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Originally Posted by Samari
From the research I've conducted thus far, I hear it's expensive and complicated. Any thoughts on where I should begin? There is so much information on the internet I'm not sure where to start. I was even thinking about making a separate thread on this.
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My wedding was somewhere between 100-200 people, if I remember right. It is only really as expensive, extravagant, and complicated as you want it to be. The only absolute requirement is an officiant - someone with the authority to certify the marriage, making it legally valid. My wife and I, not being overly religious, utilized the services of a retired judge who did weddings. (His services weren't free, but he didn't ask for much, either, and was very pleasant to work with.)
If you want to do a "standard" wedding, it can be fairly involved. Make a guest list, choose your wedding cards, send them out; choose your bridal party line-up, choose the clothing (yours and the bridal party's, unless you choose to freestyle it - the wedding dress can take considerable time and expense, but not all good wedding dresses need to be in the thousand-dollar range), choose a make-up artist, choose the rings; choose the venue for the wedding and make reservations; choose catering options (venue may provide them), choose your wedding cake, choose a DJ/music/entertainment if you want; choose a recording service (videographers, photographers) if you want; get a first dance routine and practice your butt off (many weddings seem to be cutting this part out; there are services that will make a routine and train you for money, but my wife and I did it cheaply, renting multiple "wedding dance" DVDs, chaining combinations of our own, and self-teaching - it was a big success).
I'm probably leaving some things out. Then the day comes, it's over in what feels like a flash, and you get to write thank-you cards to everyone who attended, making particular note of who gave what gift!
Going through the full ordeal seems like a really daunting, almost overwhelming task. My advice is to start planning early, and take family assistance if it's offered. If I remember right, my wife and I started planning a year or slightly more in advance, and her family did most of the heavy lifting when it came to things like getting information and contacting places.