Four years after getting the vaccine, 94 percent of women were protected from infection with the virus that causes most cervical cancers and none had developed worrisome precancerous - http://www.stockhouse.com/search?searchtext=worrisome%20precancerous conditions, a study showed.

"We're thrilled about these results. The immune responses seem to be really long-lasting," said Dr. Eliav Barr, who leads development of the vaccine for Merck and Co. The company plans to seek U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval next year for an expanded version of the vaccine that also could be used to prevent genital warts in both women and men.

The new study was funded by Merck and led by University of Washington researchers who presented results Monday at a meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.

"They showed clear effectiveness," said Dr. Scott Hammer, a Columbia University infectious disease expert who reviewed the work but has no ties to Merck or the study. "This is a very important issue for women's health around the world."

If the vaccine makes it to market, it would be the second developed to prevent cancer. The hepatitis B vaccine has dramatically reduced the number of infections that progress to liver cancer.

Cervical cancer strikes nearly half a million women worldwide each year and kills about half. In the United States, about 15,000 women get it and about 5,000 die.

Virtually all cases are caused by infection with human papilloma virus, or HPV, which is spread through sex. One strain, HPV-16, accounts for about half of all cervical cancers.

A previous study showed that HPV-16 infections were completely prevented in 768 women who had received the Merck vaccine 18 months earlier. None developed precancerous conditions either.

The new study followed 755 of these women for four years after vaccination. HPV-16 infections had taken hold in seven; none developed precancers. In a comparison group of 750 women who received dummy shots, infections took hold in 111 and precancers formed in 12.

Even though protection had waned for a small number of women in the study, the vaccine's effectiveness was still very high, said Dr. Douglas Lowy, a National Cancer Institute scientist who invented the vaccine. The government gave rights to develop it to two companies — Merck and GlaxoSmithKline — and Merck's work is a little farther along, 문경출장마사지 - https://www.anmaweb.com/%eb%ac%b8%ea%b2%bd%ec%98%a4%ed%94%bc%ea%b1%b8%e2... Lowy said

r>

r>
"Revaccination might be advisable at some point," but it will take more study to know whether that is necessary or would improve effectiveness, he said

r>

r>
Women in the study were ages 16 to 23 when they received the vaccine, given in three doses over six months

r>

r>
"Most people think it would be recommended for young adolescents. The idea would be you would immunize people relatively soon before they become sexually active," because the germ is spread through sex, Lowy said

r>

r>
Meanwhile, Merck is in the final stages of testing an expanded vaccine. Besides HPV-16, it contains strain 18, which causes another 10 percent to 20 percent of cervical cancers, as well as strains that cause genital warts in men and women, and penile and anal cancers in men

r>

r>
About 25,000 women and men have been enrolled in that study in 34 countries, and results are expected next year, Barr said

r>

r>
Giving the vaccine to men would not only prevent disease in them but also would prevent infections in their partners, said Steven Projan, a drug development expert with Wyeth who helped review research for the microbiology meeting. The vaccine also might prevent women already infected with HPV from developing cancer, he said.

Four years after getting the vaccine, 94 percent of women were protected from infection with the virus that causes most cervical cancers and none had developed worrisome precancerous conditions, a study showed.

"We're thrilled about these results. The immune responses seem to be really long-lasting," said Dr. Eliav Barr, who leads development of the vaccine for Merck and Co. The company plans to seek U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval next year for an expanded version of the vaccine that also could be used to prevent genital - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?sel=site&searchPhrase=preven... warts in both women and men.

The new study was funded by Merck and led by University of Washington researchers who presented results Monday at a meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.

"They showed clear effectiveness," said Dr. Scott Hammer, a Columbia University infectious disease expert who reviewed the work but has no ties to Merck or the study. "This is a very important issue for women's health around the world."

If the vaccine makes it to market, it would be the second developed to prevent cancer. The hepatitis B vaccine has dramatically reduced the number of infections that progress to liver cancer.

Cervical cancer strikes nearly half a million women worldwide each year and kills about half. In the United States, about 15,000 women get it and about 5,000 die.

Virtually all cases are caused by infection with human papilloma virus, or HPV, which is spread through sex. One strain, HPV-16, accounts for about half of all cervical cancers.

