planner horror stories to tell, so you know who to avoid. That will help you compile your list of potential wedding planners to interview. Important pre-qualifications you should look for in a professional wedding planner are experience and verifiable references (and make sure you verify them, too!). When it comes down to the actual interviews, there are a number of things you should keep in mind. First of all, ask what kinds of payments the planner accepts. You don't want to be caught up short by offering to pay with a credit card when she doesn't accept them; some wedding planners work exclusively on a cash basis. It's up to you to ask, even though a good wedding planner wouldn't sign you up without making this clear. Consider, too, the fact that a busy wedding planner may have deals with various vendors to provide services at discounts, since they use those vendors so often. If this is the case, that particular planner might be able to help you save some money on various goods and services, and may even be able to get you a great deal on something you previously thought you couldn't afford.
 
You'll also want to assess the personalities of your wedding planner candidates. Most important is your need to find someone you think can get along well with, since you'll be dealing with them quite a bit between the day you hire them and your wedding. You'll also need a wedding planner who is an assertive, take-charge kind of person. This is the individual who will be organizing all the major aspects of your wedding, so they need to be your representative in negotiations with vendors, limousine services, facilities owners, and all the other third-party entities involved in pulling the wedding together. You don't need a shrinking violet who always comes to you with excuses as to why they couldn't get certain things done. Finally, make sure you get everything in writing, so that you have legal recourse if the wedding planner or any of the third-party vendors fail to uphold their end of the bargain.
  
Above all, communication is the key! You should maintain regular contact with your wedding planner, to make sure that everything is going swimmingly. It's best to have access to at least two ways to contact them, especially in the last few days before the wedding, so that you can check on the progress of the event planning. Always remember that you have the power to nix anything that you don't like. It may be difficult to tell a person with a strong personality that you don't like the band she's chosen or that you think chrysanthemums are a bad idea, but after all, you're the client, and the decision is yours to make. You also have the right to change your mind, at least within reason. The wedding planner might be irritated with the changes, but if they're a true professional they'll take it in stride and move on.

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It's the bride at any wedding who gets the most attention, and deservedly so; but it's a fact that it takes two to get married. The groom is more than just the little guy on the top tier of the wedding cake, or heaven forbid, an ornament on the bride's arm (we're talking about you, Britney), so both you and he need to pay a little attention to how he looks during the ceremony and afterward. Usually, this means he needs to be dressed up and, well, groomed to within an inch of his life. It's true that many couples tend to be somewhat informal nowadays when it comes to getting married, but most still opt for the formal church wedding over the informal variety -- and this means following specific traditions. Now, most men aren't into dressing up, but his own wedding is the one day in his life when it's absolutely necessary to look his sartorial best. At a traditional wedding, the groom should look more than merely presentable; he should, in fact, look sharp enough to cut himself -- though not so much that he outshines the bride. Ideally, that excellent appearance should extend to his attendants: the Best Man and, if he has them, the groomsmen.
 
For the traditional groom, tuxedos are de rigueur -- unless you're Dennis Rodman, the basketball star who wore a wedding dress to his marriage to Carmen Electra, but we won't go into that. A regular business-style suit or even an Oxford shirt and really nice slacks just won't cut it for a formal wedding. Tuxedos are more or less the apex of men's formal attire, but they do come in a variety of styles. The cut of the jacket is essentially the same across the tuxedo spectrum, but the rest of the outfit is quite variable. The jacket itself may be white, off-white, black, gray, or blue, and the accompanying trousers can be any of these solid colors, or even striped. Top hats are also a fun option for men's wedding attire, but in these modern bareheaded times, they might look just a tad old-fashioned. That particular touch is up to you and your groom.
 
Once you've got all the basics taken care of, it's time to consider the accessory garments: vest, tie, and cummerbund. The vest should compliment whichever jacket you choose, as should the necktie. With the tie, you have the option of a bowtie or a cravat; the latter looks a little old-fashioned (see above), but it's a lot easier to handle than the intricacies of the bowtie. As for the cummerbund, it too should compliment your outfit; however, it's become permissible to wear a slightly brighter cummerbund and tie, as long as the two match.
 
When it comes to shoes, you'll want nice formal shoes without embellishment, preferably made of patent leather. Make sure they shine! The same should be true of your cufflinks and tie tack (yes, gentlemen, you'll have to figure them out). The only jewelry the groom should wear at your wedding won't be put on until near the end of the ceremony itself -- and that's the wedding ring. The finishing touch should be a nice boutonniere that matches the bridal bouquet.
 
