You have probably searched online for the best ways to make your wedding the wedding you have dreamed of for some time. You probably want direction pertaining to your pressing needs.

Here for you is a guide you can use to make sure you can get started the right way. These are five steps you can take. This is your crash course for Wedding Planning 101.

1. Assess Your Needs and Wishes

To make sure you get what you want, you need to put your wants and desires first. Do not think you are being selfish. It is your day after all. Just make sure you don’t expect too much from family, friends, and, of course, your significant other.

Jot down your goals, being sure to include must-haves and any luxuries. Make sure you have your basic needs covered before committing to other ideas. You will need to look at all your costs, and you will need to consider practicality.

2. Ask for Input from Family and Friends

Your family and friends are wanting to help you as much as possible. They want to ensure you have the financial resources, the physical items you need, and any other wishes you hope will be met.

Sometimes those getting married fret the input from family and friends, but you should not take that concern too seriously. Anyone that loves you most always will love you. So even if you are faced with unwanted suggestions or critiques of your choices, try to take them with a grain of salt. That is unless you are making a really bad choice. The key for you is to pause and think about it before getting upset. You might be preoccupied with small stuff to not notice some obvious imperfections.

3. Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

And when it comes to that aforementioned small stuff, you do not want to be one of those people that lets the little things get to you. Even those issues you encounter that might feel like big issues really aren’t.

Again, you must be certain to pause and think about reacting before you get upset if faced with an unforeseen obstacle. You must always remember you will have what you need on your wedding day. As long you get focused and make sure everything is in place, you will have no issues with overcoming anything that is thrown your way.

4. Have Everything Set in Place

By nine months out, you should have a wedding planner in place. This person may only be needed in the days right before your wedding and on your wedding day. However, you can use them throughout your wedding journey.

You also should consider your options for food, flowers, decor, entertainment, and video. Both your wedding location and reception must be booked, and you need to have your officiant in place. When it comes to choosing your wedding party, you should pick people that are okay with taking on roles to help. And you also need to communicate and solidify all plans pertaining to all the people and services relating to your wedding. Be sure you do this as soon as possible.

There are a lot of people that you will be hiring for your special day so make sure you communicate with all of them.  One wedding photographer in Fort Lauderdale even suggests that you, “Communicate with everyone. Communicate with your vendors. Encourage your vendors to communicate with each other. There is no such thing as too much information when it comes to planning a wedding.”

5. Be Sure to Celebrate

When the times comes for your special day, you want to be sure you have ways for everyone involved to enjoy the fun with you. Of course, you want to make certain to have all the normal bells and whistles in place. But what unique and modern ideas can you consider?

Be sure to consider how you can use social media. From the moment you break the news of your engagement to the moment you return home from your honeymoon, you have social media to help you celebrate. Ask your shower attendees to use hashtags and encourage those there on the wedding day to upload photos and videos with hashtags, too.

You Can Ace Your Wedding Your Planning

Are you ready to roll up your sleeves and get to work? If you are, then use the strategies you know will work best. Take the five steps above to ace Wedding Planning 101.

Contributed by Samantha Higgins who is a professional writer with a passion for research, observation, and innovation. She is nurturing a growing family of twin boys in Portland, Oregon with her husband. She loves kayaking and reading creative non-fiction.