Wedding Planning for Dummies

     Since every little girl dreams of her wedding day from the time she is four years old, I have naturally already started the planning process. Sunday (the day after we got engaged), Jason and I headed back to Jared to get my ring resized. (When he first gave it to me I could shake my hand and it would almost fall off--not cool!) I have always thought that the hardest part of the wedding planning process would be getting the ring, but boy was I wrong!

      When we dropped my ring off at Jared we were told to go find something to do for a couple of hours then come back and get it, so I thought we should run to Barnes and Noble to pick up a wedding planning book and a couple of bridal magazines. Those of you who know me know that I am type A personality amped up on coffee so I HAD TO HAVE the best, most detailed wedding planning notebook to keep my special day organized. We chose, well I chose, he held, The Ultimate Wedding Planner and Organizer, grabbed a couple of bridal magazines and we went off to grab a bite. As I opened the beautifully organized pink binder, a panic set in to my stomach. This joker is 270 pages long with 32 sections. Great for my type A personality, but it shattered my hopes that wedding planning would be fun and easy! The first thing that caught my eye was the section titled "Wedding Planning Checklist: Nine months and earlier". Nine months!  Nine months!  We want to get married in late May, early June...that is nine months--*squeal*! Some of the things that caught my eye that I am behind on are...drum roll please...almost everything!  Including, but not limited to, choosing a date, selecting and booking a church, selecting and booking a reception venue, BUYING MY DRESS, choosing colors, choosing "theme" of wedding, and booking a photographer. Pretty much the only thing we have done right so far is announce our engagement (courtesy of facebook and text messaging-classy!) and choosing the wedding party. Well, actually the wedding party is only half-chosen. My bridesmaids, one ring bearer (who also thinks he's the best man--too cute), and one junior bridesmaid have been asked; however, Jason has not asked any of his groomsman and we have yet to ask the flower girls, another ring bearer, and another junior bridesmaid. As far as the dress, my sister tells me that according to Say Yes to the Dress I am seriously behind and they would fuss at me if I came into their store (good thing we won't be going to New York!).

    Today we may get some things going, my parents are going to talk with the preacher about the church and I have some wheels rolling about the reception site, but other than that we are at a standstill. Maybe we will work on the guest list while we wait for something to be set in stone as my wedding planner (aka the book) tells me you must fix your guest list then divide it into must invite, need to invite, and would be nice to invite. I'm too nice for this...I'm going to need someone to be the "name chopper" as we try to do this blasted guest list.

    Anyway, enough rambling! If any of you have any tips, they would be greatly appreciated and more importantly, if any of you know where I can get a wedding planning for dummies book to go along with the ultimate planner, I'll be your new best friend! Have a nice day everyone! :)