The Wedding

How to complete The Wedding

Underneath the paperwork and the party, the actual point of a wedding is saying the promise out loud in front of your people. Whether that means a five-person courthouse signing or a two-hundred-guest weekend, it is one of the few days you will replay for decades, so it is worth shaping deliberately.

1. Decide the shape together first (elopement, courthouse, small ceremony, big party) and set a budget before booking anything.
2. Handle the legal layer early: license requirements, waiting periods, and who may officiate all vary by jurisdiction.
3. Book the immovables first: venue, officiant, photographer. Everything else fits around those three.
4. Hand day-of logistics to one trusted person who is not either of you.
5. During the ceremony, deliberately slow down and look at your partner and the room; the day evaporates otherwise.

Tips

• Whatever the budget, prioritize photography; it is the only line item that outlasts the day.
• Add a 10-15 percent buffer: weddings leak money through small vendor fees.
• A private first look before the ceremony calms nerves and frees up the cocktail hour.

What counts as done

You are legally married: license signed, vows exchanged, done.