The countdown to your great Indian wedding has begun! And, even though your mind might be on overdrive and overwhelming feelings may be taking over your being, this is no cause for worry. These feelings of anxiety are completely normal and are bound to happen to couples who are about to get hitched at some time or the other. Besides, there remain just a few things to check up on to make sure that everything is just perfect! Here’s a wedding checklist for things to complete in the last two weeks before your wedding.

1. Calling all brides to be! It’s that time when you finally get to pick up your beautiful wedding gown or lehenga from your wedding dress designer and bring it home! Don’t forget, this is your last fitting, so make sure all is fine with your wedding attire. The groom and is groomsmen will also have to do the same.

2. Now’s the time to call up those guests who haven’t yet responded to your wedding invitations. Note down the final guest count too.

3. Co-ordinate with the wedding caterer and adjust the per head count now that you know the approximate number of guests attending your wedding party.

4. You may also want to confirm the hotel reservations and transportation for your out-of-town guests. You can do this with the help of your wedding planner.

5. Confirm the date of your wedding party rehearsal dinner or lunch with your family and those who you wish you attend.

6. If you happen to be leaving for your honeymoon almost immediately after the wedding, it may be a good idea to get a hold of the tickets for the soon-to-be-married couple. Exciting times these are!

7. And, don’t forget to finish of packing for your honeymoon with your partner. You don’t want to be left doing this the day before your wedding!

8. Have your partner sit down with you so that you both can start writing down toasts that will be said out aloud at your wedding rehearsal.

9. Make any payments that are remaining, be it to the wedding caterers, florists, musicians, photographers etc.

10. If you haven’t decided on assigned seating for your guests, have a chat with your wedding planner, and he or she will fix this for you. You will of course have to be present to assign tables and seating to your guests.

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It’s only two more months to your big fat Indian wedding. Everything seems to be in place right from sending off your wedding invitations to purchasing wedding favors to rentals for cutlery, seating and transportation to hair stylists and Mehndi artists right up to selecting your wedding cake! So, what’s left to be done? Not much! There are a lot of small little things that need to be checked on. But, don’t worry! The major part of putting your wedding together has already been completed. Now, to just check on and confirm a couple of things we all tend to look past.

1. Now’s a good time to meet with your pastor, priest or pandit to decide on the program of your wedding ceremony. You’ll have to discuss the flow of events so that you and your spouse are not left dumb-founded during the rituals and ceremony.
2. It is time for your spouse to be and yourself to write down your wedding vows! This will take time and may see you drained out at the end of it all, trying to come up with those perfect words. But, if you happen to be a natural wordsmith, writing wedding vows and expressing your love will simply be a breeze!
3. You may want to schedule your marriage in court during this time. After all, the days leading up to your wedding will be very hectic. So plan ahead for a good date. You may also want to keep your attire, also known as a ROM dress (Registry of Marriage dress) ready for your court marriage.
4. Meet with your hairstylist to experiment with potential hairstyles for your wedding ceremony, reception and any other pre- or post-parties.
5. Now’s the time to set a date for your wedding rehearsal and dinner.
6. Visit your bridal studio and schedule your wedding dress trial; the final one will be left for the month of the wedding. Plus, the bridesmaids and the mother-of-the-bride who will be accompanying you can also have a fitting of their respective dresses.
7. Purchase your wedding guest book if you want to have one. Your partner and you will forever be able to sit back and enjoy this for years to come.
8. Continue with your beauty therapies and pampering. You are going to be a beautiful bride in less than 2 months now!
9. Get yourself a trial make-up run with your makeup artist. You don’t want to be clueless or disappointed on your wedding day after all!
10. If you have the time to spare, you may want to start shopping for your trousseau along with the help of your friends and family.

See! There are no major tasks to be completed just two months away from your wedding day. All that is required is an alert state of mind, so that you don’t forget to make confirmations and check on other minor but vital details. If you happen to be on track with the wedding planning you may find yourself looking out and shopping for furnishings for your new house! The approach to your wedding can be a very exciting time. So, now that most of the work has been done, it’s time you relax a bit more and catch up with your bridesmaids and friends over movies, coffee or a relaxing brunch!