There's a bit more leeway when it comes to the Best Man and groomsmen, but in a traditional wedding, that leeway is quite limited. As with the bridesmaids, the idea is for the groom's attendants to wear matching attire. Unlike the bridesmaids, the attire of the groomsmen may be patterned after that of the groom, so no worries about ugly tuxedos meant to make the groom look good. What matters most is comfort and fit. This may require a trip to the men's wear shop, either severally or together, but generally it's a simple matter to rent an appropriate outfit once a decision has been made about what the guys should wear. Price is less an issue with tuxedos than it is with bridesmaids' dresses, since most men would prefer to rent than buy. Often, one can also rent shoes and other accessories to go with the tux. The general rule of thumb is to start looking as much as six months before the Big Day, and to book the rental no less than three months in advance. Be sure to confirm the rental several weeks in advance, just in case a problem has cropped up.
 
If you opt for a less formal wedding, the rules are somewhat relaxed when it comes to men's attire -- but that doesn't mean you should be slovenly. Nice business suits for the groom and all his attendants would look smart, no matter how informal the bride's planning to dress. Again, don't go overboard with the accessories. Shoes needn't be overly formal, but they should be dressy and unornamented.

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Memories are great -- but photographs are memories you can hold in your hand, and pass around to other people who weren't there at the time. This is one of the greatest reasons to document your wedding photographically: not just to reminisce, but to share those memories years down the road with those who weren't present. Some of those people, in fact, might not even have been a gleam in your eye when you were married -- and you can be sure your children will always be interested in your wedding pictures, even if it's just to wonder who the dorky-looking guy standing next to the bride was.
 
Back before the invention of decent and inexpensive video cameras, you had to basically be royalty before your wedding was immortalized on film; but oh, how things have changed since Charles and Diana's marriage! Now anyone's uncle with a camcorder can videotape the proceedings, and catch on film all the embarrassing things that you and your guests do. Thanks to them, America's Stupidest Home Videos has plenty of fodder to keep it going. Aside from the horses playing football, it's always the wedding videos everyone laughs at the most -- especially when the groom faints, or Aunt Ethel dives into the lake when trying to catch the bridal bouquet. Your wedding needn't be that way, of course; not only can you hire a decent wedding photographer, you can hire a wedding videographer as well.
 
Who you hire for these positions -- or whether you hire anyone at all -- will very likely depend entirely upon your wedding budget. The experts say you should spend about 12% for the photographer. This can amount to quite a lot, since that's two percent more than you should expect to spend on all the wedding attire, including your bridal gown, your bridesmaids' dresses (if you pay for those), and the groom's tuxedo. You'll need a hefty fee to hire a professional, sure, but the other option is to let your cousin loose with the camera. If it turns out you can hire a professional photographer, you'll need to do your homework first, if only because your wedding's one of those things that's only going to happen once. You don't want to have some guy take all these pictures on your Big Day, only to find out he left the lens cap on, do you?
 
There are a number of things to keep in mind when you're interviewing prospective photographers. The first thing to do is to check out their experience level and professionalism. For example, they should have lots of experience photographing weddings; weddings are special events that require specialized knowledge, so your photographer needs to know how to handle the lighting, the circumstances, and various situations that might pop up. They also need to be familiar with the standard types of photos that need to be taken, from the bride's portrait to the image of bride and groom cutting the cake together. As for their professionalism, you should check their proffered references to see how they've handled previous jobs, to make sure they tend to arrive on time to do the work that's required, and that they do it well. Plus, do they plan to dress up for your wedding? They'll need to be well groomed, even if your wedding is informal, so they don't stand out. They're there to capture the scene, not cause one.
 
Photographic style is also important. Some photographers work best in black and white, some in color; or would you prefer a mix of both? What kinds of portraits and other photos are present in this photographer's portfolio? Are they artsy or down-to-earth? The style you prefer is up to you, but it's best to work with someone whose artistic style coincides with your own. Similarly, what's their personality like -- is there chemistry there? Sure, you two can work together for the few hours it takes to photodocument your wedding and grit your teeth the whole time, but if there's stress it's likely to show in the photos. Why not go with someone you think you can live with?
 
In most cases, the professionals are going to be professional enough that you won't have to worry overmuch about many of the factors listed above; a good photographer will even modify their artistic style to suit you. You'll want to spend more time checking out the financial basics: how much the photos cost, what kind of photo package they offer, how long it takes to get your proofs back, and when the final photos (or video) will be delivered. Before you sign their contract (and you should always have a written contract), you need to sit down and read it through to make sure it's fair, and that you understand everything about payments, deposits, provisions for cancellation, and everything else. If the photographer has problems with this, fine -- there are other fish in the sea.

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The most important part of your wedding day is the wedding ceremony itself, period. No matter how nice everything else might be, it's all just icing on the cake -- expensive icing, sure, but icing nonetheless. The only reason it's all there is to dress up the ceremony. That's right: the wedding singer, that huge reception hall and all that food, the dancing, the honeymoon night; all that's for naught without the ceremony. Though you can be sure that all the vendors will want you to pay for it anyway, no matter what happens.
 
