Woo Hoo! You're getting married! You've found that special someone that you want to share your life with, so what is the next step? Planning the wedding! This can be a very fun time but it can also come with a lot of stress. For all the brides planning their dream wedding: these are some of the hardest questions we have to ask ourselves and our soon-to-be spouses.

1. Who do we have to leave out?

This is by far the hardest question for me and my fiancé as we plan our wedding. We have so many loved ones and friends, but we have a small budget, so it's hard to be able to invite everyone. And we don't want to leave anyone out because then it seems as if you don't care about them, so it really is a hard question choosing who to leave out of your big day. When you're planning a wedding, you have to account for the food and the space when it comes to how many people to invite. If I could, there would probably be like 400 people at our wedding, but there is no way we can afford that, or find a venue big enough to hold that many people! Picking bridesmaids and groomsmen and who gets to be in the party is a whole 'nother story.

2. Is that in our budget?

Yup, this is a biggy. The average American cannot afford everything that they want at their wedding and must stick to a strict budget. When planning a wedding, there are a lot of costs that start to accumulate such as a venue, a cake, a reception place (if not the same as the venue), save the dates, invites, food, the dress, bridesmaids dresses, decorations, and champagne to celebrate! But it's hard to have a wine taste with a beer budget, as I've always been told. So no matter what it is you're picking out, every bride must ask herself: is that in our budget? And if it's not we must ask ourselves: is it really worth it to have this at our wedding?

3. Am I saying yes to the dress?

My absolute favorite part of planning my wedding is the fact that I get to try on so many dresses! But which one to chose?! There are thousands of dresses in thousands of styles that I just want to try them all on and wear them all, but I can't. So how do you chose your dress? Well, you'd think it would be as easy as the first one that you feel most comfortable in and love. Well, yes. But for the indecisive brides-to-be like me, it's a long process of making sure we don't miss another dress until eventually you tell yourself that the first dress you tried on was indeed your favorite. Just make sure at the end of the day that you love the way you look and feel because your wedding is one of the happiest days of your life, so don't get yourself down by thinking that you don't look as good as you want. Remember that it's the person you're marrying that is important and they are going to think you look stellar in anything. ❤️

4. Whose opinion am I supposed to listen to?

When you're planning your wedding, make sure to listen to your own opinions. Yes, mom and dad, the in-laws, your best friend, the groom, everyone is going to have opinions about how they think you should go about your wedding, like where it should be or how much you should spend. At the end of the day, the only person's opinions that really matter are yours and the groom's. After all, this is to celebrate the both of you! Make sure to listen to what others have to say, but it's ultimately your decision. You might actually love something that someone else suggests, so don't completely veto others' opinions right away just because they aren't your own.

5. Indoor or Outdoor?

Not as important of a question, but it still plays a big role in your wedding. If you have a wedding in the spring and you chose an outdoor wedding, just know you might have some rain. If you chose a summer wedding and have it indoors, it could be extremely hot. You don't really think about it that much, but it can play a major role in where your big day takes place.

6. Are these the colors I want?

Whether it's the color of your bridesmaids dresses, the color of your bouquet, the color of your cake, or the color of your tablecloths, it all matters (to you, at least). Just make sure that you are happy with them because you'll be seeing them all day and you'll see these colors in all of your pictures. Again, just chose what you love.

7. Who will be my photographer?

Again, another question that doesn't seem that important, really is. This is an important question for me because my fiancé and I would like our special day captured so we can look at it forever. It is actually really hard to pick a photographer because people take pictures so differently and charge such different rates that you don't know what's best. Just do your research and, really, at the end of the day, at least the day is photographed. And if not, it'll be in your memory forever, which is really all that matters.

So many questions, but at least you have the answer to the most important question: is this the person I want to spend the rest of my life with? Yes! ❤️