The plush downtown hotel will, in many respects, represent the best of all possible worlds. It has enough facilities so you can have your rehearsal dinner, reception celebration and even a day-after brunch, all in the same place. Additionally, you can obtain blocks of rooms in advance where your out of town guests can make reservations and even have gift baskets prepared to welcome them as they arrive. Hotel sales and catering professionals can offer you several convenient packages to make your wedding planning easier than ever. If your hotel setting has one drawback, it might be a lack of bold originality -- your wedding celebration may greatly resemble others held there recently. Meanwhile, be sure to clarify whether your chosen hotel is a full service or limited service property. One will have more amenities than the other, at a greater cost.

The picturesque bed and breakfast could be an ideal location if your overall wedding entourage is small. Like the hotel described above, it offers a comprehensive package of services all under one roof, as well as a quiet, out-of-the-way environment where you and your guests can enjoy one another's company without a lot of outsiders looking on. One key advantage the bed-and-breakfast and hotel environments share is keeping "merry" guests out of their automobiles, and hence out of harm's alcohol-induced way. As of this writing, operating a push-button elevator while intoxicated still doesn't violate any state or local traffic laws, although it may be prudent to double-check (see churches above).

The mobile wedding celebration can take on many forms, from a paddle wheel riverboat, to an omnibus trolley car to a new generation of RV's that have been hollowed out and then spruced up inside to create an upscale variation on the old "electric koolaid/magical mystery tour" concept from the sixties. Perhaps the best mobile wedding option is a southern California company who stages wedding celebrations on yachts -- the peak event features the bride and groom departing the festive, crowded yacht at sunset, entering a small boat and sailing off together into the future.

As a general rule, the more unusual your proposed site, the more 'little things" you will have to solve for yourself. For openers, the weather is neither consistently predictable nor cooperative. Canopies and tents can be extraordinarily pretty, as well as useful for shielding guests -- and perhaps catering staff -- from excess sun and rain. When guests need to answer "nature's call" you may need "porta-john" facilities, preferably the "handicapped access" models which provide wedding guests -- and their voluminous wedding attire -- more room in which to navigate. You may want some form of rolled up matting to use as a walkway, so your pomenading bridesmaids' high heels don't just sink into the soft ground. Often, your best option will be to locate a knowledgeable tent rental company in your area. Tell them exactly what you are planning and let them advise you as to feasibility, logistics and cost. You'll be amazed at some of what they've accomplished recently.

Through it all, keep in mind that, after the words, "I do," are spoken, most people forget their surroundings entirely -- for that brief moment of timeless bliss, even the dark side of the moon takes on an aura of paradise.