A previous study showed that HPV-16 infections were completely prevented in 768 women who had received the Merck vaccine 18 months earlier. None developed precancerous conditions either.

The new study followed 755 of these women for four years after vaccination. HPV-16 infections had taken hold in seven; none developed precancers. In a comparison group of 750 women who received dummy shots, infections took hold in 111 and precancers formed in 12.

Even though protection had waned for a small number of women in the study, the vaccine's effectiveness was still very high, said Dr. Douglas Lowy, a National Cancer Institute scientist who invented the vaccine. The government gave rights to develop it to two companies — Merck and GlaxoSmithKline — and Merck's work is a little farther along, Lowy said

r>

r>
"Revaccination might be advisable at some point," but it will take more study to know whether that is necessary or would improve effectiveness, he said

r>

r>
Women in the study were ages 16 to 23 when they received the vaccine, given in three doses over six months

r>

r>
"Most people think it would be recommended for young adolescents. The idea would be you would immunize people relatively soon before they become sexually active," because the germ is spread through sex, Lowy said

r>

r>
Meanwhile, Merck is in the final stages of testing an expanded vaccine. Besides HPV-16, it contains strain 18, which causes another 10 percent to 20 percent of cervical cancers, as well as strains that cause genital warts in men and women, and penile and anal cancers in men

r>

r>
About 25,000 women and men have been enrolled in that study in 34 countries, 남양주출장마사지 - https://www.popanma.com/%eb%82%a8%ec%96%91%ec%a3%bc%ec%b6%9c%ec%9e%a5%ec... and results are expected next year, Barr said

r>

r>
Giving the vaccine to men would not only prevent disease in them but also would prevent infections in their partners, said Steven Projan, a drug development expert with Wyeth who helped review research for the microbiology meeting. The vaccine also might prevent women already infected with HPV from developing cancer, he said.

"My friend, Josh, is 26 years old and needs a kidney transplant. He has had cancer since the age of 2," reads one message.

"Vietnam Veteran with 3 little children desperately needs AB+ liver," says another.

"I have a cousin ... that is very sick in hospital, he needs a liver transplant very urgently ... my aunty came up with the idea to look in the internet for one," someone else pleads.

The national transplant waiting list has grown to more than 87,000 because organ donations from the dead have not kept up with demand. For help, frustrated patients increasingly are turning to the living, even to strangers.

That worries bioethicists, surgeons and federal officials who oversee the transplant system, which is designed to treat all patients fairly.

Most troubling is the possibility that people will buy and sell organs, an illegal practice that is but difficult to uncover if participants are willing to lie about it.

Last year, 86 people donated - https://www.behance.net/search?content=projects&sort=appreciations&time=... to people they did not know; in 1997, there were none.

Last week, surgeons in Denver transplanted a kidney into a patient who met his donor through MatchingDonors.com, a commercial site.

Denver doctors delayed the surgery for two days amid concerns about the for-profit site and questions about whether the recipient might be paying the donor for his kidney. After the hospital got both men to sign affidavits swearing there was no such payment, the surgery went ahead.

Still, hospital officials said there were ethical - http://www.martindale.com/Results.aspx?ft=2&frm=freesearch&lfd=Y&afs=eth... concerns they hoped federal officials would sort through.

The for-profit nature of MatchingDonors.com, where patients pay $295 per month to post a profile, made officials particularly nervous. But the same sort of matching is rampant on livingdonorsonline.org, a nonprofit site that provides a billboard forum for people looking to find or offer an organ.

"I imagine when people are in need of a lifesaving organ, they'll do what they can to get one," said Dr. Andrew Klein, a surgeon who is chairman of the transplant network's living donor committee.

Some fear that could include paying someone to donate, which could be hard to trace if strangers simply explained that they met on the Internet.

That possibility "is a very real concern," said James Burdick, who directs Health and Human Services Department's transplant division.

Gregory Pence, 속초출장마사지 - https://www.anmaweb.com/%ec%86%8d%ec%b4%88%ec%98%a4%ed%94%bc%ea%b1%b8%e2... a bioethicist at the University of Alabama, said it "almost seems inevitable that it would happen."

