How far in advance should we start planning our wedding? I suggest at least 1 year in advance, if not more, for booking your ceremony and reception locations since most of them book up quickly. Also, be sure to hire wedding professionals that are only capable of doing one wedding per day first, for example: your photographer, videographer, hair and makeup artist, and wedding consultant & designer. How soon should we ask our wedding party to be in the wedding? I suggest doing this no later than 7 months in advance because bridesmaid’s gowns need to be ordered 6 months in advance, and you need to leave time to choose the gowns. Be sure that you don’t rush into asking your bridesmaids and groomsmen because once you have asked them; it’s too late to go back and change your mind. Do we have to have even amounts of Bridesmaids and Groomsmen? Nope! With weddings being more non-traditional than ever, it’s rare that Bridesmaids and Groomsmen walk together down the aisle anymore. There are many other alternatives to this ceremony structure that will allow for uneven sides. My gown is ivory, is it going to clash with the white table linen? No, ivory and white are in the same color family, so they will not look offensive against one another. The Bride’s gown and the Bridesmaid’s gown need not match the color of the table linens. In fact, it’s almost impossible to find table linens that would match the Bridal Gown and the Bridesmaid’s Gowns perfectly anyway. What is the difference between a place card and an escort card? An escort card helps guests find their table; a place card helps guests find their exact seat at a table. For less formal weddings I suggest using only escort cards that have the guest’s first and last name, table number, and entrée indicator (if you are doing a plated meal) on them. This allows guests to find their table, and then choose their seat at the table. Should I purchase or rent the vases for my centerpieces? If it is in your budget, purchase them. The worst thing ever at a wedding is when it ends and we realize that a guest somehow snuck off with a centerpiece in a rented vase, or worse, a few are broken. You’ll be liable for the cost of those vases. Another reason to purchase them is that it’s nice to give away those centerpieces during the reception to a guest at each table so that you don’t have a bunch of them left over at the end of the night that have to be packed up in someone’s car to return to the florist. Besides, to properly pack them up and bring them back to the florist is very time consuming, and most of the time a lot of them break from not being transported correctly, so you end up paying for them anyway. What else can we do besides a bouquet toss? I only have a few single friends and don’t want to embarrass them by singling them out. Consider doing a good luck bouquet toss where you have all of the women at the wedding try to catch the bouquet for good luck. Or dedicate your bouquet to your Mother after the cake cutting (but be ready to need tissues!). If you simply don’t want to toss it, that’s ok too! It’s your choice what ingredients you want in your wedding, and which ones you don’t. I encourage you to find out more about your heritage and your fiancé’s so that you can incorporate new traditions from those heritages into your wedding to make it truly your own, and unique! Do you have a question to ask Nicole? Submit it here, and each month Nicole will answer them on her blog!