Table plans can be a bit of a pain, first you have to decide where you want everyone to sit, making sure cousin Mavis doesn't sit anywhere cousin Mable, as they don't talk.

Then you have to design the table plan to make it look appealing and pretty to guests as they come in.

Some brides will do this by adding coloured butterflies, confetti and other decoration to this, while others may opt for something that little bit different, and that's giving tables names instead of numbers.

I've only been to one wedding, where the bride and groom decided to do this. They chose a "Country" theme giving each table the name of the Country where most of the guests sitting on it were from.

I was on the "Greek" table but the couple sitting next to me were from South Africa, which was a great way to break the ice and learn a little bit about each other.
So I've had a little think and come up with some ideas. As always please let us know what you think and tell us your idea.

Romantic cities
This fits in nicely with the wedding and romance theme. Chose from the cities you have been to as a couple, and if he proposed abroad use this as the name for the top table. Not only will this get guests talking amongst each other about where they have been, it could encourage a few more romantic proposals in cities amongst your guests.

Romantic films
If you fancy a bit of a Dirty Dancing, Before Sunrise or Love Actually theme then this is a perfect way to go about it. Just remember, your friends might not appreciate being sat on a Bridget Jones table, unless of course Mark Darcy himself is there.

Birds
I actually got this idea from a friend who was thinking about doing this for her big day. She had lovely ideas, for example the top table would be the Love birds, and the older generation would be the Owls. However, her main reason for doing this was because her groom to be had invited a group of friends which she wasn't too keen on, so what did she decide to call that table? Think the male version of a hen and you get the idea.

Famous couples
Posh and Becks, Heidi Klum and Seal and Chris Martin and Gwenyth Paltrow, all make nice table names. However, keep reading those celebrity magazines right up to the big day, you never know what will happen. If you don't want the hassle of having to change your celebrity couples then you could always opt for famous screen couples instead. At least we know they won't split up.

Football teams
Brave brides could create a little bit of friendly rivalry and keep their groom interested in the planning of the day with this idea. However, make sure you don't sit the Spurs and Arsenal tables too close, you don't want jeering on your day unless it's at Best man while he's doing his speech. '

Flowers
A nice and simple way to add a personal touch to your day. Go an extra mile here by decorating each table with the chosen flower. Keeping them in the same colours and styles of the different tables will also mean the decoration won't look silly.

Designer Handbags
If you are a handbag queen then this may be a perfect way to finish your day and add your personality to the day. However, you may need to plead your case very strongly to your future hubby if you want to get away with this.

We've all seen the episode of Friends, where Joey is asked by Monica and Chandler to carry out the marriage ceremony on their big day.

This is of course followed by scenes of Joey getting online and signing up for a package to become a legally ordained minister.

Last week I was going to write up a feature giving you some advice on how this could be done over here.

After all some couples would love to get their friends involved like this on their big day, well as long as the mate in question could string together a nice ceremony message, and not stick to Joey's three words of "loving and giving and receiving."

Funny for a sitcom but not so thrilling if you have to listen to that on your real wedding day.

And now for the serious message.

Researching for online packages to get a friend ordained over here proved fruitless.

There were countless American packages offered by church groups, legal firms and even wedding gift shops, all claiming to be 100% legal.

All you have to do is hand over your credit card number, put in some personal details and Bob's your uncle, you're a monk (well sort of) without having to go through the years of celibacy and teachings.

Sound too good to be true, well unfortunately it is. Yes there these American packages say they are legal for UK use, but I got a little bit concerned when I couldn't see UK sites offering the same things, so I called up a few people to get to the bottom of it.

Georgina Solomou, a solicitor at Charles Ross told me: "The only people that have the power and authority in the UK to marry a couple legally is a registrar."

She said this was because they were part of the General Registry Office. This Government department oversees UK marriage certificates, which are a legal requirement for a valid marriage.

"You're marriage will be void if you do not have one of these," she added.

She also pointed out that religious ceremonies without a registrar wouldn't count.

I also spoke to the General Registry Office, who confirmed Georgina's points. Stan Rogers, a spokesman for the Government department said: "A marriage is not legal unless a registrar is present. You can't have a friend do this over here."

He said anyone paying for a US package in the UK would only be able to conduct American weddings for American citizens (yes I know what you were thinking).

So although it may seem easy to get a friend ordained for your big day, it's not.

If (and I'm sure you do) want your marriage to be legal then stick to procedure.

Your friend can always say a few nice words at the reception, as long as "giving and receiving and loving" don't come into the equation.