Dr. Jeremiah Lowney, co-founder of MatchingDonors.com, said organ sales may be possible, but he is not worried. "You have to trust people," he said.

Experts also are concerned about the open-market nature of the Internet. They say it is unfair to give an edge to people who are simply better at recruiting donors over others who are sicker and ranked higher on the national waiting list.

"We're trying to keep the playing field as level as possible," said Dr. Mark Fox, chairman of the ethics committee of the United Network for Organ Sharing, the national transplant network.

"I don't think the fact that you can write the most appealing ad or got lucky and found someone on the Internet should give you special consideration," Fox said.

Traditionally, patients who need transplants have waited on the national list for an organ donated by someone who died. Patients are ranked by a complex formula.

Lowney does not agree that giving an organ to one person is unfair just because someone else might be in greater need. The bottom line, he said, is, "You're giving life to someone."

The network has approved a resolution suggesting that donations from "altruistic donors" go to the next person on the list. But this is simply a recommendation, with no enforcement envisioned, Klein said.

Living donation has inherent ethical issues as healthy people are having surgeries that will do them no good. There are real medical risks to the donor that are not well documented and not consistently explained.

Still, the number of living donors has climbed steadily over the past few years to 6,811 last year, with living donors now outnumbering dead ones.

The vast majority of living donors give a kidney, which is relatively safe because people typically have two kidneys and only need one.

Also, research has found that kidneys from the living are just as good, if not better, than those from the dead, and that matches do not have to be medically exact to be successful. Laparoscopic surgery, where the kidney is removed through a small incision, has reduced the pain and recovery time for the donor.

About 5 percent of living donors gave a piece of liver. In this operation, each part of the liver grows into a whole organ.

Few people have given a piece of lung, which is combined with another slice of lung from a second donor to transplant into the patient.

Thinking of having a destination wedding? Planning one involves a lot of the same things as a traditional wedding -- choosing a guest list, selecting a venue, finding a florist, photographer and so on -- but doing so from another country adds another layer of difficulty into the mix.

Sarah Pease, owner and creative director of Brilliant Event Planning in New York City (which specializes in destination weddings in Ireland and Spanish-speaking locales) spoke to CBSNews.com and detailed some of the most important to-dos when it comes to saying "I do" abroad.

The first thing couples should do when planning a destination wedding is figure out the guest list, according to Pease.

"Before you can start hunting for locations, you need to know how many people you're accommodating," she explained.

Keeping in mind where guests will be traveling from is also important when choosing a wedding location, Pease added. For example, if the bride's family is based in a big city, they'll have more destinations and flight times easily available to them than a groom's family based in a small town elsewhere.

Which brings us to location, location, location. Couples should be sure to research the legality of getting married in their destination of choice -- and consider making a stop at their local courthouse before hopping an international flight.

"By and large, most of my couples are getting their civil ceremony done in the U.S. beforehand, because so many -- like Mexico, for example -- have crazy requirements when it comes to having a legal marriage," said Pease.

Another thing to consider when choosing a wedding locale: your religious affiliation. If a couple is getting married in a country where Catholicism is the main religion, for example, they may have a hard time finding a rabbi.

Once a destination is determined, 봉화출장안마 - https://www.opanma.com/25-bonghwa when should couples begin planning? "That depends on your guest list and how important it is for certain guests to be there," Pease said. "Rule of thumb is six months or more, but plenty of couples if they're just doing more of an elopement destination -- where it's maybe just the bride and groom and immediate family -- that can be done in as little as six weeks before."

If couples decide to hire a planner, that person can help with everything from organizing flight information and ground transportation to traditional wedding tasks like finding the right florist and making sure everything is delivered correctly and promptly.

It might not be easy to find those perfect vendors (florist, photographer, makeup artist, etc) when planning from afar, but Pease noted, "If you have a wedding planner who has strong contacts and has done their homework, they should be able to find you people." In bigger countries there will be a wide variety of people ready and eager to help, but those may be harder to come by on smaller islands -- and while it could sometimes be easier to bring your own vendors along for the trip, some countries, like Bermuda, require you to use local ones.