In our modern society, you have plenty of choices when it comes to the type of wedding ceremony you want to experience. An informal wedding may be the simplest to plan out, though of course most brides want to go through the whole white-dress church wedding thing that's been traditional for lo these many centuries. For most of us, it's like that old-time religion: if it was good enough for our ancestors, it's good enough for us. Then there's the high-falutin' new practice of the destination wedding, where you run off to somewhere like Hawaii or Paris, dragging along your entire wedding party for a truly unique and unforgettable experience. Whichever option you choose -- as long as you're not planning to pop in at the Justice of the Peace or a chapel in Las Vegas -- you'll need to sit down and spend some time planning the ceremony itself. There's a reason why the average wedding takes 250 hours to plan, and this is one of them. 
 
Your marriage should reflect your personalities, as least to some extent. On the other hand, if you're strongly religious or simply wish to hew closely to family or religious tradition, you'll need to make allowances for other factors. You're unlikely to be able to mix the free and easy aspects of an informal wedding with a traditional Catholic wedding -- or for that matter a traditional Jewish wedding, a traditional Chinese wedding, or, really, any traditional wedding at all. Some weddings involve special ceremonies that are a required part of that tradition; for example, Catholic weddings are celebrated with a Nuptial Mass, and similar practices may be part and parcel of other types of traditional weddings.
 
At some point, you'll need to meet with the other involved people -- especially your wedding planner or organizer, assuming you have one -- and sketch out a rough outline of the ceremony. You'll want to come up with a smooth structure, in which the various components of the ceremony flow smoothly from one to the other. The idea is to make your guests, and you as the major participants, feel like you've all experienced something special -- the kind of event that's unlikely to ever happen again. Otherwise, you might as well just elope. The ceremony is the place where you stand up in front of your friends and family and exchange promises, making a commitment to each other; and equally as important, it's where the legal compact of marriage is completed and made official.
 
Once you've got a general idea of what you want to do, you'll need to meet with your marriage officiant (sometimes called a marriage celebrant), whomever that may be. Often, it's a priest of whichever faith you and/or your beloved belongs to. Expect the meeting to take at least an hour and a half, perhaps longer. A good celebrant will help you with the details, will offer you a choice of the wording used during the ceremony (assuming you haven't already decided on something), and will collect the personal details they'll need to complete the preparations. Depending upon the celebrant and the location in which the marriage occurs, they may also ask for a formal Notice of Marriage, as well as various paperwork showing that you can legally marry -- for example, birth certificates, passports, any decrees of divorce, and even death certificates of spouses if you've been widowed. At some point, they may also ask you to sign a notice that there are no legal impediments to your marriage. While these requirements may seem intrusive, they're absolutely necessary for the celebrant's legal protection. You'll need to meet again with the celebrant before the ceremony, which will be a good time to take care of the final details, including the fee.
 
A very important part of your wedding ceremony preparations will be your wedding rehearsal. This is one rehearsal you don't want anyone to miss, because America's Funniest Home Videos aside, nothing's funny about a flubbed marriage ceremony. You may want to schedule one or more informal rehearsals prior to the actual formal dress rehearsal, so that you can iron out all the details. Traditionally, the final wedding rehearsal should take place the day before the ceremony, on that action-packed day when you'll have to take care of everything else, too. It may be a pain, but it'll be worth it in the end, when you get married without a hitch -- except the new one between you and your husband.

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If you're going to plan a party, you might as well do it right -- and what party is bigger than your wedding reception? It's all but unthinkable to have a wedding without a reception; that would be like purchasing a new Ferrari and then forgetting to buy gas. All your friends and families are eager to celebrate your newly married state, so in a very real sense the reception is for them, not you. You see, they're just very happy to finally get you married off, and they're ready to scarf acres of food and gallons of wine in your honor -- so you don't want to disappoint them. How else will you get to enjoy that tipsy Best Man congratulatory toast halfway through the evening? And naturally enough, everyone will want to boogie the night away and get a chance to kiss the bride.
 
As with everything else, you'll need to spend a good bit of your precious prenuptial time planning your wedding reception, and then getting down to the business of acquiring everything you need to make it happen: the reception hall, catering, your cake, the band, flowers, and all those other little details. This is where a wedding planner can come in handy, assuming you can afford one; but if you can't, then you'll have to take a deep breath and jump in with both feet. As you make your plans, keep in mind the fact that the wedding reception should complement the wedding ceremony, and serve as a nice counterbalance to the formality of said ceremony. The reception location itself is your first priority. All details like bands and cake aside, you'll need something that combines proximity to your wedding ceremony location with affordability, availability, and capacity. It won't do to book a wedding party of 300 people for a hall with a 200-person capacity; similarly, a 30-person wedding party would be dwarfed in a massive reception hall intended to seat 500. You'll also have to make sure you book the wedding hall months in advance: six months would be best, though three months is the very latest you can let it go. The same's true of most of the vendors involved in the party, from the caterers down to the DJ.
 
