On average, the time between an engagement and the wedding is about 15 months. It seems like a long ways off. Right? It's amazing how much gets left to the last minute, even with meticulous planners. With today's economy, more couples are trying to find ways to limit their wedding budget and you have every right to. You need to get educated very quickly on how to plan and budget successfully for your wedding.

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It's always more enjoyable when you get to know the people in your community. Eagan is a great community and there are some great local businesses, especially when it comes to wedding venues and vendors.

That's why we're excited to be participating in The Wedding Workshop, a local wedding fair being held at the Eagan Community Center on March 18 from 1 - 4 p.m.

You will be able to talk to over 30 different businesses that provide products and services for weddings - everyone from caterers to photographers to bakers to formal wear. There will even be a florist or 2 to check out.

Eagan Community Center is located at 1501 Central Parkway, near the Lockheed Martin campus just off Pilot Knob Road. Admission to The Wedding Workshop is only $2 and one of the prizes is $100 off your rental at Eagan Community Center. We'll be offering some specials, too, but you'll need to stop by to find out what they are!

I'm glad we'll be there, because we'll be able to meet some of the other businesses in Eagan that offer wedding services.

A lot of the images I've posted lately are rather brown - spring landscapes tend to be monochromatic until things warm up a bit. It's like looking at a sepia print of the landscape. But, despite the seeming lack of color, brown can be a very striking color. In many recent weddings, brown is coming to the forefront of the color selections. When the picture at the left was taken, wedding cakes were still quite traditionally white, but we elected to have ours made with a chocolate buttercream (man was that good cake!). Brown doesn't have to mean drab - used boldly, it is quite stunning.

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Start your wedding planning checklist!

There are many details you need to consider and keep track of when planning your wedding - guest lists, seating charts, caterers and bakery selections, appointments with vendors, budgets, to-do lists, photographers and musicians.

Wedding sites abound with free tools to plan your wedding - there's TheKnot, MyWedding, WeddingWire, Perfect Wedding Guide, GetMarried and OurWeddingDay. Now, there is even Google Docs!

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This is the time of year a lot of couples get engaged, so it follows that a lot of wedding fairs and bridal shows are coming up. For most newly engaged couples, this is the first time they've gone through this and they have no clue about what to do next. They do what thousands of other couples are doing - they attend bridal shows (at least the bride-to-be does, along with mom and possibly the bridesmaids). We've done a wedding, or two, and have a few suggestions for surviving what can be more confusing than helpful, if you're not prepared - the wedding fair.

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