Now I'm currently waiting to find out if there are alternatives to this, and we'll hopefully be speaking to a bride who is getting married with another friend presiding. I'll give you updates as soon as possible.

A hen night has grown from a quiet night in, to a full on girls night out party, which can last just the eve, if it's dinner and a club, or the whole week if you decide to grab the girls and head abroad.

Then there are other brides who like to take it that little bit more easy choosing a relaxing spa break in the lead up to their wedding.

However, there are always some that may want to go that little bit further, looking for something that little bit more different. In this new series we look at alternative hen nights, starting with festivals.

Read on after the jump.

It's horrible coming back from any holiday, let alone your honeymoon, but we have found a product that will at least keep you post wedding holiday tan from fading, well if you wax anyway.

And now for the science bit. According to Braun, waxing strips off an outer layer of the skin meaning your tan will fade quickly. However, epilators don't do the same.

Braun's answer to this problem is its new epilator.

The Braun Silk-épil Xpressive Wet & Dry is said to remove hair from 0.5 mm, which is only a few days of growth and can remove up to four times more short hairs than waxing in one stroke, perfect for just married couples.

However, unless one of you lovely brides to be want to try it out and let us know, I'll have to take Braun's word for it. Me and pain don't go well together.

If you're a regular reader of Bridalwave then you'll know about our wedding guest features, each looking at, well the different types of guest you will find at a wedding.

In this installment we look at the third type of guest in this series; The sister in law.

Picture the scene, it's your sixth date and everything between you and your new boyfriend is going perfectly. He mentions he has a sister the same age as you and although it's a little bit daunting, you're pleased that you might gain a new friend out of the relationship, how bad can it be?

Fast forward two years, you're planning your wedding (yes the boyfriend of six dates is now a permanent fixture in your life) and everything is going swimmingly. However, your groom's sister, who you have built a close bond with, has suddenly turned into something you can only describe as a sisterinlawzilla.

So what is a sisterinlawzilla? Well imagine a bridezilla (if you're not you're not sure then read our top ten tips) but worse. This little madam has decided she will not stand back and let you enjoy the lead up to your day or the day itself pulling stunts that would make even the wicked witch of the east look like an angel.

Gemma is one bride who encountered such a problem, when she was planning her wedding to her boyfriend last year.

"Roxy and I had been close since my other half introduced us three years ago, and I couldn't wait to have her as a sister in law," she said.

However, not even ten minutes after the engagement had been announced the cracks started to appear. Single at the time, Roxy claimed she was tired and went home.
A few weeks later Roxy met someone, got engaged and begun planning a wedding, that would take place before Gemma's. Even worse, the dress she picked out to wear to Gemma's wedding was too similar to a wedding dress.

"Roxy spent my entire wedding day, chatting to my friends and showing them pictures of her wedding day," adds Gemma.

Although this may seem like a scene from Eastenders, other brides have also had the sisterinlawzilla experience. A friend of mine, let's call her Leanne, was forced to admit she had only invited one couple because there were spaces left over, after her sister in law outed her. Another friend was forced to look like a fool in front of her guests (think Mr Bean style moves) after her sister in law made her partake in a cultural dance that she didn't have a clue about.

So next time you get close to a boyfriend's sister, look into the future and imagine what she'd be like at your wedding, and remember never tell her about the people you had to invite to fill the spaces.

Andrea Petrou writes: We all remember our first love, whether its our playground crush, or the childhood family friend we played with in the paddling pool and proposed to with a plastic car in Hamleys (er guilty), at one point, in our childish eyes, we see ourselves marrying them.

This fantasy continues to our first proper girlfriend/boyfriend where marriage and remaining together forever seems far more viable. Then comes the day when the dreaded invite pops through the door. Your first ex love, is getting married and, unless you've been asleep for ten years, you're sure as hell its not to you.

While many of us may bite the bullet and accept our childhood sweetheart has moved on there are others that have still held on to that childhood dream, making very interesting guests.

Over the jump, Bridalwave looks at the second type of guest in this series, the ex
Related: Bridalwave's wedding guest types #1: "we're next!"

Here in the office, we're horribly addicted to the website STFU Marrieds; a blog that showcases the worst examples of facebook overshare, all apparently originating with real-life married couples. The site certainly makes very funny (if uncomfortable) reading, as anyone - married or otherwise - who prefers to keep their foreplay to the bedroom will no doubt agree.

