Your master schedule (even if it’s for your eyes only) begins with the pre-ceremony rituals of getting dressed and — if you’re not waiting until after the ceremony — taking photographs. The timing of what has to happen before the ceremony is crucial. Make sure you take into account even seemingly little things, such as when you’ll have time to eat before the ceremony. Putting these items on your master schedule will act as a reminder on a day when time can be on warp speed.

In many hotels, check-in is at 2 or 3 p.m., so the bride should either stay in this room (perhaps with her maid of honor) the night before the wedding or try to negotiate with the hotel for an early check-in. Even couples who are living together often spend the night before the wedding in separate places.

Whether the attendants are getting dressed in a hotel or at someone’s home, always arrange for lunch or tea. They won’t be eating for hours, and the combination of starvation and the first glass of champagne can be explosive. Also, the bride should usually be last to have her hair and makeup done so that she waits the least amount of time “done up” before the ceremony.

Then you have the ceremony itself. For the master schedule, you’re interested in the broad strokes.

Finally, the master schedule segues into the reception, where you want your caterer, band, bartender, and other vendors to know exactly when (at least in theory) you want to eat, dance, and toast. It’s a good idea to send the vendors the details of their duties a week before.

Many couples still prefer not to see each other before the ceremony, though. If you prefer to slip away and have formal portraits taken while the guests are having cocktails, configure your schedule that way.

The do-si-do of the first dance and cut-ins becomes infinitely more complicated if you have myriad sets of parents who don’t speak to each other, widowed parents, or hypersensitive mothers. If the groom’s mother feels she should be first to dance with him — after the bride, hopefully — then do so. If a parent is partnerless, be sure to pair him or her with someone and give them top billing in the dance order. If the entire situation seems too complicated, give up and invite everyone onto the dance floor simultaneously after your first dance.

If you’re having ethnic dancing, such as an Hora or Tarantella, schedule it after the main course to get guests moving again after eating and drinking.

When the guests are seated for the main course, some of the band (those members not required to play subtle background music during the meal)? the photographer, and the videographer should eat as well. Assistants should eat when the others are finished so someone is watching the room for any spontaneous toasts and so on. Arrange with your caterer ahead of time to serve them something appetizing even if it’s not exactly what you serve your guests.

A head waiter should be prepared to choreograph the bouquet toss. Participants should be several yards behind the bride, arranged into a semicircle. If possible, gather participants on a softer surface than a dance floor; competition can be ruthless and people have been known to go down.

The bride stands with her back to the crowd, in a place with no chandeliers or other possible impediments to a high, vigorous fling. To the sounds of a drum roll if possible, the bride bends ever so slightly at the knees and tosses the bouquet over her head, aiming high. If the bouquet collides with the ceiling or other stationary object, the toss results in a foul and she must attempt again.

If you don’t have a critical mass of single friends at the wedding, you may want to simply present the bouquet as a memento to a favorite aunt or other person you want to honor. If you want to keep your bouquet for yourself, make one specifically for the toss.

Planning a wedding definitely makes for no easy feat and if you’re about to embark on the journey of organizing and creating your very own wedding, then you might want to arm yourselves with the following reads. Comprising of pages after pages of handy wedding tips and inspirations, these top picks might just end up being extremely bookmarked or dog-eared once the entire wedding is over!
The Knot Ultimate Wedding Lookbook by Carley Roney

Absolutely no idea where you should even start? Turn to this little black book of wedding ideas written by Carley Roney who happens to be the founder of TheKnot.com, one of the world’s most popular wedding destination. The book boasts over hundreds of pages of glossy, gorgeous wedding photos to provide future newly-weds with a source of endless ideas for their big day. Besides being abundant in lovely pictorials, the book also dishes out useful tips, lists and time lines to help couples get organized so as to not miss out on anything that might compromise a wedding to wow guests for a long time to come. With such a creative array of options and choices to go along with, this lookbook will definitely make for a wedding-planning process as interesting as it will be enjoyable.

Simple Stunning Weddings: Designing and Creating Your Perfect Celebration by Karen Bussen
While “Simple Stunning Weddings” also comprises of pages of wedding-spiration, what sets it apart from other such books is the fact that it is the first book of wedding design to actually shine a spotlight on the where of your big day because as author Karen Bussen, wedding expert and designer, has mentioned “the location is the first and most important decision and everything else flows from it”. Bussen also sheds light on how to create weddings that revolve around the three current biggest trends, which are simplicity, personalization and color. Aside from that, the book will also come in handy as a guide to adapting designs to suit every budget as well as significant cost saving methods that will help ensure you won’t end up in a huge pile of debt once the wedding is over.

The Busy Brides Bible for Planning a Fabulous Wedding Without the Expensive Cost of a Wedding Planner by Angela A. Kear
Blame it on Walt Disney and its princesses’ happily-ever-afters or what have you but most girls grow up with a picture perfect idea of what their future wedding will be like and while shows like The Wedding Planner might have most keen on hiring one and having one at their beck and call while they sit back and relax in preparation for the big day, the hard economic times have forced most of us to be realistic and to ditch the idea of a wedding planner since they more often than not come at a very hefty price. Fret not though, because Angela Kear, an event planner and wedding expert, has kindly put forth a book that encompasses the makings of a fabulous wedding, even without a wedding planner at hand. Comprising of pages of informative facts and tips as well as checklists, a budget guide and money saving tips and many other important factors that will help make up your dream-day wedding, this guidebook will not only serve as a good read but also as your right hand wedding planning book to help ease you through your very own wedding planning experience.

Like anything else, there is a particular way to organize a wedding too. You need to follow some rules to make your marriage a great success. There are so many people that will be coming to your wedding, and maintaining the wedding etiquette is a must here. There are of course some traditions that you need to follow, whereas some others are there which you can avoid. After all, things are need to be accomplished as it was meant to be.
Wedding etiquette is not restricted only to the bride or the groom. Each and every person involved with wedding needs to maintain the desired etiquette. However, as everybody’s eye is set on the couple only, therefore they need to follow the rules more than the others. Each and every movements of the event should be eye pleasing. Here are some points where you need to focus to maintain wedding etiquette,
1) Among all, the bride gets more attention on the wedding. So, she needs to be careful with her each and every move. She needs to hold her bridal gown in the most pleasant way. Treating people with a beautiful smile is a must here.
2) Handling the in-laws is a crucial part of a wedding, and etiquette plays a great role here. Well, conflicts will always be there and you can’t ignore them. However, treating the in-laws in a loving and nice way can reduce the probable troubles by a great volume.
3) Using an open car is of course a good idea; however it can ruin the hair style of the bride on the root to the church. While choosing the car, the size of the bridal gown should also be kept in mind.
4) Picking the food menu keeping in mind the guests of both the sides is a very crucial point of a wedding. There can be differences of taste, and you must overcome this by selecting a common food menu. The food is a very important part of your wedding and you need to make full justification with it.
5) Controlling the photographer is another very crucial aspect where you need to be very careful. Of course, the main photographer will be very busy taking snaps of the main couple; however the guests should not be ignored in any case. Everybody should get a place inside the camera. Giving instructions to the photographer beforehand can sort out this problem.
6) The timing of the speech is also very important. Traditionally it is conducted when coffee is served. However, you can make some changes here too. It can very well take place before the meal is served, and also in the evening when more number of guests will be coming.
Besides all these, etiquette also needs to be maintained while funding for the wedding. Generally, bride’s parents make the funding; however the couple may also raise the fund for the wedding.