The reception location itself doesn't necessarily have to be a reception hall, as such. Depending on the size of your wedding party, a hotel ballroom might do, or a yacht. Private homes, gardens (public and private), parks, and restaurants also make excellent locations for wedding receptions. If you want to be a bit more adventurous, check into the cost of holding your reception at a museum, a country club, or even a winery. Most of these locations would love the attention and the money you're willing to spend.
 
If you can't afford to hire a wedding planner to take care of all your wedding needs, fear not -- you still might be able to avoid most of the reception planning. Believe it or not, there are specialty wedding consultants who do nothing but take care of wedding receptions. These wedding reception planners don't necessarily come cheap, but they come cheaper than most wedding organizers. Instead of worrying about digging up a band, hiring a caterer, renting the hall, checking the cancellation policy, taking care of the paperwork, and the rest of that can of worms, just get the reception planning service to do it for you. Unless you're a micromanager, such services might be worth paying for, even if you have to take out a loan to do it. As with any wedding planner, you'll need to find an experienced professional with a take-charge personality who'll handle all these details for you, without simply taking over everything and doing it their way. On the other hand, you need to find someone you're comfortable with, since you'll be working with them closely for weeks, if not months. You should always review their references, just as you would when hiring anyone. If you must, go on the Internet and Google your prospective planner. If you've found your way here, it's clear that you the value of a good search engine.
 
Here's one final piece of advice: whether you opt for a reception planner or decide to do it yourself, have a contingency plan in place. If the reception hall burns down the day before the wedding, or if the planner you've been depending on somehow manages not to show up or otherwise botches his or her responsibilities (surely a shooting offense in most states), then you don't want to be left holding the bag. It's unlikely to every happen, of course, but you just never know -- and fortune favors the prepared. You'll need to be able to throw something together no matter what happens, even if you have to grit your teeth the entire time and keep reminding yourself that it's only a few hours until your honeymoon starts.

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So the much-awaited day's finally here -- you're about to walk down that aisle and become a missus! Since everything should be perfect, there's quite a bit to be done on this last partial day of being a single girl, not least of which is to make sure that everything goes off without a hitch. Aside from making sure you get plenty of sleep the night before the day of the wedding, we've got a few suggestions for making things easier for all involved. That's not to say that you won't need to keep a tight rein on all your wedding day preparations; slack off, and things could fall apart. Not only that, you should always have a Plan B prepared for just about everything, just in case. It would be ideal to have a wedding planner to help you, but this isn't always realistic, due to the cost.
 
First of all, by the time the Big Day dawns, you should have put together a detailed wedding day schedule, and gone over it repeatedly with your vendors, friends, family, and your wedding consultant (if any). For example, those joining you in your wedding party need to know exactly what's going to happen every step of the way; this should dovetail with your wedding rehearsal, which will ideally occur the day before the wedding. Venders need to know when, where, and how they'll be delivering their goods and services, and woe betide anyone who's late or doesn't show up.
 
Your appearance is very important, since you're going to be the center of attention for quite some time. We were serious when we mentioned getting plenty of sleep the night before. No matter how busy you are, or how nervous, try to get some shut-eye -- if not your normal amount of sleep, then at least as much as you can manage. That old tradition about avoiding the groom the day before and the day of the wedding? What they really mean is the night before. No matter how happy you are or how passionate you feel, temporarily relinquish your beau and make an early night of it, so you can get up equally early. There's nothing attractive about puffy eyelids, red eyes, or bags under those eyes, and all of those are difficult to cover with makeup. If you wake up to any of them, try covering your eyes with hot teabags and elevating your feet for a while. It's not a cure-all, but it might help. As for breakfast, make sure you eat something mild and soothing that won't cause any stomach upset; you'll probably have butterflies enough.
 
You should have taken care of manicure and hair-do the day before, but it makes sense to get a few touchups before the ceremony. Polish your nails and fix your hair, and if you can, have professionals (or at least your niece in beauty college) take care of both. Your makeup should follow. You should be making final preparations for dressing, as well; if your wedding dress needs any additional touches, this is the time to take care of them.
 
A few hours before the wedding, the bridesmaids and your other wedding attendants should arrive. Where's the groom in all of this? Well, the groom's party, including the Best Man and the groomsmen, should be making arrangements elsewhere; you're still under quarantine, so to speak. The idea is that you'll meet at the church for the ceremony.
 