Planning a wedding in another country also means being aware of that country's customs and culture, and anticipating that things may move slower in around-the-world locales than they do in the U.S. Getting a response to a request that might seem simple -- like whether or not the salad can be done without tomato, or making sure the officiant has a microphone for the ceremony -- could take longer than couples - https://www.behance.net/search?content=projects&sort=appreciations&time=... may expect.

And when it comes to planning out the details of the big day, Pease added, couples should be "overly specific" to ensure nothing gets lost in translation.

"Vendors in foreign countries might not 'know' what you mean when you're talking about your bouquet, or dance floor layout or how you want the chairs arranged. When possible, send photos or sketches or whatever it may be," she advised. "What we may consider standard might not be the case in other places. So these are all things that you'll have to keep in mind as you're planning -- be very specific about what your expectations are, because otherwise you may be disappointed."

(CBS News) Vampire Weekend is the indie band with a catchy name that's on top of the charts. Anthony Mason takes note:

Their name sounds like a Goth band, but Vampire Weekend has a history of not being what they seem -- four Ivy League-educated musicians who write brainy songs that are also infectious.

This week they have the number one album in the country.

They met a decade ago as undergraduates at Columbia University. Ezra Koenig, guitarist Rostam Batmanglij, bass player Chris Baio and 진주출장마사지 - https://www.anmastar.com/%ec%a7%84%ec%a3%bc%ec%b6%9c%ec%9e%a5%ec%83%b5%c... drummer Chris Thomson played their first show at Lerner Hall in 2006 in a "battle of the bands."

More in Grammy Awards

Four groups entered; Vampire Weekend finished third.

"So how would you judge your performance that night?" Mason asked.

"We were not bad," said Koenig.

Complete CBSNews.com coverage: Music

So they started playing regular gigs on campus - like at the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity.

"It was fun to play these shows where there was really no stage," said Batmanglij. "So it's just like, people and the band."

The band took its name from a high school film Koenig had made.

"When did you decide that the name would stick?" Mason asked.

"We're still talking about it," Koenig laughed.

WEB VIDEO: To watch the music video of the Vampire Weekend song "Diane Young," from their new album, "Modern Vampires of the City," click on the player below.

But Vampire Weekend proved a useful name in Google searches, when not much else pops up: "It was only people who had as their favorite movies back-to-back 'Interview With a Vampire' and 'Weekend at Bernie's,'" said Baio.

Their sound developed early: a cross-cultural mosaic of rock, African guitar - http://www.answers.com/topic/African%20guitar pop and classical music with a provocative preppy veneer.

The band quickly generated buzz on Internet blogs. In 2008, Spin Magazine picked them for its cover even before Vampire Weekend's first album was out. By the end of the year that debut record - http://www.thefreedictionary.com/debut%20record had sold nearly half a million copies.

"We were beneficiaries -- and partially the victims -- of the kind of explosion of Internet music culture," said Koenig.

Victims, because some critics didn't get the "preppy" joke. One accused the band of having the "putresecent stench of old money."

Yet the pharmaceutical industry has failed women miserably — there isn't a single sexual dysfunction drug on the market that can help them. Pfizer Inc. last year abandoned an eight-year Viagra study involving 3,000 women, conceding that its famous blue pill only works for men.

"I hate to say it, but women are much more complex than men," said Beverly Whipple, the sex researcher who co-wrote "The G-Spot."

Viagra and its two competitors are rather blunt instruments — they work simply, by increasing blood flow down below. Women who take the drugs tend to experience the same physical effect, but this alone rarely satisfies them.

"You are not going to make a product by looking at what works in men and apply it to women," said Amy Allina, program director at the National Women's Health Network in Washington D.C. "That does reflect, in part, a lack of knowledge of what is underlying women's sexual problems."

The latest research — being done by academics, rather than commercial drug companies — suggests a neurological solution is needed. Because when it comes to achieving orgasms, women are more affected by mood, self-esteem and other issues of the psyche than men.

While Pfizer and other pharmaceutical titans have abandoned the pursuit of a Viagra for females as too complicated, a growing number of university researchers are reporting progress with the help of brain scanners and other technology.

Yes, they're watching women's brains while they have orgasms. And they're coming to some interesting conclusions.

