Don’t believe for a minute you’re the only one getting remarried. Approximately 43% of weddings today are in fact second marriages for one or both partners. And with the debate on marriage in all its variations raging on the political forefront this year, weddings remain the most basic of American celebrations.

Consider all the advantages you will enjoy this time around. To begin with, you’re celebrating your own way. You and your fiancé exude a confidence born of years of career, parenting, and all-around life experience—plus you’re footing the bill yourselves. You have nobody’s expectations to fulfill but your own.

“At this point, you’re more rooted in what you want out of life and out of a partner,” explains wedding planner Toni DeLisi of Memorable Events in Ramsey (201-934-9979; memorableeventsinc.com). “You’re not as concerned what everyone thinks.” That’s why she says, “there’s nothing better than working with an encore bride. She’s not all nervousness and indecisiveness this time. She and her husband-to-be truly appreciate finding love the second time—and they can picture precisely how they want to celebrate.”

Second weddings are often intimate affairs, limited to one’s family and closest friends—but they can be elaborate parties for 200 as well. And a second wedding isn’t nearly as scripted as a first; anything goes. It’s a time to experiment, to try something strikingly different. The fairy-tale wedding’s been done before. One second wedding celebrated a forty-something couple who met at the dog park. The open-air ceremony began with the bride walking her pooch down the aisle to meet the groom and his dog.

In fact, wedding author Sharon Naylor’s top tip for encore brides is simple: “Don’t even think about your first wedding. Too many brides get caught up in the idea of having everything different from the first trip down the aisle. Just make choices based on who you are now.”

Wedding planner JoAnn Gregoli of Elegant Occasions in Denville (973-361-9200;elegantoccasions.com), says that second-timers sometimes feel more like hosts than brides, wanting their receptions to be great dinner parties. Menus tend to be more sophisticated, perhaps featuring the bride’s signature boeuf á la bourguignonne with the groom’s favorite Cabernet Sauvignon. Couples are more likely to book a string quartet or harpist than the rock band they danced to the first time. Most couples pare down attendants to one each, often a grown son or daughter. Encore brides frequently walk down the aisle with their children or opt to process solo.