After everyone in your half of the wedding party has arrived, you should all get dressed. This is likely to take a while, especially for you -- it's not easy to don a wedding dress and the assorted accessories. Shortly thereafter, the photographer should arrive to take any pre-arranged photographs, such as the bridal portrait and the parents portrait. This process should take no more than an hour or so. Suddenly, it's less than an hour until you're to be married! At no later than 30 minutes to go, the first wedding contingent -- consisting of your bridesmaids and your mother -- should leave for the wedding location. Shortly thereafter, the second group, including you and your father (or whoever might be giving you away), should leave in a separate care. Your bridesmaids should meet you at the church.
 
By now, it's too late to worry about anything. You've arranged everything to a T, and you've got to be satisfied that the ceremony will go well, and that no one is going to leave the wedding reception hungry. You're almost to the point where, as the saying goes, the rubber hits the road. You're about the enjoy the fruits of many months of planning and hard work. As the clock clicks down to two minutes, it's time for you and your half of the wedding party to line up at the door of the church (or wherever you're getting married) and get ready to move. You should be standing at the entrance, arm in arm with your father. Your bridesmaids should be ranked behind you. Don't worry; you've already rehearsed this, and you've gone through it in your mind a hundred times.

Showtime. You step forward, shining like the jewel you are, and the ceremony begins. Here comes the bride!

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Aha -- Wedding Eve is finally here! By now, you're probably a bundle of nerves -- and who wouldn't be? A wedding is a complex event, and the mind naturally tends to dwell on those things that might go wrong. Like, what if your dress looks horrible? What if you get a zit on the end of your nose? What if the weather's bad? What if the best man gets tipsy at the reception (like that's not traditional anyway)? What if you stutter during the ceremony? All the guests might laugh when you say, "I d-d-d-d-do," and your groom might think you've suddenly developed cold feet. It's almost enough to make you wish they had arranged marriages here like they do in the Far East, or wonder why the heck you didn't just elope to Vegas one weekend. But don't worry -- just keep in mind all the neat gifts coming your way; you can always use an extra toaster or crock-pot. Then there's the fact that if you can get through the wedding, there's always the honeymoon to look forward to.
 
But seriously, folks: whether you've hired a wedding planner or decided to brave it on your own, the day before the wedding is a day for making last minute preparations, putting the finishing touches on all the details, and making sure everything's organized just right. There are specific items that are traditionally done the day before, for reasons varying from strict necessity to plain tradition. While the day-before events will vary from couple to couple, depending upon family tradition and other factors, some wedding eve items are more or less universal. We'll list the important ones here, and discuss them as we go. Of course, if you have a wedding planner, some of these items will be taken care of by them; otherwise, it's all up to you and your fiance. No bones about it: all these things can make for a hectic, tiring day -- but if you can, set aside at least a few hours' worth of relaxation. Take it easy, have some iced tea, and keep reminding yourself that by this time tomorrow, you'll be off to Hawaii (or Paris, or London, or Kokomo).

- Meet with your wedding planner, if you have one, so that you can iron out any last minute details.
- Decorate both the wedding and reception locations; you can probably get others to help you with this. It's best to get it done early, so you can take care of other things.
- Confirm the delivery or appearance times for various items, including the cake, dinner, rental attire, flowers, minister, photographer, and band. This is exactly the sort of thing your wedding organizer should do, if you've got one.
- Visit your manicurist for a manicure for sure, and a pedicure as well if you're planning to wear open-toed bridal shoes. 
- Treat yourself to a facial. This will ensure that your skin looks its absolute best for the Big Day.
- Get your hair done. You'll want your hair to look perfect, of course, and getting it done the day before ensures that it doesn't have time to grow out of whatever style you've chosen, and it still looks beauty-shop fresh. 
- Attend the rehearsals of both your wedding ceremony and your wedding dinner. You should be the first one there, if only to greet the other participants. While traditions differ, this would be a good time to give gifts of appreciation to your bridesmaids, Maid/Matron of Honor, Best Man, and other attendants. At this time, you can also give the minister's fee to the Best Man to delivery after the ceremony. 
- Eat well. The rehearsal dinner should take care of this one.
- Pack for the honeymoon, if you haven't already.
- Avoid the groom. According to all the old wives' tales, it's bad luck for bride and groom to see each other the day before the wedding. You can, of course, ignore all those old superstitions if you like.
- Get plenty of rest that night. Okay, so maybe that's why you're supposed to avoid the groom the day before. You don't want to look haggard the day of your wedding, just because you partied all night.
 
No doubt you'll come up with a few items of your own before the wedding, and in fact you might be able to trim a few items off this list if you've got expert assistance. The point of this list is to provide a general outline that you can use to plan out your penultimate day as a single individual. It's been a long, busy road getting this far. These are your last few tasks before it's all over at last, and you want to get everything right before you step out onto that wide and wonderful yellow brick road to the future.

