I finally popped the question

[Anybodyhome]

Before all the gender reassigment surgeries, eh?

[Crixtala]

just remember that, in most cases, this is the day that your woman has been dreaming/planning since she knew what a wedding was...

My wedding is in 4 months. Let your woman plan the whole thing and always help when she asks. My responsibility was to plan our honeymoon but I did booked venue, dj, photographer, and limo. The first thing you need to do is to set your budget and attend wedding expos. Remember, wedding is mostly for the wifey to be... Also, do not go crazy... wedding lasts only 4-6 hours. Not worth spending all your life savings on it.

this (plus what panthro said)

went to a wedding this summer for a cousin, who's now in-laws took out a second mortgage on their house to pay for the wedding... which was so completely over the top and retarded that nobody really had any fun (nobody really likes the wife tho, so that didn't help)

all of our family constantly reminds us that our wedding was amazing - we had about 50 people, didn't do most of the traditional stuff and just made sure we had really good food and REALLY good music. a band >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> DJ

[Cary Kollins]

^Nice! Music is going to be a big part of our wedding. I play music and a lot of my friends do and most of her family are musicians, so the music is going to be a huge part of it. I am gonna be in charge of finding a band, so if you got any suggestions I'm all...ears.

[thefuzz]

When me and the girl get married we are doing a destination wedding, and a huge party when we get back from the honeymoon for everyone who couldn't come.

Little stress as possible.

[MadHatter]

My wedding is in 4 months. Let your woman plan the whole thing and always help when she asks. My responsibility was to plan our honeymoon but I did booked venue, dj, photographer, and limo. The first thing you need to do is to set your budget and attend wedding expos. Remember, wedding is mostly for the wifey to be... Also, do not go crazy... wedding lasts only 4-6 hours. Not worth spending all your life savings on it.

Like Arsen said above....set your budget. And stick to it.

It is VERY easy for the costs to get way out of control. A few hundered here and a few thousand there catches up to you real quick.

And....congrats. Being married to the right woman is a fantastic thing.

[Ja Rhule]

Just heads up. There's is a huge wedding expo in downtown Charlotte on January 13th 2013 at 12pm. Hundreds of different vendors (venues, wedding cakes, limo's, dj's, live bands, florists, photgraphers and etc...). Tickets $12 per person. I would highly recommend to attend this one. Next wedding expo similar to this one will be all the way in July...

http://www.carolinaweddingsandevents.com/

[Mr. Scot]

If any of you have advice on planning a wedding or some do's and don'ts, please share them here, because I have no idea what is going on.

Let your fiance' do it however she wants.

You're a guy, You probably don't care that much anyway.

Congrats though.

[charlotte49er]

Some things I learned...

Do not send out Save the Dates to everyone you are inviting. Send them out to those closest to you.

We sent them out to our whole invite list and by the time 7-8 months rolled around there were people we wish we could remove and those we could add.

Go to as many "tastings" as you can. Good food and its a way to be involved which your bride to be will appreciate.

I would hire a "day of" coordinator as they take the pressure off on the day when everyone is relaxed. We hired one for her mother who always gets too involved in the details.

Interview several people for each position and choose who makes you the most comfortable within your budget,

Elope to Vegas! Take the money that you'd spend on the wedding and live it up! If you really have to have close family, pay their way to Vegas, put them up in a different section of the Hotel, or better yet, a different Hotel! Stay an extra week after everyone else leaves!

Everyone should get married once in their life and get it out of their system!

[SmittyistheGOAT]

fool

[stirs]

From an old fart.

The society we live in will "market" any and everything if they think they can sell it. At the end of the day, a contest between all brides for the biggest and best is fed by the marketing dept. of places like the wedding expo. If you and your girl have tons of cash to blow, then by all means, go ahead.

If however, you are not a 1%er, she and you might want to consider a smaller, more well thought out day of bliss. Spending $40k on a wedding would make a nice down payment on a home or pay off both cars. Since most marriages crash and burn becuase of money issues, just go into it with a level head.

Not trying to be a wet blanket, but the one day of bliss could determine a lot about your first 5 years of marriage.

Congrats

[pstall]

I coordinated a couple of weddings. Fun and stressful. Enjoy the run up and planning as much as possible.

Try to have a no wedding planning talk zone at least once a week. Be a great listener and be the calm force in this. This is her super bowl in many ways so she might be amped about things you never thought about.

Looking I wish we would have done more with friends and family from out of state. So many people I had not seen in years and I only saw some for 30 mins or less.

Finally go ahead and expect something not going right. How you handle it will help her in the end.

Congrats