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.