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Choosing a first dance song seems like it should be one of the easiest wedding-planning decisions. But once couples realize how many great options are out there, the pressure can start to mount. After all, whichever song you pick will be the one that you define as "yours" for the rest of your lives together. 

But don't worry! With the help of real brides, we've compiled a few guidelines to ensure that your tune is worth replaying in 50 years. 

1. Find A Common Musical Interest

Sometimes, opposites really do attract, so it's possible that you and your fiancé don't share the same taste in music. Narrow down the selection by focusing on one genre you both do like.

Jenna Guarneri began her search for the perfect wedding song by identifying a shared interest with her then-fiancé — country music. After listening to various country albums, she heard a Lady Antebellum duet ("When You Got a Good Thing") on the radio that encompassed everything she had been searching for. 

"I played it for my husband afterward, and he had never heard of it either," says Guarneri. "He loved it just as much as I did and said that it was definitely 'the one!'"

Saturday morning, Rene and I had an early morning session with our trainer, Bonne Marcus. Before we began the workout, we got on the scale, and I’m proud to say I am down another five pounds, and Rene is down four! I guess after the bad week we had of the party, last week’s intense training and diet really helped! The workout was really hard this week. I should have known that after not doing any strength training for three weeks, it was going to be tough. She had us doing a lot of old moves combined with some new ones.

There was one new one called the “Prisoner Get-ups,” and they killed me! You put your hands behind your ears with your arms to the side, go down on one knee, bring the other knee down, come up with one knee, and then stand with the other. I had to do 20 starting on each leg. It’s an amazing exercise because it’s working your arms, your core, and your legs, but it was not easy!

Here at BG, the Labor Day Weekend wedding news we're most excited about is that our web producer, Stefania, tied the knot on Sunday! Get a sneak peek at her gorgeous wedding on our Instagram. 

She's in good company with her holiday weekend wedding. Actress Kate Bosworth and director Michael Polish exchanged vows on Saturday, August 31 on a ranch in Montana. The bride wore two custom dresses by Oscar de la Renta — a traditional strapless ballgown for the ceremony, and a floral embroidered tulle dress for the reception. The groom and groomsmen wore custom Brooks Brothers tuxes.

Also on Saturday: Grace Kelly's grandson, Andrea Casiraghi (second in line to the throne in Monaco), married heiress Tatiana Santo Domingo. Domingo bucked royal tradition and wore a boho-inspired Missoni gown with flowers in her hair instead of a crown. The 400+ guest list included Prince Albert, Karl Lagerfeld, and members of the Missoni family.

SNL funnyman Seth Meyers married his longtime girlfriend, Alexi Ashe on Sunday, September 1 on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. The bride wore a cap sleeve lace gown, and Meyers wore a classic dark suit. Famous faces in the crowd included Olivia Munn, Allison Williams, Ali Larter, Rashida Jones, Lorne Michaels, Amy Poehler, Fred Armisen, Andy Samberg, Taran Killam, Jason Sudeikis, Kristen Wiig, Will Forte, Kenen Thompson, and more. 

I’m getting married this weekend — it feels so strange to type that out! — and now that all of the final arrangements have been confirmed, it’s been a nonstop party. I took a happy hour cruise with my relatives from Italy who flew in for my wedding and I was treated to massages, brunch and cupcakes with my favorite ladies for my "spa-chelorette" party. Up next: My rehearsal dinner and final fitting with my MOHs.

I could get used to this...in fact, I got so carried away with the revelry that I forgot to do a few things. I neglected to include my fiancé, Jason, and myself in the final headcount (our maître d' couldn’t stop laughing) and finalize our transportation itinerary. Oops. 

Since I’m suffering from a bad case of "wedding brain," I asked Valerie Gernhauser from Sapphire Events to share the most common tasks/items that brides either forget entirely or handle at the last minute before getting hitched. Follow her advice below, and try not to be too hard on yourself; after all, the most important thing is that you both successfully complete your vows. Everything else is just icing on top of the cake, as far as I'm concerned. 

Attention, all pop culture fans! Weddings/365 by Harvey Solomon is a fun, fascinating, and thoroughly-researched read you’re sure to love. 

The book provides a day-by-day selection of some of the most unforgettable celebrity weddings and is filled with little-known tidbits about their big days: what they wore, where they married, who was there and, in some cases, what went wrong! Here’s a quick quiz:

1. Whose tiara broke on the morning of her wedding? (Luckily, the court jeweler was able to repair it.) 

2. Speaking of tiaras, what pop star wore a tiara that had once been worn by Princess Grace? 

3. What country crooner became smitten with his future wife when he first saw her in the movies (hint: about weddings) and then invited her to appear in one of his videos?