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"Something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue." When it comes to minor wedding details, that's about all most brides have time to think of: their head's already swimming with concerns about sending off invitations, getting the right dress, booking the church and reception hall, and so many other things that it's hard to worry about the details. But when it comes down to it, the littlest thing -- like sitting your cousin next to her ex-husband -- can have a negative effect on what's supposed to be your special day. Worse, the affects of all the little things going wrong can pile together to cause a Big Thing indeed, something that could well be the talk of your friends and family for years -- so it's best to keep the little problems to a minimum.
 
Here's an extremely important "little thing" you should keep in mind as you're working your way through your wedding plans. If you don't have a wedding planner you can count on to do this, then several weeks before the Big Day, call every single one of your third-party vendors and confirm your bookings. That means the florist, the owner of the reception hall, the caterer, the photographer, the reception band manager, the wedding officiant, the organ player -- everybody. Then call them all again to confirm several days before the big event. You can't be too careful; though it would seem unconscionable that anyone should forget such a thing, you have to remember that 1) your wedding isn't as important to them as it is to you; and 2) human memories are fallible. Some people are just terrible at scheduling things, and computer scheduling is a finicky thing at best -- since, after all, you need to remember to look at the schedule for it to work.
 
Another minor detail to consider while you're setting the date is this: check to be sure that nothing major is happening in or near your proposed wedding location at that time. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to plan a spur-of-the moment, jazzy New Orleans wedding, only to find out you'll be sharing the street with the Krewe of Bacchus during Mardi Gras (might be fun, though). Nor would a Boston wedding be advisable on the day of the Boston Marathon. Other events, like big concerts or major sporting events, would also be something you'd want to avoid. You don't want to have to compete with Britney or Kobe for attention, now would you?
 
Something you've got less lead-time on is road work. It's hard to find out in advance if your lovable local municipality has decided it's time to tear up the streets along your wedding route for the fourth time in two years (they have to spend that money somewhere), but you can make an effort to drive the proposed route to the wedding location and from there to the reception location several days prior to the wedding. Even if nothing's going on at the time, many local governments have a habit of installing temporary lighted signs warning you of the dates when a route might be shut down or diverted. It's not going to help you any (or ease tempers which might already be frayed) if everyone is late to your wedding ceremony. It goes without saying, of course, that you should always schedule your wedding to avoid rush hours, and that you should always test-drive the routes just to see how heavy the traffic is on a normal day.
 
Speaking of frayed tempers, let's get back to the human factor -- with a focus on your guests, this time. Unfortunately, you may have some relatives or friends who are perfectly willing to let their personal animosities override common courtesy, driving them to fight verbally or physically at your wedding. You need to head this off from the very beginning, by taking a long, hard look at your wedding's guest list before you send out the invitations. You may find a few names that you want to red-flag: maybe they don't mix well with other guests, or maybe they don't mix well with alcohol. You may want to juggle things so that people who don't get along won't be seated next to each other at the reception, or politely ask some people to drink only ginger ale at the reception or to maintain a low profile during the entire event. You may even be forced to weed people out. If they complain because they weren't invited, tough -- it's your wedding, and it's your privilege to invite whoever you want. If they insist, point out why they weren't invited, and let it go. Stand firm on this. You don't want some yahoo to guilt you into appearing at their wedding, and then cause trouble when they're there.
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There's a classic Seinfeld episode in which the fiance of George Costanza, happily working on sending off her wedding invitations, keels over and dies -- a victim of the poisonous glue on the cheap envelopes George made her buy. Not only is this an object lesson to brides everywhere, it's proof -- given his reaction and later actions -- that George is a self-centered slimeball (as if any further proof were needed). While Seinfeld plays the situation for laughs, the episode at least acknowledges the existence of wedding invitations -- a rare occurrence in those fantasy approximations of life that we call fiction. In real life (such as it is), it's hard to underestimate the importance of your wedding invitations. In many cases, they're the formal announcement, the banns and first notice, that you plan to hitch your star to someone else's.
 
Like most things about your wedding, your wedding invitations should reflect a combination of your personal style and your chosen wedding traditions. Once you've put together your guest list -- which is sure to be a trying exercise, especially if you're trying the limit the size of the wedding party -- you'll have to decide how you want to present yourselves to your prospective guests. It's true that you'll probably want to call them up first, but this doesn't replace a formal invitation. After all, people love to have something that they can hold onto, examine, and paste into their scrapbooks; and besides, a formal invitation lets you include everything from special instructions on the style of dress to directions on how to get to the wedding ceremony location.
 
The chosen style, colors, and theme of your wedding should all come through in your invitations. Whether they're elegant engraved invitations written in a calligraphic font on creamy parchment, or colorful foil-inlaid monstrosities that fairly scream, "Tacky!", the invitations will have a good bit to say about both you and your groom, and the approach you're taking to your impending nuptials. Traditional and staid, or flashy and flamboyant? That's up to you, and it should be reflected in the invitation. Your invitations also should offer explicit cues as to precisely the type of ceremony and reception your guests should expect. Will it be champagne, caviar, and ballroom dancing at the reception, or Cold Duck, Cheez-Whiz, and boot-scootin'? That's what your guests really want to know.
 
