Since people are getting married later and often set up housekeeping for the big day, china is falling by the wayside as brides register for what they really want.

It's a tough call. Some couples are registering for down payments on houses and honeymoons instead of at department stores. That can leave some people feeling just as if they were asked to give money. Other relatives may feel happy to give you something they know you want.

Ed and I didn't register at all. We have lived together for two years and we pretty much have everything we need in the kitchen and we're out of room. Fancy china may be nice, but not so much if it's in a storage container.

Most experts agree not registering is bad form because you leave your guests wondering what to get, so I wouldn't suggest that you follow my lead. But the thought of having to choose colors and patterns on a bunch of things I didn't really want in the first place was too depressing.

However, if you are trying to decide where to register, you might want to consider the things that are really important to you. If you and your groom need things to set up house together, then a traditional registry should work just fine. If you'd rather see the money go to a honeymoon, you may risk offending older relatives with this new trend. You might want to consider registering at two places and make one of them a traditional department store with just a few items listed for those who are uncomfortable helping you pay for your honeymoon.

Part of the problem is if your guests are offended by being asked to contribute to a honeymoon, chances are you'll be the last to know. Even the etiquette experts are divided on what's genteel bridal behavior.

If you're looking to cut costs, start with the wedding favors. Often, they are lost or thrown out before your guests even get home, so if you're going to cut corners, favors are definitely the place to do it.

Ed and I are skipping wedding favors altogether. I figured out if I cut wedding favors, with the money I save, I can add another choice to the appetizers. I had a friend who gave out Hershey bars at her wedding. And one of Ed's nieces made a donation in the name of all her guests to an environmental group and simply placed frames with a notice on each table. The I Do Foundation can help link you up with charities and print cards to give to your guests wedding favors.

So you've got lots of options. And even if you decide to go with more traditional favors, you don't need to spend a lot of cash. Online sites, like Truly Wedding Favors, Favor Ideas and Unique Wedding Favors off up creative ideas for as little as $1-$2 per person. Take a look. Run your mouse over the images to read the comments.

Okay, I admit I'm not the most tech-savvy being on the planet. Quite often, if I want to watch a DVD, Ed's kids turn the machine on, load it and get me all set up. Then, after ordering me not to touch anything, they'll go off and do their thing, returning when the movie is over to shut everything down. Actually, Ed prefers I don't touch any electronics in the house.

Yet, The Telegraph has -- with blind trust -- given me a computer and a blog so I can tell you about my wedding. And I'm sure you want to tell people about yours.

Well, as luck would have it, you can actually build your own wedding Web site. Domain names can be purchased from GoDaddy for as little as $10, or you can use Yahoo's site builder. Assuming you're not going to hire a Web site designer (which I would discourage, since this is simply to get the word out and a designer can be expensive) you can hop onto eWedding which will help you build a Web site for free.

Another option is to simply write a blog. Visit Blogger, and you can have a blog up and running in minutes. You can include stories of how you met, an image of your wedding invite and links to your registry.

But a Web site definitely has a bit more polish. Simply decide on the level of detail you want to include -- I'd recommend including the basic details of the wedding, links to your registry, any wedding-related parties or events and the story of how you met your fiance. And, of course, some photos to jazz things up. If you have children or are marrying someone with children, including them in the building of the Web site can be a fun, cost-effective way to bring them into the planning process.

Also, don't forget to tell everyone about your site. If you're sending out save the date cards, put your Web address on there. E-mail friends and family with a link to your site. After all, a Web site is only good if people go to it.

Now go to it! If you have a wedding Web site, post a link here in the comments. I'd love to check it out . . . just as soon as Ed's kids come for a visit ;)

She's creating a Web site full of bridal advice that can be had for free. Even if you're not likely to walk down the aisle in a Vera Wang gown, you can use some of her experience to make your day a little smoother.

The Web site isn't up yet, but you can register, and they will e-mail you when it's ready. In the meantime, you can check out some of Vera's advice.

Planning your wedding and looking for great advice? Check out The Wedding Podcast Network.

There's a ton of information, and you can get wedding advice when it works for you. You can download wisdom from wedding professionals, get workouts, learn how to manage the moms during your wedding planning, get industry news and get relationship advice. The site also includes interviews with newlyweds who have survived a wedding intact.

Give it a listen.

Ed and I met with another minister this weekend. This time, she really was a minister, so I was happy. And Ed . . . well, he was just happy he didn't have to look for another minister.

Rev. Maryanne McPherson is an interfaith minister, who has studied many of the world's religions. She seemed passionate about bringing spirituality into the wedding and willing to allow Ed and I to write our own wedding vows.

Ed and I plan to have a short welcome, a friend read something of his choosing, a blessing of the rings and our own wedding vows. We then plan to bring his children up for a family commitment ceremony followed by a sand ceremony.

Then we'll be married. By a minister. Yay!

