Whether you just need a little guidance or you honestly don't know where to begin, the Ultimate Wedding Toolkit can help you to plan the wedding you've always dreamed of.

While some brides thrive on the stress of planning a wedding, most want it to be over with by the time they reach the big day. Our toolkit can help you get through it, and even enjoy it.

Here are some of the things it will help you with:

• Helping you choose the perfect wedding date. What do you do first? Choose and book the venue! Call the church or community center; check with the park service to ensure you can marry barefoot on the beach. If you're set on the venue, you may have to change the date; if you're set on the date, you may have to get married elsewhere.
  
  
• Budget planning. Keep your common sense handy. Don't spend too much on hors d'ouvres, and then have a budget crunch when you're hiring the wedding DJ. Shop around. Get price quotes on everything before signing anything. You'll find that what you want and what you can afford are probably not that far apart.
  
  
• Wedding lists you can shop with. When you go around with your wedding list, it will be easier to stay on budget. It makes it easier to compare prices and determine what you can spend more on and what you really need to stay within budget on.
  
  
• Help choosing the right wedding photographer. Your photographs will last a lifetime. The wrong photographer is a lot worse than the wrong caterer. Look at lots of samples, and make sure that the pictures you want are feasible and that the photographer can take them.
  
  
• Who's coming? You need a guest count, and you need a list of people to send an invitation to. We show you how to avoid inviting the whole world; the reception dinner is your biggest cost, and that cost is directly related to how many wedding guests you have. Remember that costs are different for wedding-only and wedding-and-reception guests.
  
  
• Helping you choose the wedding reception caterer that's right for your budget. Food and price are both critical. Make sure they have a good reputation and provide precisely what you're looking for; you can even arrange a food tasting if you want to be sure it's good.
  
  
• Great tools you can work with to plan your wedding right, like a song list that helps you work out what music to choose, and a wedding pose list you can give to your photographer.