planning a wedding and am clueless !

Check out www.costofweddings.com to get reasonable budgets for your area. If you're not getting married in your place of worship, book your officiant as soon as you have your ceremony/reception venue booked.

I LOVE the Pash Wedding Planner, i found that super helpful too. I printed that and used it in conjuction with my free 1800-Registry binder!!! I didn't know ANYTHING about planning weddings before i was engaged and with the help of WW, and my wedding binder i've got a decent handle on things and now i'm almost done with all the major things and my wedding is still over a year away! <3 Best of luck to you! You'll do great!

Elizabeth, there are lots of great ways to figure out your budget. I've got a few "example budgets" with big-picture costs to give you an idea of some budgets and options (keep in mind that prices vary by region and venue types) on my website: http://www.blissbespoke.com/resources/budgetexamples (I also have a Top 5 Tips page).

Before you say "I can't afford a planner/coordinator" ask around to a few in your area! Many planners offer some al la carte services, maybe you can find one for a few specific tasks such as figuring the first draft of your budget (planners in your area will have a good idea of area costs for a few options). You never know until you ask :-)

When creating a budget, I recommend first creating three drafts: 1. Dream Budget (all the bells and whistles and guests), 2. Bare Budget (the absolute bottom to make it happen), and 3. A Little of This and That Budget (keepers from the dream budget, compromises from the bare budget, etc). Then start your reality budget!