But flats aren't fun. I've enlisted our Fashion Cents blogger's help and we're still looking. But poor Vanessa either hates what I pick out or patiently points out that the stilts I'm eyeballing are completely impractical. Here are a couple of my latest choices. The all come from Zappos, a great online shoe store. Run your arrow over the shoe to get my comments. Write in and let me know what you think.

Okay, not quite. But I'm working on it.

Ed and I actually went to our local Paper Store to look at wedding invitations. It only took about a half hour, actually. Invitations aren't something we felt we needed to spend hours of time on. Besides, it was dinnertime and Ed was hungry. We found simple, white invitations with Celtic knots and called it a day.

If you want to cut costs on the invitations, your local stationary story or an online ordering service can often provide nice invitations at a nice price. However, you will lack the one-on-one attention and guidance that a printer will give you. You'll also lack expert advice. For example: No punctuation should be used in a wedding invitation; don't abbreviate; and if you don't want children to attend, address the invitation to parents only, rather than saying "no children." Printers will tell you that.

But a little online research can help you brush up on your invitation etiquette.

Also there are a lot of fun trends in the works right now. Want to make your invitations stand out? Consider non-traditional shapes, such as squares; monograms; bright colors (I've seen some in the popular clothing combination of pink and brown); tie it all up with a ribbon or consider a pocket folder to organize all the information.

This isn't out exact invitation - ours will have blue ink and silver-lined envelopes, but the idea is the same.

While any bride can gather up a slew of wedding movies featuring bridezillas and nutty families, there's a new one filming in Boston.

Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway will star in "Bride Wars," the story of two friends who decide to get married on the same day. Rather than work it out, wedding planning becomes intense, cutthroat competition for the biggest, best, most luxurious wedding.

The event has been covered by the Boston Herald, The Boston Globe, the Patriot Ledger and BostonNOW.

At least this is one movie that promises both a few familiar landmarks and the opportunity to say, " I know I'm not that bad."

Check out the video of locals trying to snag a role as an extra.

Check out My Parents on Their Wedding Day. You can read stories people have posted of their parents' wedding days -- some are wonderful, some are heartbreaking.

And if you have a story of your own to post, mailto:myparentsontheirweddingday@gmail.com.

So I think we’ve found a minister at long last.

Ed’s been in charge of finding someone to marry us, so we sat down and came up with a list of what we wanted. First of all, we needed someone who would marry a couple where one partner is divorced. Since we were both brought up Catholic, that pretty much ruled out our families’ religion, which disappoints Ed’s mom to no end.

But we did decide to look for a minister. Armed with that knowledge, Ed hit the Internet.

Anyway, he hooked up with Connie, who said she’d be happy to marry us.

Ed set up the meeting, and we drove to Maine to meet with Connie in a coffee shop. We walked in and notices a blond woman with large glasses, dressed in a sweater in a long skirt, reading quietly in the corner. Connie.

We began making our way across the coffee shop, and I accidentally bumped into a woman. Muttering, “Excuse me,” I took in her frosted blond hair, low-cut tank top and frosted blue eye shadow.

She smiled and extended her hand. “Hi, I’m Connie. You must be Donna and Ed. Why don’t we sit down and discuss your wedding.”

I tried not to stare. I really did. But I was the seat next to her, and I could see right down her tank top. I’ve never been good at not staring. I began to check out the sun damage on her chest while she discussed wedding option.

When I could finally tear myself away, I asked her what faith she was a minister of. She smiled brightly, “I’m not a minister. I’m a justice of the peace.”

My eyes slid over to Ed. We had specifically discussed not being married by a justice of the peace. Hey, when you’re getting married, you need all the God you can get.

He looked innocently back at me. “Is that a problem for you?” he asked.

Hell yeah! My eyes traveled back to Connie’s breasts. She was sitting right there, and I didn’t want to hurt her feelings . . .

“No. It’s fine.” I smiled brightly.

I never smile brightly. I looked like I had a muscle spasm in my face.

The rest of the conversation passed in a blur. We got out to the car and I looked at Ed.

“I though we agreed on a minister.”

“It’s not a deal-breaker for me,” he said casually. “Is it a deal-breaker for you?”

“Ummm . . . yeah, kinda.” I said piteously, “I thought we agreed on a minister. Did something change?”

I found out what changed. Ed thought Connie was a minister when he booked her. Finding out she was a justice of the peace, he decided the course of least resistance was to just be happy with a justice of the peace.

I decided the course of least resistance – my resistance – was to have Ed start over again. It is, after all, the person who will marry us. He chose an inter-faith minister. I’m not really sure what that is, but based on her Web site, it seems as though she combines all faiths for a meaningful wedding.

I like the idea of bringing the best of all faiths into one spiritual, romantic ceremony that will bless our marriage.

Check out the seven worst wedding toasts!

There's the TMI toast, the unsupportive toast and the drunken toast. See what can go wrong and how to perform toast control.