Listen to this story being read by Erin Docherty, here.

In case you missed it the first 465 times, my partner and I are getting married. Yes, wed! This means that we ("I") get to plan our big, fancy day.

It's all happening in April next year (your invite is on its way), and it's an easy job that only involves eleventy million small tasks that take up 98 per cent of my free time.

Of course, I have a cavalry of some Very Wonderful people to help lighten the load - my mum, sister, best friend, cousins - but goodness, it's a process. There's so much to sort. Like, SO much haha (help) ha.

There's makeup, hair, photographers, videographers, styling, dresses, shoes, bonbonnieres (what are these?) and the exact amount of alcohol needed for 200 Scottish and Irish relatives. It's difficult. Especially when you're not the kind of person that would describe themselves as a 'planner'.

Watch: Engagement ring trends through the decades. Post continues below.

Wanna know exactly what I've been doing and how it's been going and all the things I wish I knew before throwing myself into this? I'm just going to arrogantly assume you do, dear friend.

So, here's what I've learnt so far!

1. Set a budget... before you start.

Ha! A budget? Eh, we'll work it out, I thought. And then I just... started laying down deposits? And things got really expensive?? And I'm actually not that great at maths and numbers???

Look, it's fine (it's not fine), but the cost of things blow out SO quickly. And things. Things happen.

Obviously it's impossible to know how much wedding stuff costs - and you can't just set a final number and stick to it. Budgets aren't designed to be strict - they're flexy things that bend in some CRAZY shapes.

However! I reckon we should've at least set some kind of 'ballpark' budget before we started.

I mean, we're here now - it is enormously expensive and we might have to sell our firstborn, but you know - I think it just would've helped me gauge things a little better.

2. You might not know what kind of dress you want.

You know how some people just have this vision of what their dream wedding dress is like? Yeah? Right? How cute is it!

I've... never had this.

Like, I knew I wanted it to be white and... nice... but I never had a specific image of what I would be wearing.

Meaning? I had to try on all of the dresses in all of the styles to get an idea of what I liked.

SO! I went to a bunch of different bridal stores in Sydney, and I honestly loved the experience. Frothed over it. It was fun! There was champagne! My besties were there! Lots of lols!

But while there were so many beautiful dresses that all looked spectacular and made me look like a bride - I didn't quite feel like 'me' in any of them. I didn't get the 'this is the one' feeling, and I started getting a little worried that I might never get that feeling.

In a visit to my fourth (fifth?) bridal store, I tried on six different dresses and still, nothing felt right.

I was flustered, red and panicky when the lovely store manager, Tania, said she thought I should try on One Last Dress.

It was black. And look, having a white dress was the only thing I knew I wanted. So, I said no.

Tania persisted I try it on. She said they could make it in white, and that it was timeless and classic and would look perfect on me.

I reluctantly tried it on and - I gotta tell ya - I felt the most beautiful I've ever felt in a dress. And gosh darnit, Tania was right! It wasn't at all what I expected (off the shoulder, not yet... white), but it just felt very correct.

Also, I don't want to brag, but the wedding song from Twilight was playing when I was trying it on and WHAT a moment.

ILY, TANIA!

3. You'll think about your guest list. A LOT.

Because sometimes your partner goes away on deployment in the lead up to your wedding and you can't contact him to ask why you both didn't look at the guest list before he left. And now you're doing the Save the Dates. With the names listed in the 'notes' section of your phone. And it's all very inconvenient.