For example, by studying paralyzed women who can still experience orgasm, they discovered that for women, the vagus nerve appears to be quite important, and therefore may be a promising target for drugs. This nerve — which is outside the spinal cord — carries information to areas of the brain that control mood.

"We basically found the areas of the brains that are activated in orgasm in women," said Barry Komisaruk, who worked with Whipple on this research, which is being funded by the federal government and the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation.

Brain scans measure the blood flow of research volunteers, whose heads are strapped tightly down inside the noisy machines. When brain cells start firing in a part of the brain that governs a particular emotion or activity, they need more oxygen, which is carried by the blood. During a brain scan, active regions of the brain can be seen lighting up on a computer monitor.

The scans reveal something else about women — during orgasms, the pain centers in their brains shut down, and pleasure centers — the same ones that become active when people ingest cocaine — light up.

But a big problem with these scans — done through magnetic resonance imaging — is that no machine yet built is designed to simultaneously monitor - http://www.internetbillboards.net/?s=simultaneously%20monitor both the brain and the body. And even if they could, the images' clarity would be muddied by "background noise" such as hand movements.

That's why Komisaruk is currently studying the brains of women who can self-stimulate purely through thought — an apparently rare attribute that eliminates the noise — as he seeks to find out exactly what makes women tick during sex.

"The strange thing is that everyone knows that it all happens between the ears and not between the legs," said Gert Holstege, a leading sexual researcher at Groningen University in The Netherlands.

In June, Holstege published one of the first studies that mapped brain activity during orgasm for men and women, who were stimulated by their partners.

Among other results, Holstege found that the part of the brain thought to control fear and anxiety — the amygdala — deactivated during orgasm for both women and men.

He acknowledged that his data for men is a little suspect — however — because they don't orgasm long enough to take a proper brain scan.

Brain scanning technology has been available for close to 20 years, but is only now being used to study sex. Researchers attribute the delay to several factors, including managerial skepticism and 곡성출장안마 - https://www.anmatoto.com/16-bk government reluctance to fund much of the work.

"In the United States people are little more reserved when it comes to sex than in the Netherlands," said Holstege. He said that his U.S. colleagues told him they'd be afraid to propose such a project - https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&q=project&btnI=lucky to their own bosses.

Sex research using brain scans is only just getting started, and scientists warn that any potential new drugs — or even better diagnoses of sexual dysfunction — are years away.

Still, many researchers — including those at the Kinsey Institute for Research, Sex, Gender and Reproduction at Indiana University — see brain scans as an important tool.

"We tried to come to conclusions about the brain through all kinds of detours," said Erick Janssen, a Kinsey researcher. "This is a much more direct way to do it."

It's a box office blowout -- "Fast & Furious 6" is revving past "The Hangover Part III" in the No. 1 position at the Memorial Day holiday weekend - http://www.healthncure.net/?s=holiday%20weekend box office.

The sixth installment in Universal Pictures' muscle car franchise, featuring Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, debuted with $98.5 million domestically - http://www.reddit.com/r/howto/search?q=domestically from Friday to Sunday, 영덕출장안마 - https://www.opanma.com/27-youngdeok according to studio estimates Sunday.

Meanwhile, the final film in the raunchy Warner Bros. comedy trilogy starring Zach Galifianakis, Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms opened with $42.1 million in the No. 2 spot.

Universal estimates that by the end of the four-day holiday weekend Monday, "Fast & Furious 6" will have pulled in $122.2 million domestically and $275.5 million worldwide. That would give it the second-biggest opening of the year behind "Iron Man 3."

Paramount Pictures' science-fiction sequel"Star Trek: Into Darkness" earned $38 million at No. 3 in its second weekend at the box office, while the Fox animated film"Epic," with a voice cast including Amanda Seyfried, Colin Farrell, Jason Sudeikis and Beyonce, opened at No. 4 with $34.2 million.

Overall domestic receipts for the four-day Memorial Day weekend are expected to come in ahead of 2011's record-breaking $276 million.

Paul Dergarabedian, an analyst for box-office tracker Hollywood.com, estimated that four-day revenues this time will total $323 million, about 15 percent above Memorial Day weekend in 2011, when "The Hangover Part II" delivered a $103.4 million debut.

