I booked my wedding band but I didn't even have a groom: Bride plans her big day a decade before meeting Mr Right

By Sadie Whitelocks

PUBLISHED: 14:28 EST, 28 January 2013 | UPDATED: 15:08 EST, 28 January 2013

Well prepared: Kate Owens spent a decade planning her wedding - the only thing missing was the groom

A bride has told how she spent a decade planning her dream wedding, despite the fact she was single.

Kate Owens,34, from Clifton Park, New York, had mapped out every last detail from her bridal gown to the venue - the only thing missing was the groom.

She even booked a band for the imaginary event after seeing them play at a bar in 2003.

'I went up to them and I said, ''I don't have a groom, but if you guys are still around, will you play my wedding?'

'I think some people probably thought I was nuts,' she explained to ABC News.

After enlisting the help of a wedding planner, speaking to friends and spending hours scouring the internet she had all aspects of her big day covered.

She recalled: 'I knew the style of wedding dress I wanted.

'I knew what style bridesmaids' dress I wanted. I knew the color scheme. I knew I wanted it to be outdoors.'

When Mrs Owens, a project manager for IBM, finally met her future husband, Shawn Owens, she kept her plans secret.

It was only when he proposed that she revealed how she had pre-planned their nuptials.

She whipped out a binder - labeled Life - which housed hundreds of ideas including dress designs, example menus, hairstyles and ring designs.

Mr Owens,34, admitted that he was 'a little surprised'.

Initially he said it was frustrating and he would constantly remind his bride-to-be: ‘This is not your wedding, this is our wedding.'

Brainstorming: Mrs Owens' wedding binder included hundreds of ideas from dress designs to hairstyles

Dressed to impress: Mrs Owens spent years fantasizing about her bridal gown

But he quickly realised that Mrs Owens' decade-long obsession did make preparations a little easier.

He told The New York Times: 'The fact she had so much planning done ahead of time, I realized how low-stress this planning process was going to be on me, and us.

'It freed up a lot of time and anxiety so that the result was we could better enjoy the excitement and each other’s company leading up to our big day.'

The couple tied the knot last June and Mr Owens was allowed some input.

Mrs Owens told ABC News: 'He picked out the tux that he wore. He picked out the suit and everything that the guys wore. I just gave him a color scheme to work with.'

According to experts Mrs Owens isn't alone, and many women map out their wedding day well in advance. Many use social networking sites such as Pinterest to share and organize their aspirations.

A survey conducted by wedding website TheKnot.com in 2011, found 40per cent of its 20,000 users were not yet engaged.

The site's manager Anja Winikka said: 'It's okay to fantasize and it's okay to pre-plan and be that way.'

All set: Shawn Owens (pictured) admitted that he was 'a little surprised' when he discovered that his fiance had already planned their big day

Fitting into place: Mrs Owens kept her wedding plans a secret until Mr Owens proposed

While WeddingBee.com found that in 2012, 14,974 of its members ‘identified themselves as not yet engaged,’ and yet they were actively planning their wedding.

However Lisa Morse, a clinical psychologist in Manhattan warns that women who spend time planning their wedding may find it more difficult to find a future partner.

She told The New York Times: 'Finding somebody who wants to be plugged into your life exactly the way it is, and all the choices you’ve made, is not so easy.

'I think for anybody it’s much easier to plan a wedding than it is to form a meaningful relationship that is going to lead to a fulfilling marriage.

'And so I think for some people this becomes a way of taking away their anxiety or refocusing their anxiety away from their real concern, which is meeting somebody.'