There's a vast array of choices out there when it comes to wedding invitations. No longer are you limited to the formal, the plain, the traditional. If you want to have a NASCAR-themed wedding, there are NASCAR-themed wedding invitations -- and if you can't find any, someone is sure to be willing to print some up for you. You'll also have to choose from a plethora of ink styles and colors, as well as fonts. Whatever you choose, you should keep these items in mind when selecting your invitations:
 
- The setting. Your invitations should reflect the wedding location, whether you've planning a Hawaiian beach wedding or a church wedding back home.
- The color scheme. Formal and conservative, or colorful?
- The theme. Star Trek, NASCAR, traditional white wedding -- the works.

- Ethnic or religious aspects. There's a big difference between a traditional Greek wedding and a tradition Chinese wedding, and you should make your guests aware of the option you've chosen.
- Photos. Would you like to include photos of the happy couple with your invites, or cute and cuddly children?
- Budget. If your wedding budget (and especially your wedding invitation budget) is limited, what you really want may as well be pie in the sky. On the other hand, you should get the best invitations you can afford, if only to put your best foot forward. But be careful of those cheap envelopes.
 
Keep in mind that you don't necessarily have to go through the trouble of designing everything yourself, although that's indeed an option if you have any of that snazzy greeting card software that's so popular these days. In normal circumstances, however, it's easier to head to a bridal supplies shop, either online or off, where they're sure to have a wide selection of wedding invitation templates you can look over and choose from. Failing that, a standard print shop may be able to supply you with the kind of wedding invitations you're looking for. Here's what you should always include on your invitations:
  
- Your names, and who you're the children of (especially for first marriages)
- The date, time, and location of the ceremony
- The location of the reception
- Type of dress expected
- An RSVP request (with phone number, if necessary)
 
You can also include a card or printout with other relevant information, such as directions to the church or reception hall. Just keep in mind the basic elements for your invitations, and that part of the wedding planning, at least, should turn out just fine.

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Once your beau pops the question, your first thought (after saying "Yes," of course) will probably be, "Well, about time!" But then you'll have to start thinking about the most important thing: the kind of wedding that you'll have. Your first steps into wedded bliss ought to be perfect, but naturally perfect varies from couple to couple. Do you want a full-fledged traditional wedding paid for by your Dad, a carefree wedding in the park, a Hawaiian beach wedding complete with leis, or something altogether less mundane? It's all up to you and your spouse-to-be, and the variations are endless, assuming you make sure to dot all the legal I's and cross all the religious T's. Even a Star Trek-themed wedding isn't out of the question, but might we suggest a Klingon wedding over a Betazoid one? The former might seem a bit solemn, but at least you get to keep your clothes on, unlike the latter.
 
There's an old saying, applied to societies everywhere: "If it happens once, it's an accident; if it happens twice, it's tradition." We humans do have a tendency to stick with what we're comfortable with, which is why traditional weddings remain the most popular type in most societies. In America and most European nations, this means a church wedding with lacy white dress for the bride, accessorized with tasteful jewelry and a veil; a tuxedo or formal suit for the groom; an exchange of wedding rings and vows, and many guests from both sides of the family. By tradition, the bride's father is supposed to pay for the wedding, and of course he's supposed to pay for a grand reception as well. During the ceremony, the bridesmaids wear ugly dresses that no one in their right mind would wear normally, in order to point up the bride's beauty, and there are little kids throwing flower petals everywhere and carrying the rings around on couch pillows. Hypothetically there's a multi-tiered wedding cake, and the best man is supposed to propose a rambling, drunken toast to the bride and groom. After that there'll be dancing to all hours of the night. Right? Right.
 
This is the standard to which most modern weddings are held, and there's many the wedding that goes off just like this one. Of course, in this modern era the bride's father isn't always expected to impoverish himself for his daughter's wedding; sometimes the happy couple pays for it themselves. Even if Dad does pay for it, it needn't be overly grand; a snug little church wedding can be just as happy an occasion as one held in St. Paul's Cathedral, and just because the reception's held at the VFW Hall doesn't mean there won't be plenty of dancing and the traditional best man speech.
 
A popular modern option is the informal wedding, which can be either civilly recognized or purely symbolic. Basically, an informal wedding can be anything you want: you can write the vows, get married in any location, invite anyone and everyone, wear whatever you want, the options, really, are as unbounded as a child's imagination. Remember that Star Trek wedding? This is where you can take advantage of that option, especially if you've always wanted to get married naked. If you don't, many designers make informal wedding dresses for exactly this sort of wedding. A good wedding planner can set anything up, whether you want to get married at the Grand Canyon or in a mock-up of the Starship Enterprise.
 
