10 Things Not To Forget About When Planning Your Own Wedding

After you decide on a budget, make a list of everything that you want to buy to include in your wedding ceremony/reception/celebrations, with prices.

Many places expect you to pay fees for cleaning, renting, extra services, etc. Write out checks ahead of time and put them in an envelope so you know that you already have them done. Then, don't forget to mail them or hand them out.

Book your caterer and order your cake at least three months in advance. Even the fastest cake decorators usually require two weeks advance orders. Have backup caterers booked as well, in case something happens with the original ones prior to the date.

Check and double-check your invites list to make sure you haven't forgotten anyone and have everyone's address correct. Maps to the location(s) are nice to include, as well as a contact phone number for day-of mishaps.

Buy and size rings well ahead of time, in case you have to special order them or resize them/stretch them when they arrive.

Have a designated box for everything you have to take with you on your wedding day. Anything included in the ceremony itself that you cannot bring beforehand should be in this box: marriage license, rings, bride's shoes, gifts for the wedding party, checklist.

Usually the bride and groom disappear on their honeymoon while the reception is still going on, so someone needs to clean up after you. This can be done by caterers, but usually a fee is added on. Also, you want to make sure all your gifts, special decorations, anything you added to the reception site comes back to you afterwards, so someone should be designated to collect this and take it back either to your house or keep it for you to pick up.

Having a guest book available is useless if nobody knows where it is. Designate someone to either stand by it and tell people to sign, or carry it around from table to table so people can write in it.

Some cake decorators deliver the wedding cake to your site; others specify that you pick it up from them. Whichever is the case, you need to make sure there's a way the cake is getting to the site.

This is both the actual silverware needed for cutting and serving the cake, and people to coordinate serving it.