You're engaged!...Now what?

There's a venue to book, a wedding party to pick, a certain dress to buy and so many other things that go into planning that one big day.

So start a wedding binder/email folder, grab a checklist (The Knot has one, as do other websites like Real Simple and WeddingWire) and take note of these tips for gearing up to say, "I do."

1. Make your guest list

Figuring out who will attend your wedding should be the first thing on a couple's to-do list, according to Sarah Pease, the owner/ creative director - http://www.ajaxtime.com/?s=creative%20director of Brilliant Event Planning and David's Bridal's resident wedding and proposal planning pro. Decide if you're going to have an intimate gathering, a grandiose affair or something in between. Then...

2. Find a venue

As Pease points out, you can't make a decision about a reception space until you have an idea of how many guests you're planning on having. It's also important to take stock of your geographical preferences -- where you are from, where the groom is from and 아산출장안마 - https://www.opmassage.com/7-asan so on. Do you want to plan at a place that's more centrally located, or have a destination wedding? Once that's figured out...

3. Start dress shopping

Don't look for a dress before you know where you'll be getting married. "It's crucial to match a bride's dress to her venue and overall wedding day aesthetic," Pease said.

Experts advise purchasing a dress about eight months before your wedding date, and to plan on having three additional fittings before the big day -- the first at about six weeks out, a second one the month before and a final fitting at one to two weeks before the wedding day.

Those are three of the many things that must be decided leading up to a wedding. There's also choosing the bridesmaids and groomsmen, picking an officiant, deciding on invitations, buying wedding bands and so much more. Many checklists divide to-do tasks into when they should be done -- a few months out, a few weeks out, the week before, the day of and so on. For example, hire a photographer/videographer at about eight months before, send invitations three months before and confirm details with vendors one to two weeks before the big day.

But whether you've been planning for months or getting hitched more last-minute, there's just one big to-do for after the "I do" -- enjoying life as newlyweds!

Tell us: How are you planning your big day?

Thinking of having a destination wedding? Planning one involves a lot of the same things as a traditional wedding -- choosing a guest list, selecting a venue, finding a florist, photographer and so on -- but doing so from another country adds another layer of difficulty into the mix.

Sarah Pease, owner and creative director of Brilliant Event Planning in New York City (which specializes in destination weddings in Ireland and Spanish-speaking locales) spoke to CBSNews.com and detailed some of the most important to-dos when it comes to saying "I do" abroad.

The first thing couples - https://www.b2bmarketing.net/search/gss/couples should do when planning a destination wedding is figure out the guest list, according to Pease.

"Before you can start hunting for locations, you need to know how many people you're accommodating," she explained.

Keeping in mind where guests will be traveling from is also important when choosing a wedding location, Pease added. For example, if the bride's family is based in a big city, they'll have more destinations and flight times easily available to them than a groom's family based in a small town elsewhere.

Which brings us to location, location, location. Couples should be sure to research the legality of getting married in their destination of choice -- and consider making a stop at their local courthouse before hopping an international flight.

"By and large, most of my couples are getting their civil ceremony done in the U.S. beforehand, because so many -- like Mexico, for example -- have crazy requirements when it comes to having a legal marriage," said Pease.

Another thing to consider when choosing a wedding locale: your religious affiliation. If a couple is getting married in a country where Catholicism is the main religion, for example, they may have a hard time finding a rabbi.

Once a destination is determined, when should couples begin planning? "That depends on your guest list and how important it is for certain guests to be there," Pease said. "Rule of thumb is six months or more, but plenty of couples if they're just doing more of an elopement destination -- where it's maybe just the bride and groom and immediate family -- that can be done in as little as six weeks before."

If couples decide to hire a planner, that person can help with everything from organizing flight information and 양산출장마사지 - https://www.anmastar.com/%ec%96%91%ec%82%b0%ec%b6%9c%ec%9e%a5%ec%83%b5%c... ground transportation to traditional wedding tasks like finding the right florist and making sure everything is delivered correctly and promptly.