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 Wake up! Your wedding is just 5 months down the line. Wedding ring shopping. Check! Bridal gown and Groom’s suit. Check! Caterers, photographers, musicians, location must all definitely be in check by now, it being just a few months away to your big day! Now that all the major bookings for your Great Indian Wedding have come into place, it’s time you and your partner get down to the finer details, which are not so tiresome! Let’s have a look at some of the smaller but very vital things to do as the countdown to your wedding begins!

1. Now is the time to send out your invitations and Save the Date cards if many of your guests will be coming from out of town. Check in with your printer and have the cards delivered as soon as possible.
2. Wedding favors! Don’t we all just love them! Get down to shopping for your wedding favor gifts. Think pretty candles or a box of candies held together in a box matching your wedding theme.
3. Is your beauty regime going as planned? If so, continue and add in some more pampering as the months are only drawing closer to your big day! If you’ve not made time for yourself, well it’s high time you did! Reminder: You DO want to look like a million bucks on your wedding day!
4. Check with your wedding planner about rentals that need to be looked into. For instance, if your caterer isn’t providing you with chairs, tables, tents and linen, it’s time to get down to booking them.
5. Also, you may want to check in with your wedding planner regarding modes of transportation for some of your guests, if not all. It’s also time to book the wedding car of your partner and your choice or if required horses for the arrival of the groom.
6. Check in with your out of town guests and arrange for a choice of accommodation for them. During the wedding and festive season, it may be difficult to secure places to stay.
7. And we can’t possibly fail to mention the booking of your wedding cake. Select a wedding cake with your spouse-to-be.
8. Check in with the location manager whether you can bring in your own alcohol so as to save on excess expenses. If this is not possible, talk about them about the possibility of bringing in the more expensive variety of alcohol such as champagne and a good brand of whisky and leaving the rest up to them (wine, vodka and other alcohol which is drunk less).
9. Book a mehandi artist along with your hair and make-up stylist.
10. Check in with your bride maids and organize a first trial if you already haven’t done so. Also make sure you have a bridal gown fitting.

Whew! There’s so much involved in putting together a wedding! But, once the above steps are accomplished, you and your partner can settle down into period of calm because the worst is over! Stay tuned for our next check list for 2-3 months down the line, which will help you accomplish the very last of your duties in putting together your big day.

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Now that you’ve managed to book you dream location for your great Indian wedding after setting the theme et al, it’s time to move on to the smaller but highly important things to do before your special day. If you’ve hired a wedding planner, he/she will already have a list of choices regarding caterers, floral decorators, bands/musicians, photographers and videographers for your partner and you to choose from. So let’s get started with a few other things that you need to begin doing as the months get closer to your big day

1. You may want to formally announce your engagement to your friends and family if you haven’t done so already.
2. Plan a fun get together with your family, friends and members of your wedding party. The first of the celebrations has definitely begun!
3. Now is a good time to shop for and purchase your wedding bands if you haven’t done so already.
4. Start trying out and experimenting with your beauty regimens. Go in for bleach, wax and skin peelers and figure what suits you the best.
5. Now’s the best possible time to hunt for your bridal gown or lehenga and your partner should do the same. If you are planning to get a tailored gown, also gather your bridesmaids to get their dresses stitched according to the color of your choice.
6. Start discussing the type of music you’d like to be played at your wedding. There are a good number of wonderful live bands in India itself who specialize in jazz and upbeat music. It’s better if you get the band booked right away.
7. You’ll be spending a lot of time with your wedding planner. You both will now be finalizing some of the finer details such as floral arrangements with your floral designer. You may want to check if the flowers you have in mind are available at the time of your wedding.
8. Book the caterers of your choice and discuss the food options.
9. Time to book your photographer and/or videographer of choice.
10. And finally, simply enjoy as your partner and you decide on your honey destination! You might want to check if both your passports are up to date. There won’t be much time to figure these small but vital things closer to the wedding!

By now, your partner and you will definitely have formed a good bond with your wedding planner. After all, you both will be spending a lot of time with him or her! Lastly, enjoy all the time you get off planning your wedding!

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Planning an Indian wedding can be very exhilarating not to forget stressful, what with the many elaborate events that it comprises. As a bride-to-be, you in all probability must have never planned a wedding before, so the entire process must definitely be very daunting. 

