I mailed out my wedding invitations recently (hooray!) and the responses have been trickling or pouring in, depending on the day. Now that the big reveal is over with most of my guests, I'm excited to unveil the design to my fellow BG brides as well. The photo below doesn't do the invite justice — it was printed in gold glitter ink that shimmers in the light. I worked on it with Arlene Segal, the talented owner of Arlene Segal Designs in Miami, FL, and the style name is "Somewhere in Time," in case anyone is interested in using the same design for their own wedding.

"Somewhere in Time" Wedding Invitation (Style #BW-130)

As a general rule of thumb, it's recommended that brides start shopping for their invitations about five to six months before they wed. Like many other aspects of planning, this process took far longer than I had anticipated; the amount of paperie options is truly staggering and so is the cost of wedding invitations. Between selecting the printing method, font, paper stock, wording and method of addressing envelopes, it all took a great deal of thought. That didn't even include the time spent assembling them!

When I first got engaged, I immediately bought a humongous binder (which I still own) containing worksheets on how to help novice brides like myself plan their wedding with organized glee. I filled out many of the pages and felt like I had just passed a final exam — until I got to the transportation section. How do I get my guests from Point A to Point B and map out our itinerary? Who do we include, who do we not include and where on Earth are we all going?! The whole concept was starting to sound more like a lecture from my algebra teacher (a class that I failed in school).

So I did what any obsessive-compulsive bride in my situation would do: I Googled as much info as I could find until finally, I developed a game plan. If you're anything like me and are overwhelmed by the logistics of transporting yourself (and your bridal party) to and fro on the wedding day, you've come to the right place. Here are some basic guidelines for tackling all of your transportation conundums.

Photo by: Artful Weddings via The Bridal Detective

1. Timeline

When Joe Pagani proposed to Emily Pavis last year, he gave her an amazing custom-designed engagement ring inspired by R2-D2 from Star Wars (see the ring here!). And on their wedding day, Joe got his own Star Wars ring — a C-3PO wedding band (for non-Star Wars fans, C-3PO is a golden robot who is R2-D2's best friend):

Photo courtesy of CustomMade

Photo Credit: Ryan Richardson

For "self-proclaimed geeks" Joe and Emily, their Star Wars wedding rings bring them back to childhood — both loved watching the movies while growing up. Working with the same CustomMade designer who made the R2-D2 engagement ring, Paul Bierker of Paul Michael Design, they created their perfect droid duo. The couple eloped at the Race Point Beach lighthouse in Cape Cod, MA, and one of their best friends officiated the intimate ceremony.

Photo Credit: Avava/iStockPhoto

One of the more annoying parts about changing your last name is finding a new personal email address to reflect it. With more than 425 million active users on Gmail and 281 million on Yahoo, there's a pretty good chance that your name is already taken. 

Back when Gmail was just a baby, I thought about registering for a second email address — my first name with my husband's last name. But since that was at least three years before he'd even proposed, I decided I'd better not jinx myself. I'm kicking myself now, though! When I tried registering for a new email address after the wedding, I basically had two options: add some numbers on the end, or make up some combination of my first, maiden, and last names.

But there's good news for Yahoo brides — they're purging unused accounts, meaning that your new name might become available! Sign up here to be put on the waiting list for your desired name. You can request up to five names and, if you're first in line for any of them, you'll receive an email to claim it in mid-August.

Tell us: Did you pre-register your new email address before the wedding?

—Kristen O'Gorman Klein