It's All In the Mind
By David J Holmsen, author of the Complete Wedding Handbook

If you decided to run a marathon, one would hope you train and prepare yourself first. The trouble with many weddings is that couples don't prepare themselves beforehand for the long run ahead. It's mostly the case they prefer to find out the rules as they go along. While you could make a case for it, I don't buy into it. The result of doing it that way is you end up finding all the potholes and the inevitable disappointments along the way.

Even if you don't expect to win the marathon, you still want to be prepared enough to enjoy it, otherwise what's the point? It's my belief if you want to organise your own wedding, get in the right frame of mind by knowing where you want to go and what tactics you are going to use to get there. Sadly, wedding planners and books spend too little time (if any) on this side of wedding organisation.

You can dramatically make a very real, positive difference to your wedding experience by following these simple 'Five Golden Rules of Wedding Organisation.' They are:

• Get your priorities right
• Empower yourself
• Create and share your vision
• Be a leader and
• Allocate roles.