How to Plan an Elegant Wedding

Wedding coordinators and advice columnists often suggest that engaged couples choose a theme in the earliest stages of planning their special day. A theme need not be over the top but ensures continuity from your engagement announcement through your reception departure. Elegance, as a wedding theme, suggests a refined event replete with class and sophistication. Follow these steps to plan an elegant wedding.

Instructions

1. Buy engagement announcements and wedding invitations to set the tone of your elegant wedding. Whether you favor modern or classical styles, pick formal invitations with simple designs and clean lines. Engagement announcements, or save-the-date cards, and wedding invitations should be complementary in color and style, although they need not match.

2. Pick a wedding ceremony site. Whether you choose to marry in a church or on a beach, you can add elegant touches to your enhance the venue. Get married by candlelight in a church or under a flower-adorned arch near the ocean.

3. Choose a classically-styled dress in a fine fabric like a rich silk for fall and winter or lace for spring and summer. Add a tasteful veil or headpiece and simple jewelry to accentuate the details of your gown.

4. Select musicians for the ceremony and reception. A string trio or quartet adds elegance to a ceremony and a pianist, guitarist or jazz ensemble adds a touch of class to a wedding reception. Request a great work such as "Pachelbel's Canon" to walk down the aisle, and timeless jazz favorites like "As Time Goes By" for your first dance.

5. Rent or buy tuxedos for the groom and wedding party. Although adding a pop of color with vibrant bow ties or vests is quite popular, traditional black tuxes are the most elegant choice. The groom will stand apart from his attendants in a white bow tie, which is the most formal option.

6. Meet with the wedding coordinator at your reception site to set a menu. Whether serving buffet style hors d' oeuvres or a multi-course, sit-down dinner, choose upscale food with mass appeal. If you choose to serve alcohol, allow guests to choose from wine, beer and cocktail options. Have a champagne toast before you cut your cake.

7. Hire a florist and a baker. Inform your vendors that your goal is to have an elegant wedding so they can prepare samples for your first meeting. Clip photos of bridal bouquets, flower arrangements and bride's and groom's cakes and choose wedding colors in advance.

Tips & Warnings

• You can plan an elegant wedding on any budget. To save money, buy your dress off the rack or during the off-season, when bridal salons have large sales. Get married in the fall or winter to cut floral and reception site costs. Plan your budget carefully and do research to cut costs without compromising quality.

• One key component to having an elegant wedding is presenting yourself in an appropriate manner. Popular television series feature foul-mouthed, ill-tempered brides and grooms who make the wedding experience miserable for themselves and their guests. Maintain your composure and cherish each moment of your day.

• A bouquet of one to two dozen roses of the same color, particularly white and red, with ribbon-wrapped stems and small pearl or crystal pins is especially elegant.