Bride Calendar Countdown page 4 - Weddings & Honeymoons

3. Prepare your wedding announcement to send to the newspaper, if you are planning to.

4. Have the final fitting for your dress. If you are having a bridal portrait taken, arrange the pick up of your dress in plenty of time. (A Bride's nightmare is not having her gown ready on time.) If you are having your gown altered or custom-made, make your pick-up dates very clear. Do not wait until the 11th hour.

5. Arrange final meetings with the florist.

6. Confirm the number of guests at the reception and ask for a written confirmation of cost per person with an itemized list of everything the venue and caterer are providing. Also, advise the host what food you want served to your photographer, videographer, musicians and entertainers. Usually they are served something light and are seated in their own section of the room.

7. Prepare a time table for your reception set-up, including supplier’s names and their expected time of arrival and departure. Make sure one of your attendants checks off each of the items when it arrives at the reception venue. If you have a wedding consultant, you can give them this task.

8. Select your wedding cake, and decide if you want the place where your reception is being held to supply it, or if you will order one, or if a member of the family will be making it.

9. Decide what decoration you want to crown your cake. Traditionally it has been a tiny ceramic or plastic bride and groom standing on the top tier. Today, anything goes. You can create your own crown or let your baker make a creative suggestion, perhaps based on your wedding theme.

10. Arrange with reception caterer or wedding cake supplier, the party favors or the Groom's cake (traditionally fruitcake or deep chocolate) your guests will be taking home in a little box.

11. Finalize the seating plan for your reception.

12. Provide your Maid of Honor with the names of your out-of-town guests and information on where they will be staying.

13. Ask your relatives and friends to send you a set of the best photos they will shoot at the reception. Official photographers can't be everywhere.

14. Make sure all the outfits for the wedding party are fitted and finished including mothers' dresses, the Groom's Best Man, Groomsmen, Ushers and participating children.

15. If the bride is taking the husband-to-be's name, start the process of the name changes on your personal information such as your driver's licence, Social Security card, medical insurance, credit cards, bank account, etc. If you are going to have a joint banking account you can start to set this up as well.

16. Send your wedding announcement to the newspaper if you have decided to do so.

continued on page 5/