Marriage arrangements * arranging a wedding * planning * organising stag * hen nights * marriage arrangements * caterers * wedding planners * invitations * cakes * car hire

Having covered the aspects of your wedding that need to be organised in the early part of your marriage arrangements, this next section is designed to cover the details in between to ensure your wedding plans run smoothly. Timing and attention to detail is essential, so use our free wedding planner to ensure nothing is left to chance.

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Wedding Reception. A large part of your budget will be swallowed up by the reception venue and catering costs. Many wedding reception venues also do the catering. To keep costs down, you may wish to have the reception at home and possibly hire a Marquee. Alternatively, you may want to do the catering yourself or have friends and family take care of this side of things. This is feasible if the wedding party is relatively small but not to be recommended for large groups. Book your wedding reception venue and or caterers well in advance. Choice will get less the longer you leave it and you could spend a lot of time shopping around for caterers or venues. If your first choices are not available, this can add to the overall cost of your wedding if your second or third choices are more expensive.

Wedding Guests. You may want to draw up separate lists for guests you want at the wedding ceremony, those you would like to attend the official reception and others you would like to attend in the evening. Friends and family should understand if the venue is too small to hold everyone, that your budget is too small to run to cater for everyone at the reception but you would like them to come along to the evening dance to wish you well. You both need to sit down and agree a list of guests. Again, this is an area where outside interference and influences can cause problems. Remember that this is your wedding and the guests you want to attend are the people that are important to you not your parents or anyone else.

Seating plans. It is traditional for the guests of each party to sit on different sides of the aisle at the wedding ceremony. However, when it comes to the reception, it is advisable to try and mix and match. Meeting new relatives by marriage can be made easier by seating them together. So as well as getting to together to form new relationships, they also get to talk and will find the evening more interesting.

Themes. You may wish to have a colour theme or something a little more exotic and way out. If you are having bridesmaids, you need to have them help choose their bridesmaid dresses. The bride will want to shine but there is nothing worse than a bridesmaid standing for her wedding pictures feeling like she is dressed like a puffball. It is your wedding but this is one subject where you need to listen.

Photographs and videos. This is one area where you should not try to cut costs by getting a relative or friend to take your wedding photos unless they are a professional photographer. We all have cameras and we can all take the odd decent photo but this is the one item that will be a permanent record of your wedding where you will want to look back for decades in the future. If you ever have a fire, heaven forbid, your wedding photos will be the one item you will want to save. Many a wedding is marred by the quality of photos or shaky video that Uncle Ernie took on his box Brownie or hand held video camera.

Music. Disco, band, wedding singer the choice is yours. You may want a theme, something light whilst your guests are enjoying their meal and something more energetic for the evening. Try and consider everyone's tastes and don't seat Auntie Mary next to the speakers if you have a band hammering out their version of an Aerosmith classic. You will also need to consider the music you would liked played in the Church before the wedding march, as you leave the church and for your first dance as a married couple.

Wedding Rings. Don't forget your wedding rings. These should be counted into your overall budget. Shop around, and give yourselves plenty of time to choose and get them sized. Then keep them in a safe place that you both know about so that you don't forget where you put them.

Vows. It is very easy to get caught up in all the planning and organisation of your wedding and forget what your wedding day is all about. Sit down with your future spouse and discuss what you are going to say and what they mean to you. Your wedding service is your commitment to love and honour your partner for the rest of your lives in front of people that you also love and who love you. It should be the biggest decision that either of you will ever make. Your vows, especially if you write them yourselves should reflect how you feel about each other, how lucky you are and how you would like your future lives together to be.

Diary. As well as helping you plan and monitor your wedding plans, you should also write down the things you say to each other in those private romantic moments. Some people have a problem trying to think of what to say in their vows. They know how they feel but can't seem to find the right words when the time comes. Looking back over the diary, if you have kept a record and you will almost certainly find everything you will need to say during your vows that you have told each other in the past. (You may need to edit some of it of course). Your diary will be something to treasure and kept with your photo album. There will almost certainly be times during your marriage where you will both need to sit down and remind yourselves how important you both are to each other.

Invitations. Having agreed your guest list, it is imperative that you send your wedding invitations out in plenty of time. At least ten weeks before the wedding or more if you had not sent out an engagement announcement with the wedding date. Provide a stamped addressed envelope for them to R.S.V.P and delegate one of you or a trusted family member to check the list and chase up any non respondents.

If you are running to a tight budget you will find these money saving ideas useful if you are getting married.

If on the other hand, you are lucky enough to have a reasonable budget but don't have the time or confidence to handle all the arrangements, then you should seriously consider engaging the services of a wedding planner.