"How-To" Get Started Planning Your Wedding

He's finally popped the question. You're now engaged and have set a wedding date…."Now What?", you ask yourself.

You have purchased the latest bridal magazines from your local grocery store and there are pages and pages of photos of beautiful wedding gowns, rings and articles on weddings. Some give you a brief idea of what you need to do to plan your wedding, but you're still not sure how to begin the process.

The key is to start organizing and planning earlier than later.

You first need to create a system to keep all the details in one place. You may choose to use a binder with a tab for each category you will be using. Examples of categories are: Essential Wedding Favors, Bakery, Ceremony, Catering, Florist, Music, Reception, Photography, Transportation. An accordion file is another choice, using the same category tabs. You will be able to see each category at a glance.

Whichever system you choose, use it to keep track of all receipts, pictures, brochures, business cards etc. that is related to each category.

Find a "wedding timetable" layout. This timetable will include a list of to-do's for the entire months/year before the big day. Some of the first things on this timeline may be: Consulting with fiancé and parents to decide budget and financial support. Another may be deciding the number of guests to invite to your big day (always dependant on budget $$ available), deciding what type of wedding - formal or informal or even interviewing wedding coordinators. This timetable is a basic guideline. You can recreate on your computer to fit your wedding and time line.

Once you have an idea of all the details involved in planning a wedding and all the dedicated time you will have to spend, you can start recruiting help from family and friends. Delegate tasks to help you check off all the to-do's on your list and by the time you know it, it‘s wedding day. When it comes to decorating your wedding ceremony or reception . . . Color Is Back White weddings no more? This year will be the "Year Of Color" according to many wedding resources. The trend appears to be that more couples planning weddings are adding pizazz to the look of their wedding, and reception with bold, daring colors, patterns, floral arrangements, exotic cakes, wedding favor ideas and more.

It appears that the desire to "wow" guests is a major goal of many bride's and grooms. With wedding budgets being tossed out the window, these new high end weddings are quickly becoming a wedding fashion statement.

Weddings don't have to cost a fortune to be beautiful and fashionable. With careful budgeting, prioritizing, and perhaps the help of a consultant, you can have one of these new high fashion weddings. The celebrity wedding is really what these every day couples are striving to compete with. The media bombards us with so and sos wedding, and all the details of how expensive, and elaborate the wedding was. It's no wonder couples feel the need to "keep up with the Jones" so to speak. Don't feel bad if this is you, be proud that you have the opportunity to display your own sense of unique style.

Ways To Create Color For Your Wedding! 1. Use a colorful table runner to jazz up your guest tables (tables perhaps already covered with rented white table cloths) If you cannot afford a table runner for every guest table, try doing this for every other guest table in a pattern fashion. This will make sense if done in pattern.

2. Make the most of money saving greenery for part of your centerpieces. Add a dash of bold color with a few brightly colored daisies here and there. A few will go along way. If you cannot afford flowers for every guest table, then consider the every other guest table approach, while still using some greenery alone on the guest tables without flowers.

3. If flowers are not a huge part of your budget, consider the every other table approach mentioned above, or consider purchasing plain clay flower pots at a local store. Next, purchase some brightly colored spray paints (perhaps 2 or 3 different colors) and spray paint the flower pots individually with one of the colors. Perhaps some of them for example with yellow paint, some of them with the bright green paint, and some with orange. When the paint is dry, play with the pots by filling them with different colorful materials to see what you can come up with that will add some pizazz to your guest tables with the pots as your centerpiece. Things to consider filling these pots with are: unpeeled oranges, lemons, grapefruits, even bananas. This will also turn out to be centerpieces that smell great, and your guests can reach out, grab a piece, peel and eat it!

4. Use wallpaper to add color and pattern. Perhaps you can look at your local wallpaper store, or home decor store, and ask if they have wallpaper borders on clearance. If not, look anyway. Ways to use wallpaper to add pizazz! Instead of using a table runner, use a long strip of colorful, patterned wall paper, or a wall paper border to drape across the table cloth covering your guest tables. What about the isle runner for the wedding ceremony? Who needs white? Use a 3 to 4 ft. wide strip of your favorite wall paper measured to reach the full length of the ceremony isle. This is a great alternative to flower petals that don't stay in place. Your guests will not forget this one!

5. Chair covers always add a touch of class, and often come in many colors with bowes to accent them. Check with your local wedding consultant about what is available.

6. Wrap things in colorful cloth ribbon or tule. Ribbon and tule can add a lot of color, they can also hide ugly. If there's something you don't want guests to see, or you just want to jazz it up, then wrap it up!

These are just a few of the many ways to add wonderful, happy color to your special wedding day. The trend this year, is color. So, don't be afraid of bold colors, and patterns. Choose a list of complimentary colors, and stick with them for your theme.