Wedding Planning: Where to begin

     Lots of sites have long to-do lists (weddings have so many details!) but here is a small, basic list to get the wedding planning ball rolling.  I've already spent two months trying to iron out the details on this list for our wedding!

1. Envision your wedding - Big, small, elegant, casual, outdoor, church, traditional, etc. Consider themes as well.  Ours will be a starry night romantic theme!
2. Choose your wedding attendants - Pick reliable ones!  A tip from my best friend was that while large wedding parties can be fun, they can also be chaotic and make for less intimate group photos.
3. Create a rough guest list - Only include people that you couldn't imagine leaving out at first.  If your location and budget allow, add more to the list before finalizing.
4. Choose a location - Pay attention to how flexible they are and what's included in the price.  Consider your guest list, decoration ideas, the venue's alcohol and food options, length of time the venue is yours, etc.  Once I made my decision on the location it was much easier to imagine how the wedding would look and feel.
5. Work out a budget - This step is the one that's currently giving me the most trouble.  I placed it last on my list because different locations come with different costs and needs.  It seems difficult to create a budget when you have no idea what the average rates are for all of these wedding services.  I'll be researching budgets next and I'll be sure to write up what I learned. 

     If I were to pick one source of information that has been most helpful to me, it would definitely be forums.  But to find those wonderful forums you need a good starting place.  I really recommend http://www.theknot.com/.  They have a budget tool, address book, timeline, to-do list, web space for a wedding website, and tons of discussion boards.  http://www.weddingwire.com/ is another great site with similar tools.

     I also wanted to share an awesome idea I found in one of the dyi forums.  I was already planning on making all the guest invitations myself after seeing some outrageous prices but this was different. It was a cute little paper invitation asking the lucky girl to be in your wedding party.

     Above is the original idea for the invite.  I tried finding the source for this but I originally saved it as a PDF and the only information on it is "Anna from Rifle Designs".

     This image is my end result.  I found special poems for each of my 5 bridesmaids and customized them to add personal touches.  I printed out the poems, attached them to yellow card stock and then added the paper bridesmaid chain on top.  (I love the bridesmaid chain idea because upon receiving the invitation, the girls all know who else is included)  All of the girls loved them.  I'll be on the look out for any other ideas like this.  I'd love the chance to show everyone involved how special they are to me during all of this.
    
     Oh and before I close, the other idea was to take all the girls out to lunch and present them with ring pops in pretty boxes and similar invites that say something like "The groom popped his question, now it's the bride's turn!".  Pretty cute :)