Skip the wedding, here is all you need to know.
The money conscious side of me is telling you to budget your wedding, have your parents or whoever is paying for stuff give you the money, get married at the courthouse and invest the money.
My sentimental side points out that my wife and I did have the nice big wedding and reception. And we had a great time and we have great pictures and memories.
I have been to many weddings.
1. Don't have it outdoors. I don't care if it is in Death Valley, there will be a freak rainstorm.
2. Don't have it on a riverboat. I was Best man at a wedding on a riverboat. the sky turned green, the boat never left the dock, some things went overboard.
3. Have the person officiating stick to the script. Our priest was new and was trying to be clever but at the end of the ceremony said (emphasis mine) The Mass
and the marriage are ended, go in peace. I figure I have an out if I ever need an annulment.
4. Your fiance probably cares, ask a few times about things and you may be able to pry an answer out of him. I cared a bit about colors. I don't want to wear lavender, turquoise or those other colors women know but been refer to as greenish, bluish, etc. Fortunately my wife is also and Ohio State fan, so the colors were scarlet and grey. Bridesmaids wore grey dresses, which worked out well, that season grey became an in color. I also cared about music, readings and nixed one person my wife wanted for monitoring the guest book.
5. I'm Catholic. We did this
http://www.engaged.org/ and I recommend it. I admit I was skeptical at first, but it gave us a forum to discuss things that you assume you know how the other feels, but he may not actually feel that way. Are you going to have joint accounts, how many kids, if any, do you want, do you want to adopt, how do you feel about your future in-laws, etc? There are some topics that make people uncomfortable, but these are the kinds of things you need to honestly discuss before your wedding. We did have a couple folks who decided to not get married. It is open to non-Catholics, every one's money is good.

Seriously, I doubt they make a profit on this. I wish my wife's health was better so we could volunteer, her health issues and the impact that has had on our marriage would be a good story to share. The engaged couples mostly talk just to each other, you don't sit around sharing your feelings and beliefs to a bunch of strangers, just to each other.
Seriously, enjoy your friends wedding. I've somehow been lucky enough to not miss a Sci Fi run by Bruce in Columbus since they started. The closest was when we brought our son home from Russia in 2004 and were only back a couple weeks before I went. I thought we might be in Russia during the marathon. My wife was still annoyed I went since she thought it cut into bonding with the boy. But if it ever came to it, for a good friend, I would give up a marathon. I figure in a few years I will miss some horror marathons if they conflict with the county fair assuming the boy is doing 4-H. And my Sci Fi streak may end if he starts competing in gymnastics.