Most little girls dream of their wedding from a young age. The dress, the venue and the catering, everything has to be just so. The reality is that no matter the size of the budget or the number of the guests, whether it is formal or informal, weddings are a stressful affair. Here are some tips on how to preserve your sanity while organizing for your big day.

To document your wedding day the best that you can, make sure that you have a large guest book. This will allow people to write what they are feeling and jot down some of the memories that they had with you. This can be a memorable keepsake for the rest of your life.

You can save a lot of money by buying your wedding gown online, but buy it with enough time to spare so you can get it altered prior to the big day. Keep in mind that sometimes the alterations will cost more than the gown itself. Make sure the costs are included in your budget.

It’s a nice gift to give the groom his own little cake. Have the cake designer make it resemble his favorite hobbies, like carpentry or football. If it’s a surprise it will be even more meaningful to him! Just make sure that the cake itself tastes good – a wedding cake that looks gorgeous but tastes bad will not leave a good memory.

You don’t have to spend a lot of money to have a great wedding. Many churches and religious buildings charge nominal or no fee at all. If you keep your guest list small, and avoid a meal time wedding, you can pull off a spectacular event on a very small budget.

When having an outdoor wedding, be sure to plan for bugs. Bugs are everywhere outside and could ruin a wedding ceremony. If you are in an area that has a high number of bugs, have citronella candles or bug zappers to prevent the bugs from bothering your guests and ruining your wedding.

When planning the theme for your wedding, take into consideration the types of people who are going to be attending. Everything should be appropriate as you should understand that there are probably going to be elders at your wedding. Catering to everyone’s interests is the best way to get great results.

Consider buying shape-enhancing garments to wear under your wedding dress. You can buy bodysuits which slim your legs, raise your bottom, flatten your stomach and boost up your bust, giving you the perfect figure to accent the beauty of your gown. They can be expensive but you can always wear them again for any occasion that warrants it.

If you are having a reception at a venue that doesn’t supply the decor, you’ll have to pick up the napkins and tablecloths yourself. I wouldn’t recommend going with plastic, so instead pick up inexpensive fabric and hem the edges to make it look like a professionally finished product. Do the same for napkins in a matching color.

If you’re going to photograph a wedding, change up your style a few times. Look for angles you might not have shot from before to give the wedding album something unique and different to set it apart from the rest. Go up high or down load, shoot wide angles and tight.

When you are planning your wedding, and you just don’t have the time to spend on every little detail, consider hiring a wedding planner to take care of those things for you. A wedding planner doesn’t have to plan the entire affair for you, and most would be happy to take on fewer tasks for a lesser fee and the ability to handle other jobs alongside your wedding.

Spend as much time as you need when writing your wedding vows. Remember you want your soon-to-be spouse to know how much they mean to you. Also, try not to use outside sources when writing your vows–you want to make sure the words are what you feel, not what someone does.

For brides-to-be, do not settle for the first wedding dress you find. You want to make sure that you explore your options and end up with the dress of your dreams. If your dress is just going to end up sitting in the closet, you may even want to consider renting a dress for the day.

Think about asking your family if they want to stay for the honeymoon. Everyone will enjoy a discount for the longer stay, and that will save everybody money. Your guests will have a memorable trip as well.

These ideas should help you to have the day you have always dreamed of. Do try to remember that at the end of the day, the most important thing about a wedding is the act of exchanging your vows with the person you love and every other little detail is that, merely a detail.