If you’re lucky, your bridesmaids, family or friends have planned a bridal shower for you. All you need to do is pick out a dress. If you want to look bridal, there’s lots of white dresses to choose from - everything from lace to silk, cocktail length to a maxi dress. Or if you want a dress you’ll be able to wear more often, after the shower, you can choose a pretty floral pattern.

If your wedding’s getting close, that means one thing - it’s time for your bridal shower! If you’re lucky, your bridal party, family or friends have planned the whole thing. All you need to do is pick out a dress.

Whether your bride is elegant, casual, traditional or colorful - tea party is a perfect theme for her bridal shower. If your bride is traditional, you can plan a classic tea party. Or maybe the bride loves Bridgerton or Downton Abbey - a regency inspired tea party would be perfect for her. Maybe she’s colorful and would go crazy for a Mad Hatter tea party. A Jane Austen fan would love a literary tea party with books as the decor. If she’s elegant, you can plan a garden bridal shower with floral decorations, edible flowers and tea themed favors.

If you’re planning a bridal shower for someone you love, the first thing to do is choose a theme. Your theme can be something pretty, something fun or something the bride loves. If she loves travel, it’s a perfect theme for her bridal shower. If the couple is planning a destination wedding or an exotic honeymoon, you can make the theme specific to that location. If they don’t have a favorite place, you can use a travel theme, like globes or maps. Or you can use a travel-centric motto as your theme.

If you’re planning a bridal shower, there’s a lot to keep track of. Especially if you’re going to DIY the food. The best way to get organized is with a good list. If you don’t have one already, here’s a set of lists to get you started.

Looking for bridal shower ideas? If you choose a theme, it’ll make it easier to pull everything together, from your invitations to your favors. Most popular theme: Lemons! You can choose your decor with lemon colors and shapes. Plus, you can brighten up your menu with lemon flavors. Your guests will love lemon pasta, cakes and cocktails. Don’t forget a lemon themed favor and your shower will be a hit!

If you’ve never been in a bridal party, or hosted a shower before, you might have a lot of questions. First of all: who’s supposed to throw the shower? Usually the maid of honor is in charge and the rest of the bridesmaids will help. If the bride isn’t having a wedding party, her mother, sister or friend can host a shower for her, instead. There’s no hard and fast rules. Basically, if you’re a person who loves the bride, you are fully qualified to throw the shower. If you’re not sure how to do it, keep reading for a step by step breakdown.

Nothing brings up weird feelings like setting up your wedding registry. Is it really ok to ask for gifts? How is this not rude! It’s really not. In fact, it’s one of the nicest thing you can do for your guests. Most of the people invited to your wedding don’t know your taste, your favorite colors or what you might already have. An easy way to let them know is by setting up a wedding gift registry. When you start your registry, you’re not demanding gifts - you’re just creating a wish list.

The most expensive part of your wedding is usually the meal at your reception. If you need to save money, there’s a few different ways to lower your costs. The best way is to choose a simple, inexpensive meal and have it served buffet style. Whether you’re hiring a caterer or doing it yourself, the food you choose will have a big impact on your bottom line. Filling your menu with inexpensive food that’s easy to prepare is the best way to save money on your catering bill.

If you’ve started pricing out your wedding reception, you might be shocked by some of the costs - especially the catering!

The best way is by choosing the right caterer and making the right choices for your menu. Start by understanding a caterers service and exactly what they’ll be charging you for.

Let’s take a look at ways you can save money on your wedding reception by utilizing tips for wedding catering on a budget!

Offering a signature drink is a great way to add style and color to your cocktail hour or reception. It has a lot of practical benefits, too. Signature drinks are faster and easier to serve. If your bartenders can simply pour wine, beer and signature drinks instead of mixing individual drinks, you’ll avoid long lineups at the bar. If your cocktails are pre-made, your guests can get them quickly and start enjoying the cocktail hour. If you’re trying to save money, offering them as part of your limited bar is a great way to save money, too.

If you’re going be horrified by a cash bar, stop reading now! Cause I’ll be honest - I’m a fan. When I go to a wedding, it’s to celebrate a marriage and show support for people I love. If they can’t afford to pour free drinks all night, I’m ok with that. The only time it’s a problem is when I don’t know ahead of time. Common etiquette has a lot to say about including cash bar on the invitation. But common sense says that if it’s on the invitation - I’ll know to bring some money

Once you’ve decided on a rustic theme for your wedding, think about adding a style as well. Adding a style will make it easier to choose your colors and accessories and help set the tone for your wedding. For example, if you decide to have a romantic style rustic wedding, you can plan a color palette with dusty rose and gold. Or you could plan a bright yellow color scheme for a cheerful, sunflower wedding.

If you’re trying to stick to a budget, a rustic themed wedding is the perfect choice. A rustic wedding is stylish and pulled together, but still simple and easy to plan. The easy going nature and less formal style makes it fun for everyone. You can put together a fantastic wedding with inexpensive or even DIY options. There’s lots of ways to save money when you’re planning a rustic wedding.

Shopping for a wedding dress is hard for everyone. But when you’re plus size, sometimes it comes with an extra helping of suckiness. Maybe you got lucky with your in person shopping and found your dream dress. Or maybe you didn’t. Sometimes the salon experience is discouraging for plus size brides. Some shops only carry 2 or 3 styles in plus sizes. Or worse - none at all. Luckily, online shopping offers a lot of better options.

Can you really plan a wedding in only 6 months? The only true requirements for a wedding are the marriage license, an officiant and a ceremony. As long as you start with that - you’ve got a wedding! No matter how much time you have, begin by booking your ceremony venue and officiant. As soon as you’ve got that covered, you can find your reception venue.

If you’re looking for an affordable wedding venue, a destination wedding at an all inclusive resort is the perfect solution. Even if your budget is on the smaller side, you can have a fantastic wedding for a lot less than you can at home. When you choose an all inclusive resort for your wedding, you’ll also choose an all inclusive wedding package. That means you pay one price and get everything you need for a gorgeous tropical wedding.

Typically, food and drinks at your wedding reception account for 50% of your entire budget. If you work out your catering costs first, you’ll be able to build a reasonable budget around that price. But how much does it cost to cater a wedding?

Below, we’ve detailed the typical costs of wedding catering, what wedding catering includes, tips on saving money on wedding catering, a guide on how to select a caterer, and more!

Once you’ve figured out your menu, you need to start thinking about the drinks for your wedding. How you serve the alcohol at your wedding depends on your venue and the type of food service you’ve booked. If you’ve booked a full service caterer or venue, you’ll need to purchase your bar package from them. If your wedding is at a space that allows DIY you’ll have a lot more options.

Most wedding experts say that 50% of your budget should go to your food and venue. But what if your budget is smaller than average? If you’re only spending ten thousand dollars - is five thousand enough to rent a venue and pay for a caterer? What if your budget is even smaller? Maybe your budget isn’t big enough for a traditional caterer. But don’t get discouraged - there’s lots of other options.