HBADPi - I wasn't trying to demean you or insult you in any way, so don't take what I wrote personally (since it seems I offended you).
YOU may not have intended to spring something on the bride, but believe me, it happens all the time. And since I'm sure others are reading this thread, since it is full of great ideas, I wanted to throw the warning out there. Until you have planned a wedding, you have no idea what it's like to have other people try to push you or bully you into having things their way. And while I speak from experience, I had a pretty easy time of it (except for the bum-ugly decorated wooden letters of our initials that my MIL sprung on me the morning of my wedding as a "gift" and demanded that they be displayed

)
Friends now?