How do I get started planning my wedding?

One of the hardest things to do when planning a wedding is to actually get started. There are so many details to attend to, and so many people to consider, that the task can seem overwhelming. But don't fear...there are some very simple things that you can do to start the wedding planning process and make it easy for yourself. The first three steps need to be addressed between you and your partner, they are not unilateral decisions. There will be plenty of opportunity to put your personal stamp on the wedding, and to make it your own, but these three "biggies" definitely need to be addressed together to help the process run smoothly.

Pick a style for your wedding
The first thing that you want to do is to decide the style for your wedding. Do you want something formal, or informal, or something in between? Do you want something small or large? Do you want just a ceremony, or a ceremony and reception? Answering these questions will help guide other decisions that you make along the way. You can even get more specific if you'd like, by picking a theme to go along with the wedding (either a color scheme, or a motif - like a beach theme, or a country western theme, etc.). But picking a theme is not necessary right now, you can always do that later after you have spent some more time thinking about it and have a better idea of what both of you envision for the wedding.

Pick a general location
Do you want to have your wedding indoors or outdoors, or a combination of the two? Do you want to have the wedding locally, or in your home town, or is this going to be a destination wedding? Are you going to have a religious component to the ceremony, and if so does this need to take place in a house of worship, or can it take place anywhere? You don't have to pick the exact venue right now in terms of booking a church or a hall, that will come sooner rather than later, but you do have to have a general plan about where you'd like to hold the wedding.

Figure out your budget
Before you can go any further, you now have to sit down and really crunch the numbers and figure out how much you two have to spend on the wedding. You'll need to consider your own budgets, as well as family contributions. Some families will pay for the wedding in its entirety, and if that is the case, then you need to consult your families to figure out how much money they are willing to spend on your big day because you can't assume that just because they are willing to pay for the event that anything goes....they likely have a limit to their generosity and it helps to know what that limit is before you get started making specific plans and nailing down the details.

Once you and your partner sit down and figure out these three big steps, you are ready to go and plan your big day. There are lots of specific issues to address, pitfalls to avoid, and details to plan, but you have gotten started and put together a framework, a foundation for your wedding day event. Good luck and off you go!