It was so romantic when he proposed. You've been together for a while, you're in love, and now it's time to finally tie the knot. Once the romance subsides and reality kicks in, you realize that a wedding is a complicated affair.

A wedding requires many people to come together, get organized and do a lot of little tasks that all add up to a fantastic wedding day. If you have a wedding planner to help you, that is awesome. If not, you and your mom or special person (usually a parent or close relative) in your life will be pulling this all together. The groom will help a little. Traditionally, this huge shindig is up to the bride and her family.

Think about how many wedding attendants you're going to have. These are the bridesmaids and groomsmen. The bride will typically have her best friend as the maid of honor. "Maid" if the friend is single. "Matron" if she is married. The groom usually has his best friend designated as his best man. The maid of honor is a bridesmaid. She's just a more special one. Same goes for the best man. He's the most special of the groomsmen.

You'll want to have the number of bridesmaids equal the number of groomsmen if you can. This will ensure evenly balanced pictures and ensure that you'll have pairs of people going down the aisle at the church. If you're having a small wedding, most people have 3 or 4 bridesmaids with an equal number of groomsmen. If you're having a gala event with 200-300 guests, you may want to have 7 or 8 on each side of the wedding party. Usually, the bigger the wedding, the more people there are in the wedding party. Some of the groomsmen will be designated as ushers and they are very helpful and necessary to assist everyone to the proper seat before the wedding ceremony begins.

The maid of honor and best man are the ones responsible for planning any pre-wedding festivities such as bridal shower, guy's day out for golf or bowling, bachelorette party or bachelor party. These wonderful friends will help with errands and anything you need to make sure that your wedding goes without a hitch.

Be sure to properly thank them with modest gifts to show that you appreciate them. You don't need to spend a fortune on these gifts, but you do need to give something. Many people spend anywhere from $20 to $100 per gift. If you have a small wedding, you can give a smaller gift. If you have a huge wedding, you would tend to spend more on your wedding party gifts.

Many times these gifts are personalized, customized, embroidered or engraved in some fashion. A name, initials or monogram on a gift makes it even more special and turns it into an instant keepsake. The gift recipient will always remember you and your great wedding when they look at or use the gift you give to them. They will also know that you fussed over them because you had the gift personalized. Everyone likes to feel special and have someone do something extra for them. Be sure to get bridesmaid and groomsmen gifts in plenty of time so that you can hand them out at the rehearsal dinner or some other event before the wedding.