Speaking of informal weddings, informal beach weddings have become quite popular. Traditionally, the bride and groom stand in the surf, shoeless, while the minister officiates nearby and the guests wait on the shore. One problem with this option is, of course, sea gulls. They're liable to dive-bomb you, and given their devilish dispositions, may try to use your dress for target practice. One amazingly hip way to avoid this? Get married in Hawaii. Although few people are aware of it, there are no sea gulls to bother you in the Fiftieth State, and that's only a minor reason why you should go. The people there are open and friendly, the food is varied and out of this world, and you'll be stunned by all the beauty; think of it as a wedding and honeymoon rolled up in one. Though Hawaii's a bit expensive, it's cheaper to get there than you might think, and it offers a huge variety of beaches and other informal wedding locations. Not only are some of the most beautiful white sand beaches in the world in Hawaii, the Islands are also home to a number of beaches with sands of uncommon colors. If you don't mind the occasional nudist (they seem to have a thing for colored sands), you can get married on green sand, black sand, or even red sand beaches. Some are hard to get to, but they're worth the effort. Leis and brightly colored wedding outfits are standard, along with a luau afterward.

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If you were preparing to star in a Broadway show, wouldn't you want to rehearse first to make sure that you and those around you were poised to do everything just right on the day of your big debut? Of course you would. So why would you ever want to take on the starring role of your life without rehearsing? It's doubtful that you'll ever be more the center of attention than you are on the day of your wedding, so rehearsal is an absolute necessity if you want the Big Day to go down perfectly. A good rehearsal is ideal for getting everything down pat and calming those prenuptial jitters. You can't account for everything that might go wrong, but you can minimize any problems by being well prepared.
    
Your wedding rehearsal should include only the individuals participating in the ceremony: you and your groom, the Best Man, bridesmaids, flower girls, rings bearers, parents and (possibly) grandparents of the bride and groom, and the wedding officiant. (You may also want to include your wedding musicians, if any, so they'll have an understanding of the flow of the ceremony). You should always hold the rehearsal in your chosen wedding location, be it church, country club, or the great outdoors. Your most important task (and possibly the hardest) is to schedule a date and time when everyone can attend. Ideally, this should be sometime in the week before the wedding, preferably the day before. It might be a good idea to schedule your wedding on a Saturday, if you can, so that the final wedding rehearsal takes place on a Friday evening, when most people are free of previous obligations. If you can't get everyone to agree on a specific date, then you'll just have to set a rehearsal date and leave it to them to make it or not.
 
As the host, you should arrive for the rehearsal at least a half-hour early, in order to greet everyone attending. The formal wedding rehearsal may be the first time that all the wedding participants have come together as a group. For this reason, it's a great time to make introductions among those who don't already know each other. Since you don't get to pick your relatives and you have little control over how they react to each other, it may also be a good idea to not to pair up any people who don't get along. (If you don't have this problem, count yourself fortunate). After everyone's arrived, organize them according to your planned ceremony, and then act it out from the first strains of "Here Comes the Bride" to the final "I do" (and the kiss, too, if you want that little bonus). This is not a time to make changes to the ceremony; you should stick with the program you've already chosen. Speaking of programs, if you've printed up some wedding programs, bring them along to the rehearsal.
 
You don't necessarily have to dress up formally for the rehearsal (assuming you plan to dress formally for the ceremony), but at the very least you should bring a few props, like the bridal bouquet. This is especially important for any children involved, who may not be very familiar with weddings. They'll probably need to practice with their ring-bearer pillows and flower petal baskets, and may need a little extra explanation about what a wedding's all about in the first place. Make them aware of just how important their jobs are, and have them walk down the aisle a few times to get the feel of the situation.
 
Once you've finish the rehearsal (to heartfelt sighs all around), you're obliged to feed everyone. It would be a good idea to pick a restaurant or other location near your wedding site, to make it easier to get there quickly -- and do be sure to make reservations in advance, so they'll know when you're arriving and can make the appropriate preparations. It doesn't matter whether you're eating at Bubba's Chicken Shack or Delmonico's, this is a necessary step, and they'll appreciate it if you're on time. A sit-down dinner is a perfect time to give your Best Man, bridesmaids, and other attendants their gifts of appreciation.
 
If a formal dinner or semi-formal dinner isn't your thing -- or if you just want to give everyone a break from the formality -- then consider making a party out of the wedding rehearsal dinner, possibly to give them a taste of the next day's wedding reception. Few guests would be averse to enjoying a Cajun crawfish boil or a Southwestern-style barbecue in someone's backyard. This will give everyone an opportunity to have fun, get to know each other, and dance a little bit (you DO know how to dance, don't you?). If you go for the informal party, may we suggest that you not wear your wedding dress to the festivities? Barbecue sauce doesn't go well with other wedding regalia, even if they're borrowed or blue.

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