The big day is looming, your wedding day. You only have a year or less to decide what type wedding, where to have it, whether to have the ceremony and reception in the same location or not, if you want real or silk flowers - and those are just a few choices. Since a book isnt the desired result, lets look at just three choices: indoor or outdoor wedding; ceremony and reception in same location; real or silk flowers.

A spring or fall wedding held in a lovely garden brings thoughts of lush greenery and flowers already in place. Less decorating would be necessary, cutting the work and the expenses even if a fee needed to rent the garden area. Unless the location has lighting available, the wedding would have to be in daylight, or portable lights would have to be furnished. The setting would be romantic.

However, having a ceremony outdoors has drawbacks, the main one being the weather. If a rain-free, wind-free time could be chosen, the weather wouldnt matter. If the temperature stayed just right, not too cool, not too warm, outside would be perfect. Also, people dont care for the bugs that think they should attend the wedding, too. If an outdoors wedding is planned, a backup plan should be in effect - just in case.

An indoor wedding gives the bride and planner/workers more control over temperature, as well as need for umbrellas and bug spray, but the garden would take many flowers and pots of greenery to make up for the loss of that found outside.

Another choice needed to be made concerns whether the wedding and reception are held at the same location or at different places. If the couple decide to have them at the same place, no arrangements have to be made to move people from one place to another, no one gets lost, and the wedding party, if taking photos after the ceremony, can join the guests sooner. If the places are different and the reception catered, often the caterers can have things set up and ready when guests arrive. If the reception workers are part of the guests, things are on hold until the servers arrive after the ceremony. However, its possible to set the time of the reception at a later time, allowing time for photos to be finished and everyone to arrive. The drawback would involve the people who would then skip the reception.

Some brides insist on real flowers; others want silk ones. What differences are there? Of course real flowers are, well, real: textures, fragrances, appearance. However, silk flowers, at least some varieties, appear real to the eye, and they last much longer than natural flowers do. Fragrances, if added, never match that of once living flowers, but silk ones can be used in place of or in combination with real flowers.

All the words in the world about the chooses mean nothing. Only the people who must live with the decisions should decide after considering both sides of each option.