Ed and I have started looking at reception sites.

If I were writing a book, I would tell you that Ed and I tiptoed through the daffodils all the way to the most beautiful – and reasonably priced – reception site, which we fell in love with at first sight. Cheerfully, we booked the date and began planning the party of the century.

Yeah, right.

There’s so much to do and it all seems to need to be done at once. Every place we look at wants to know when we want to get married and how many people we’re having. My mother told me to plan the guest list first, and then search for a venue. A friend suggested I pick the date, and then plan a themed wedding (for example, a fall wedding in October, etc.) Ed and I, meanwhile, are sort of hoping it just all comes together.

We started preliminary work on a guest list and came up with 200 people. I mean, who really knows 200 people? So, for the right venue, I will mercilessly drop Aunt Dot from the guest list and not look back.

It’s the same with the date. If we get married on the beach, we’ll obviously choose a warmer month. If we decide to escape to the Vermont mountains, snow will set the scene nicely.

One of my friends, who got married three years ago, had some great advice: Each of you picks one thing that’s really important to you and makes that a priority.

Since Ed and I agree that having a great party is at the top of the list (I initially chose having him show up as a top priority, but he assured me I had no worries), we’re going to let the reception dictate the guest list and the wedding date. We roughed out an informal list to give us an idea of how big the place needs to be, but we both agree we can cut some for the right place. For example, we can whittle the list down to 150, but are avoiding a great-looking jazz club in Boston than can only accommodate 80.

But with 200 people on the guest list, we also have to be reasonable about price. I’ve discovered most places that host weddings will make their menus and price available on the Internet. So that’s been my first order of business – to research my options and call my favorites. Thus far, I’ve gotten about 50 brochures in the mail.

A warning to brides out there: Once you start looking on bridal Web sites and calling reception hall a flurry of junk mail will arrive at your door. And all of it’s wedding related. Be prepared.