Of course, being married doesn't have to mean being smug, and it's a bit unfair that the site only targets married couples. But we've all met people who let the side down and there's no doubt that the couples quoted on STFU give the institution a very bad name: whether it's loved-up messages verging on 'sex talk' or drawn-out, public arguments, you'll be shouting 'take it to email!' before you've scrolled to the bottom of the first page.

Got a niggling doubt that in a moment of lovesick haze you might have done something similar? Follow the jump for a few tips on how to use facebook without causing nausea

Related: Facebook etiquette: the hidden dangers of changing your relationship status | 10 signs you're turning into bridezilla

Andrea Petrou writes: Every bride deserves to be a little bit spoilt in the lead up to their wedding day. After all this is probably the only day you can pretend to be a princess and not be ashamed of it. However, there's always the few that take it that bit further, pushing to be more like Queen bee than pretty princess, and this type of bride is known as a Bridezilla.

In fact this trend is becoming so common that Dictionary.com even has a definition for this word, describing it as "a bride-to-be who focuses so much on the event that she becomes difficult and obnoxious...blend of bride + Godzilla."
So do you run the risk of falling into this category? Read our top ten warning signs to see if you're on your way.

Read on for those red-hot warning signs!

Along with the office party and now the Internet, weddings are said to be a breeding ground for potential partners; a social space where singletons stick out like sore thumbs. That last bit's certainly true, as anyone who's ever tried to book a room for one in the guests' hotel will gladly tell you. But is this really a good way to find romance?

I attended a fair few weddings during my single years, and have to say that none of them produced the smallest glimmer of romance for me. I do recall having a few of those rather patronising 'I'll marry you if we're both still single at 40' conversations with drunk, platonic friends, but I was mostly too busy having fun.

What's been your experience of weddings as pick-up-joints?

Budgeting will always be an important part of wedding planning, and never more so than now. But you can't put a price on friendship, and nobody wants to start married life sent on a long honeymoon in Coventry. So here's some advice on how not to go about holding a cut-price wedding, with suggestions on how you could do it better!

1. Hold a 'Dry' wedding

Booze accounts for a large part of your wedding expenses, so it can be tempting to try and cut costs here. But unless you're part of a strict religious sect, the odds are at least some of your guests will be looking forward to a drink or three at the reception, and will be decidedly unhappy if you announce on the day that it's OJ and mineral water only. As a serial wedding attendee, I can honestly say you'd gain more popularity serving beans on toast at the wedding breakfast...so how can you make it affordable?

Read on after the jump for some solutions to this and more cost-cutting no-nos...

Related: Budget Brides: surviving the credit crunch

As someone who always has a wedding or three to attend, I find this news quite hard to believe. But when you consider that the average cost of a tying the knot is £20,000, it should come as no surprise to learn that credit-crunched couples are opting to put the idea of marriage on the back-burner, and are instead ploughing their hard-earned cash into other day-to-day essential, like food. And video games consoles!

Marriage rates in the UK are at their lowest since records began, having dropped by 34% since 1981. Reasons cited for the drop have included the abolition of tax breaks for married couples, and dwindling church congregations. But to me, it raises several questions about why people choose to get married in the first place -- and suggest that for most of us it's about far more than that true love and lifelong commitment stuff.

A friend of mine passed on this video showing a couple's 'marryoke' tribute to one another, which has been broadcast on YouTube following the happy event. Caroline and Andy's heartwarming performance is certainly spirited, and I've seen quite a few of these mini-productions now, which seem to be becoming hugely popular. But this one is more ambitious than many, with no member of the family or bridal party getting away without playing a part!

Keris Stainton's fortnightly column on married life...

One of my favourite episodes of Friends (The One With the Chickenpox) features this exchange:

MONICA: You know what. Tomorrow I'm gonna do your clocks.
RICHARD: You're gonna do what to my clocks.
MONICA: I'm gonna set them to my time.
RICHARD: Well, I'm confused. I thought we shared time.

Ha! Me and David certainly don't share time. David does things to his own schedule, totally ignoring anyone else.

Keris Stainton's fortnightly column on married life...

I'm now 30 weeks pregnant (with our second child) and so my thoughts are turning to *shudder* the birth. (That's the problem with pregnancy - towards the end, people say "Not long now!" as if that's a good thing, forgetting the enormous and painful hurdle you have to get over before hitting the good stuff.)

Keris Stainton's fortnightly column on married life...

I'm sure you've heard that thing about if you want to know what your wife will be like then look at her mother. Something like that. Well, I'm kind of like my mother in superficial ways, but that's not the issue. My husband, David, however seems, quite disturbingly, to be turning into his mother.