A far flung business acquaintance of my father's suddenly sent a late RSVP and where there should have been an acceptance by just 'Mr & Mrs X', there was an acceptance by 'Mr & Mrs X plus 3'. Devastated at the very late acceptance spoiling my carefully deliberated upon seating plan and enraged at the 'plus 3', I really wished that I had hired the help of a wedding planner who could have now tackled this rather delicate matter of informing these guests that their further three guests would not be welcome at the soiree of the year!

It was also at this point that my fiance called to tell me that the agency with whom I had booked my 'cinderella style horse & carriage' no longer existed. My poor fiance had gone to pay the final installment to the agency and found that their doors were closed...for good. They had called it a day...gone under...bust...kaput...and with it so had my money. More than the money though, my fairytale dream of being carted along the streets of London, Diana-esque, were crushed and it would no doubt be too late to find another replacement horse & carriage at this point in time. It had been difficult enough in the first place to actually source a workable carriage and then to find white horses in lieu of the black ones generally used for funerals. I had even paid extra for the white ones... I wanted to cry. Loudly. I was up to my neck with 470 RSVPs and last minute menu changes with the caterers. I hadn't had time to order the extra buttonholes for two previously unknown cousins from Canada and a rather pedantic and unmarried, older, girlfriend of mine was on the phone telling me how she would have loved to help me with the 47 fresh flower/pillar candle centrepieces but that she would be working late every night that week but would still, of course, make it to my wedding. Everyone else, including my mother and sister, it seemed, had swanned off to the spa for the day.

At that moment, whilst pouring myself a stiff drink, I would have happily swapped it all for the services of a wedding co-ordinator and escape to a Caribbean beach.

In the end, my Big Day was perfect but removing the stress of organising a wedding is priceless and one of the biggest attractions of marrying abroad. Even if you decide to marry on home ground, it is still wise to hire the help of an expert who knows the ins and outs and is familiar with suppliers and can sometimes pull the proverbial white rabbit out of the hat when needed.

I went away on a six-week honeymoon and whilst some may have thought that was rather extravagant....I didn't think so. In fact, the 8 month lead up to my wedding in which I organised four major events leading up to my wedding day and then the wedding day itself left me, to put it lightly, somewhat knackered. On the ten hour flight out to our first stop in Colorado, I delicately snored practically all the way through...so my new husband gently told me as I hurriedly wiped away the dribble that had stained my cheeks.

I cannot stress enough the importance of rest for the bride before her Big Day. Any amount of stress or lack of sleep will show on the face and no amount of make up is going to conceal that in the framed, enlarged photograph which will take pride of place above your fireplace.

And in case you're still not sure whether to hire a wedding planner or not...read on.

I was so stressed out by the fact that 'Mr & Mrs X' had just presumed that they could bring another three guests to my wedding (as if it were a free for all church fete) that I pretended to be my own wedding co-ordinator and wrote (didn't have the guts to call, of course!) the presumptious 'Mr & Mrs X' an immensely courteous letter informing them that I, under a pseudonym, was the wedding co-ordinator and in charge of the seating plan and whilst 'Mr & Mrs X' were, of course, very welcome, it was with deep regret that I would have to refuse their three guests entry to the wedding. The reason I gave was that as their RSVP had come at such a late stage, there simply were no more places available. However, in case of any cancellations, they would be the first to know.

'Mr & Mrs X' never even sent me a wedding gift. But then again, they didn't turn up either!