It might not be easy to find those perfect vendors (florist, photographer, makeup artist, etc) when planning from afar, but Pease noted, "If you have a wedding planner who has strong contacts and has done their homework, they should be able to find you people." In bigger countries there will be a wide variety of people ready and eager to help, but those may be harder to come by on smaller islands -- and while it could sometimes be easier to bring your own vendors along for the trip, some countries, like Bermuda, require you to use local ones.

Planning a wedding in another country also means being aware of that country's customs and culture, and anticipating that things may move slower in around-the-world locales than they do in the U.S. Getting a response to a request that might seem simple -- like whether or not the salad can be done without tomato, or making sure the officiant has a microphone for the ceremony -- could take longer than couples may expect.

And when it comes to planning out the details of the big day, Pease added, couples should be "overly specific" to ensure nothing gets lost in translation.

"Vendors in foreign countries might not 'know' what you mean when you're talking about your bouquet, or dance floor layout or how you want the chairs arranged. When possible, send photos or sketches or whatever it may be," she advised. "What we may consider standard might not be the case in other places. So these are all things that you'll have to keep in mind as you're planning -- be very specific about what your expectations are, because otherwise you may be disappointed."

Thinking of having a destination wedding? Planning one involves a lot of the same things as a traditional wedding -- choosing a guest list, selecting a venue, finding a florist, photographer and so on -- but doing so from another country adds another layer of difficulty into the mix.

Sarah Pease, owner and creative director of Brilliant Event Planning in New York City (which specializes in destination weddings in Ireland 고양출장마사지 - https://www.anmapop.com/%ea%b3%a0%ec%96%91%ec%b6%9c%ec%9e%a5%ec%83%b5%cf... and Spanish-speaking locales) spoke to CBSNews.com and detailed some of the most important to-dos when it comes to saying "I do" abroad.

The first thing couples should do when planning a destination wedding is figure out the guest list, according to Pease.

"Before you can start hunting for locations, you need to know how many people you're accommodating," she explained.

Keeping in mind where guests will be traveling from is also important when choosing a wedding location, Pease added. For example, if the bride's family is based in a big city, they'll have more destinations and flight times easily available to them than a groom's family based in a small town elsewhere.

Which brings us to location, location, location. Couples should be sure to research the legality of getting married in their destination of choice -- and consider making a stop at their local courthouse before hopping an international flight.

"By and large, most of my couples are getting their civil ceremony done in the U.S. beforehand, because so many -- like Mexico, for example -- have crazy requirements when it comes to having a legal marriage," said Pease.

Another thing to consider when choosing a wedding - http://pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=wedding locale: your religious affiliation. If a couple is getting married in a country where Catholicism is the main religion, for example, they may have a hard time finding a rabbi.

Once a destination is determined, when should couples begin planning? "That depends on your guest list and how important it is for certain guests to be there," Pease said. "Rule of thumb is six months or more, but plenty of couples if they're just doing more of an elopement destination -- where it's maybe just the bride and groom and immediate family -- that can be done in as little as six weeks before."

If couples decide to hire a planner, that person can help with everything from organizing flight information and ground transportation to traditional wedding tasks like finding the right florist and making sure everything is delivered correctly and promptly.

It might not be easy to find those perfect vendors (florist, photographer, makeup artist, etc) when planning from afar, but Pease noted, "If you have a wedding planner who has strong contacts and has done their homework, they should be able to find you people." In bigger countries there will be a wide variety of people ready and eager to help, but those may be harder to come by on smaller islands -- and while it could sometimes be easier to bring your own vendors along for the trip, some countries, like Bermuda, require you to use local ones.

Planning a wedding in another country also means being aware of that country's customs and culture, and anticipating that things may move slower in around-the-world locales than they do in the U.S. Getting a response to a request that might seem simple -- like whether or not the salad can be done without tomato, or making sure the officiant has a microphone for the ceremony -- could take longer than couples may expect.

And when it comes to planning out the details of the big day, Pease added, couples should be "overly specific" to ensure nothing gets lost in translation.

"Vendors in foreign countries might not 'know' what you mean when you're talking about your bouquet, or dance floor layout or how you want the chairs arranged. When possible, send photos or sketches or whatever it may be," she advised. "What we may consider standard might not be the case in other places. So these are all things that you'll have to keep in mind as you're planning -- be very specific about what your expectations are, because otherwise you may be disappointed."