Countdown to Your Wedding Day

By Beverly Clark

THE KEY TO A SUCCESSFUL WEDDING away is to plan early. To help you get off to a good start, wer've put together a checklist that covers all bases of your destination event, including when to order the wedding invitations, book a photographer and schedule the wedding dress fitting.

A Year to Six Months Before the Wedding

• Decide on a budget.
• Determine the style (formal, informal), size (wedding party, guests), and setting (church,garden, beach) for the ceremony.
• Target a wedding date.
• Select a destination - check the internet or contact a travel agent.
• Create a file for contracts, notes of conversations, and other wedding-related information.
• Research the marriage license requirements of your destination. If possible, request an application ahead of time from the foreign consulate, chamber of commerce, or tourism department.
• Call or send for information on wedding sites; wedding-package details from hotels, chapels, consulates, and tourism departments; and consultants who can assist in legal matters and coordinate the ceremony site, officiant, flowers, music, and other details.
• Evaluate wedding packages and select a wedding service or consultant who can assist you with long-distance arrangements.
• Choose a maid of honor, best man, and other attendants.
• Develop an invitation list, then send a save-the-date note.
• Select wedding attire.
• Sign up with a bridal registry and select gifts.

Four to Six Months Before

• Negotiate and finalize ceremony and reception details with your wedding service providers, independent consultant, or onsite coordinator, communicating any items that will personalize your wedding.
• Make sure to collect signed contracts that confirm the arrangements.
• Finalize your guest list.
• Order wedding invitations, announcements, and thank-you cards.
• Negotiate and arrange air, hotel, and ground transportation for the wedding party. Make additional arrangements for the honeymoon.
• Confirm your arrangements with the photographer and videographer.
• Buy wedding rings and have them engraved.

Two to Four Months Before

• Obtain necessary legal documents, including passports and/or visas if traveling to a foreign destination.
• Get any necessary inoculations.
• Choose gifts for the maid of honor, best man, and other attendants.
• Address and mail invitations.
• Begin composing your vows (if you want to write your own).

One to Two Months Before

• Have your final dress and headpiece fittings.
• Have a formal wedding portrait taken.
• Send a wedding announcement and picture to your hometown newspapers.
• Shop for your travel wardrobe.
• Consult with a professional shipper if you are shipping your wedding dress.

Two Weeks Before

• Contact necessary offices for name change forms (driver's license, social security, etc.).
• Confirm travel and wedding arrangements.

>One Week Before

• Review final details with the hotel, photographer, videographer, florist, musicians, and others involved in the wedding.
• Arrange to meet with your officiant before the ceremony.
• Make sure everyone's wedding attire is in order.
• Plan guest seating if needed.

Upon Arrival

• Visit with your consultant and/or officiant.
• Apply for the marriage license.

The Wedding Day

• Focus on the important things--each other--and try to stay flexible about everything else.
• Have Fun!