Keep those worries away, because we’ve prepared a detailed wedding planning checklist of things to get done to make sure that all goes well on your wedding day. This article (part of a 4-part series) will help you with all the activities needed to be completed at least a year before your wedding takes place.

1 year away

So he’s popped the question and you’re all aglow! Now begins the preliminary planning stage for the big day. A lot of progress can be made once the wedding date is set. It’s also time to get connected with your wedding planner of choice. Once done, your partner and you will be spending a lot of time with your wedding planner and it goes without saying that the sooner you do it the better!

Set the tone of the wedding: Now is the time to decide whether you’ll want to have a formal, casual, destination of themed wedding. You both might also want to mutually decide on the religious ceremonies involved such as a church wedding, Pheras, and other pre-wedding functions & rituals like the mehndi or a cocktail party.

1. The next step will see you drawing up a tentative wedding guest list with your partner. Perhaps at this stage, having parents from both sides sit down with you’ll, will help to finalize the wedding guest list.
2. It’s time to set the budget for your wedding. You can leave the nitty-gritty of it all to your wedding planner. After all, the bride and groom are not really expected to plan their own wedding, rather they get help!
3. Now you must decide on your bridal party. You’ll be the best judge of who’s to be your Matron of Honor and brides maids. Have your partner select his groomsmen too.
4. Your wedding is still a year away. So make the best of this time by looking up photographers and videographers. In India, wedding photography of the artistic and natural kind has become quite the trend over posed and planned photography. If you have a photographer in mind that is based out of India, it’s time to contact them and finalize your queries.
5. Your partner and you need to keep your wedding theme in mind when deciding the invitation style. However, you don’t’ really need to get them printed at least four months before the actual day. Since the wedding date has been decided upon, you may also want to send ‘Save the Date’ cards to your friends who are out of India.
6. Start discussing the type of music you’d like to be played at your wedding. There are a good number of wonderful live bands in India itself who specialize in jazz and upbeat music.
7. You want to look like a princess at your wedding, don’t you? So it’s time to figure out make-up artists for yourself and your bridal party.

Now that both you and your partner have most of the information, the planning can actually begin. If you have a wedding planner, then your work is almost done! Stay tuned for the second part of this 4-part wedding checklist series, because you’re only getting closer to the big day!

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Choosing the perfect location is the most critical part of the planning process. In fact, this step is one of the first amongst many others that to-be married couples need to decide upon. After all, important things on the wedding checklist such as the decor, theme, flowers and wedding dress all depend on this choice.

This is when a couple needs to get together with the wedding planner to discuss their wedding location options.

 And there are so many to sift through. From fun beach weddings to fancy yacht parties to receptions in a hotel ballroom or even an intimate gathering on quaintly lit lawns, there s much to choose from! You ll could even hold the reception on a far-off pristine island or perhaps even tie the knot when skydiving or deep sea diving if daredevil traits run through your veins!

Here’s a rather absurd way to get married. But when you’re in love, the sky or should we say the sea is the limit!

But seriously speaking, even though it can be exciting to choose your dream location, a lot has to be taken into consideration during this planning process. For instance, if you select a wedding location which is not in your home city, this would mean that you have to make sure that you have absolutely everything available in that place.

An important point to be noted when choosing your wedding location is the season and climate. No bride would want to see napkins tossed around or the banquet table skirting wildly flying in the breeze.

Then your wedding budget is an important factor. The amount you have to shell out will obviously change from location to location. Do not forget to ask what will be included with the total cost when making the rounds of different locations.

In these difficult times of the credit crunch, you may want to consider cost-cutting options. So, if you live in a bungalow for instance, why not have the wedding in your own backyard on or the front lawn? Perhaps if you already have the vision of your dream wedding taking place there, it will become much easier. Yes, you will need a lot of imagination, hard work and organization to see your backyard materialize into a potential fairytale wedding zone. But, it has and could work wonders if you plan ahead.

That said, once you have decided on the wedding venue, a lot of other things need to be taken care of. Stay tuned for our complete wedding checklist, which will ensure that you do not miss out on the smallest of things when planning your dream wedding.

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