Preparing a guest list should be done in the beginning stages of planning your wedding. I recommend that the bride, groom and their parents independently make a list of the friends and family they wish to invite. Take the time to organize and enter the information in a spreadsheet to include complete addresses. Sort by last name, eliminate the doubles and you have a good solid guest list that has many purposes. It will be a great source for showers, addressing the invitations, tracking your guests, sending thank you cards and future family weddings or other events.

Its first purpose will be to get an accurate count. The majority of your budget is spent on the celebration, therefore it is important you do the math before you order and send out your invitations. However difficult it may be, if you're tied to a strict budget you may need to cut back on your list.

Some families choose to personalize their invitation by making them. Ordering a printed invitation is more common. Either way the basics still apply.

To save expenses have as much information as possible printed on the invitation itself. The location of your reception, dinner and dance for example can be neatly included after the ceremony information.

The respond card or RSVP is a must. Not knowing how many guests to expect is an invitation for disaster. You could either end up with too much food which in most cases you will be paying for and taking home with you or worse yet you'll not have enough. Serving your guests bar pizza is not a good thing.

A common question asked is if it's proper etiquette to print labels for your invitations. It is proper etiquette to hand write both the inner and outer envelopes but we are also in the 21 century with busy lives and computers. I would run each outer envelope through the printer and hand write the names of each family member on the inner envelope. You should do what works best for you.

I recommend sending invitations no less than 6 weeks before the date of your wedding and have your guests reply 2 weeks prior. Before purchasing your postage, be sure to put a complete invitation together, bring it to the post office for weighing and then purchase your postage. Don't forget postage for your RSVP's.

Once the RSVP date has passed, thoroughly go through your list. If there are several who did not respond it is okay to give them a call. You may know just by looking at the list if they are attending or not. Most reception hall vendors and caterers have a formula they work with and are in most cases very accurate.

Save the date cards are great if you know there's a lot going on within the family the year you plan to tie the knot but are otherwise not necessary.

There are many types of programs to choose from. You can print them yourself. Typically a program is used to see who is in the wedding, what's next in the service and for fans if it's warm. I recommend printing one for every 2 people invited.

I can't stress enough how important it is to send out thank you cards. Shower thank you cards should be sent before the date of your wedding and wedding thank you cards should be sent no later than 6 months.