Congratulations – you’ve gotten engaged! This is a great time in your life and should be enjoyed, but after the fun and excitement of showing off the ring, you’ve got some real work to do.

Getting engaged means planning a wedding and weddings are work. You can make this a bit easier by either hiring a wedding planner or eloping but either way you have some work on your own cut out for you.

First, of course you must set a date. What season do you prefer to get married in? Are you picturing a off the shoulder gown or long sleeved? If your gown is very important to you, this might dictate the season. If you are planning a large wedding be prepared to wait a year or more before being able to get the accommodations you want.

Once you have a date or time of year in mind, you need to coordinate the reception hall with the church to make sure they will both be available to you at the right times. Is the church more important or the hall? Whichever comes top on your list will be the place to call first. Find out what dates they have available in the month of your choice and work the other from there. Sometimes you may have to go back and forth to get a perfect day / time combination.

Once you have the date and reception hall worked out, make sure you find out what type of marriage “training” your clergyman will require. Some churches require special classes and you need to make sure you will be available to attend some time prior to the wedding day.

Ok, well that doesn’t sound so hard, does it? That’s just the tip of the iceburg! Now you must set about finding a dress, bridesmaid gowns, invitations, cake, photographer, planning the meals and choosing the guest list and seating. Of course, you will be working very closely with your parents and future in-laws and this is where the real headaches can begin.

If your parents are paying for the wedding, they may feel like they want some control over the event. What you want and what they want may be 2 different things. This is your big day and you should have everything you want, however if your gigantic wedding is only possible due to funding by your parents than you may need to compromise on some accounts. Take your parents aside at the beginning and discuss in detail what you want – let them know what is important to you and see if you can work out a way to make everyone happy.

Almost every future bride gets frustrated at times with the wedding planning, you want your day to be perfect and every little thing can seem a lot more important than it actually is. When you feel things start to get out of control, just remember what is really important – the you and your fiancée and families enjoy good health and happiness. With that in mind your day is bound to be perfect no matter what little things go wrong!

Lee Dobbins writes for many online ezines. Visit Engagement Guide for more tips on engagements and weddings

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