4. What hip-hop star had 70,000 white dendrobium orchids flown in from Thailand for the wedding to his pop-star bride? 

5. What actress/fashion icon wore black on her wedding day (and later regretted it)? 

6. What supermodel met her rock star husband on a blind date that was arranged by a hairdresser? 

7. What couple confiscated their guests’ cell phones to ensure ultimate privacy during their sunset service in South Carolina? 

8. What multi-platinum R&B/hip-hop queen married quietly at home without even a band? (A guest played “Here Comes the Bride” on the piano.)      

Answers:

As my wedding inches closer and closer (it’s on Sunday, September 1st!), I can’t stop playing the "Next week at this time…" game with my fiancé, Jason. It’s quickly progressed from "…I’ll be picking up my dress” and "…you’ll be a nervous ball of energy waiting for me to walk down the aisle" to "…we’ll be celebrating and dancing surrounded by everyone we love most" and, finally, "…we’ll be in Hawaii watching the sun set at the infinity pool without a single care in the world."

We haven’t been on a vacation in years, so the mental image of frolicking on a tropical island for two weeks with no to-do list in sight trumps whatever little anxieties I have about our big day. But before we can swim with sea turtles or indulge in five-course meals, we desperately need to pack!

I’m making it as painless as possible by relying on multipurpose items that cover all the bases, from beaching it and taking cat naps to sightseeing and dining out (if I ever make it past the first two aforementioned activities, which I highly doubt). Here are some go-to fashion items I’ve tested and worn several times that are coming along for the ride. Plus, check out some of our best editors’ picks for beauty products and carry-on luggage, too.

Photo Credit: Reflections Creative Photography

May 1, 2013 was just a normal day at work — or so I thought, until I got a phone call from a family member who told me that my father, Walter Schupp, Jr., had suffered a massive stroke and was in critical condition. I was in shock: He's only 47 years old! I rushed out of work and met him at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest, where he was being transferred. When I saw him, he couldn't speak, couldn't move anything on the right side of his body, and was highly cognitively-impaired. I was terrified, and it was difficult for me to even look at him. The doctors took me aside and told me that it didn't look good, especially since he'd had his stroke over six hours prior to being transferred. 

My family and I were left with a very important, life-changing decision. The doctors gave us two choices: Leave him on life support (in which case he would be a vegetable for the rest of his life), or have the doctors perform a highly risky procedure that wasn't recommended to be done past a certain amount of hours (and he far exceeded those hours). They told us that he may or may not make it out of the procedure alive, and that if he did make it out, they weren't sure if the procedure would even help.

Last Friday was the big day — our engagement party! I can’t even imagine what I’m going to feel like on my wedding day. I woke up extra early to pack everything up while Rene picked up the flower centerpieces from the florist and the empanadas we made for the party. I had a make-up appointment at 2:30 and a hair appointment at 3:45, and before I knew it, it was time to leave.

My dress from Rent the Runway arrived on Wednesday, and I absolutely loved it. I ordered a size 14 and a size 16, and I ended up wearing the 16. The straps and chest area was a little big, but it gave me enough room to breathe and not worry about anything. The back-up dress I had purchased (just in case the Rent the Runway dress didn't work out) was a size 14, and that fit me perfectly as well. I don’t even remember the last time I was able to zip up a 14 without worrying it was going to bust open! From now on, the sizes will just keep getting smaller, and that is a really good feeling.

It’s a given that in these months before you take that walk down the aisle, you’re fully immersed in all things bridal: Find a dress, book a site, research and hire vendors, choose your wedding party — the list goes on and on. But in the midst of all these pre-wedding-day activities it’s easy to lose sight of what your wedding really means: You and your fiancé will be married and will exchange vows to love one another “‘til death do us part.”

Of course, a long-lasting, happy marriage is the ideal, but reality guarantees that it can also be challenging and overwhelming at times — which is why I always recommend that couples do some pre-marriage prep along with their pre-wedding-day prep. You and your future husband should take the time now, if you haven’t already, to talk openly and honestly about your plans and expectations for married life. What To Do Before You Say “I Do”, a new book by Susan Ziggy, came across my desk recently, and it’s a great read. As Susan says, “Relationships really are jobs. You have to show up every day and pay attention to what is required…getting through the hard stuff can make it better in the end. A long term relationship is priceless, divorce isn’t!”