Wedding Books

This book gives great, inexpensive ideas for throwing showers. Every detail from the theme, to the invitations, to the drinks and food you serve is covered. Most of the ideas can actually carry over for birthday parties, too. Worth the purchase.

Hi, I liked this book for the ideas in it, but the author doesn't give you how to make the invitations to go along with the ideas or how to make favors to match, etc. If you are wanting more of a "project" oriented shower book, don't buy this book. This book is more of an "idea" book. Now, there's some good recipes in the back, but that's about all this book seems to be good for as far as "project" orientation goes. I would suggest a different Bridal shower book if you want projects to make. Thanks.

I bought this book just for Shower ideas - and it also had recipes! I loved it!!

I enjoy all of Karen Bussens' books. They are elegant,beautifully photographed and full of wonderful ideas. Perfect for anyone who loves to give parties, entertain, or is just creative in general. You do not need to be involved in wedding planning to need or even enjoy these books. A very good buy!!!!!

This book was very helpful and planning wedding showers and the pictures were awsome. The main reason i bought the book was for the pictures, they give you great ideas for all kinds of things. A bonus of the book is that in the back it tells you where you can buy all the products u see in the book. If youre looking to plan a shower and need help with themes, games, information, resources, then this is definitely the book for you.

This book "The Wedding Planners Daughter" is where it all starts willa or as her mom named her willafred havisham when she was born she had a dad but then when he gave willa's mom stella a card saying to come to the park on their honeymoon she came and started waiting and waiting then suddenly a police officer came and told her that her husband had died on being on a hot air balloon so since that day willa's mom never wanted to love again. But willa in the other hand wanted a father really bad and so then a poet moved in next door and he was willas english teacher. he seemed extremely nice and on open house he and stella saw each others eyes and willa seemed happy and well to read it more Will the poet "Sam" be willa's dad???

Willa Havisham may be the only twelve-year-old who reads classics, eats cherry cordials, and just so happens to be the worst wisher in the world.

Her glamorous single mother, Stella, plans the most beautiful weddings and is constantly moving the two of them around. When they finally move back to Stella's childhood hometown of Bramble, Cape Cod, Willa begins to think her wishes are coming true. She's made her first-ever best friend, is bonding with her crazy Nana, and, best of all, Stella seems to be falling for Willa's English teacher -- who just happens to be perfect dad material.

But when, after a wedding disaster, Stella is ready to pack up and throw everyone out, how can Willa stop everything from going back to the way it was?

THE WEDDING PLANNER'S DAUGHTER was a book I'd been hearing about for awhile, so when the chance came up to review it, I was excited. It ended up being one of the most hilarious books I've read in quite some time. The characters, Willa especially, were so well-developed and real. I could understand Stella's hesitation but also Willa's determination. Everything in the book was well-thought out and easy to relate to.

I'll definitely be recommending this to my librarian and friends. Now I can't wait to read the sequel!

Reviewed by: Harmony

A very entertaining and fast read. If you have a daughter and want to know what they will experience potentially, I believe this book helps.

Initially, I started reading this book to help my daughter with her book report, but as I started skimming, I really became engrossed and felt like I was watching a movie. I started to care for the characters and really hoped the ending was good and not too tragic. Definitely worth your time. It is written from the perspective of Willa (the wedding planner's daughter) and revolves primarily around her and her relationship with her mom (the wedding planner).

Worth the time and leaves you feeling warm.

This is thwe best book I have evr read n my whole entire life. It is about a girl who moves around alot because her mom is a wedding planner. She has a crush on a guy and she also tries her hardest to get her mom and her teacher, Sam, together. True romance and laughter are revealed in this book you`ll have to read it to find out if Sam and her mom get married and if she ends up with her crush!

The Wedding Planners Daughter
Colleen Murtagh Paratore


12 years old, likes eating cherry cordials, reading classics, and doesn't have a father. That describes Willafred Havisham, but there is one thing she wants to change. Her mother Stella has dragged Willa to seven different towns, because she is afraid of falling in love, and getting her heart broken again. This time, Willa and her mother are in Bramble, Cape Cod. This is where she meets her first best friend Tina, spends time with her cool nana, and she and her mother meet Sam, who is Willa's English teacher and her neighbor. The best part is that Stella is slowly falling for Sam. Will this be the end of Willa's search for a father? Or will Stella pack her bags and drag Willa to a new town?
In my opinion, this is an outstanding book. The Wedding Planners Daughter is now one of my very favorites and this I've read it about three times. As I read farther into it, the more I got into the story. This is something that I am glad that I didn't miss.
I would recommend this book to all girls who are in their preteens or even teens. Trust me you will LOVE this book and you might even read it again more than I did. When you read it, you will be glad that you didn't miss it either!

I bought this book because I absolutely loved the first four books. I did not, however, find this one anywhere near as funny. Although there were a few laughs, overall the book was just OK. I could not put the first few books down, and was really looking forward to reading this, but found myself switching to another book after the first few chapters. I did eventually read the whole book, but just did not really enjoy it. The Wedding Planner part is funnier than the Divorce Guide. Maybe she just has too many books and not enough ideas to go around and keep it fresh. I would be reluctant to purchase future books without checking them out first.

No matter where you are in your marriage-anything from planning to meet the future groom to trying to decide how big to make the bonfire of the ex husband's crap-this is the book that tells a woman most of the things her friends are trying to tell her nicely. But they love her so they can't be nice about it-so get a big, funny Southern woman to tell you what you need to know. In classic Southern way, Browne regails you with stories of her friends, leaves you in stitches, offers a few yummy recipes (who wants to diet when something so important is happening?), and helps you plan any number of parties you need to feel. Her conversational tone gives the image that, were you to visit to Mississippi for the SPW march, you could walk up to her and give her a bear hug.

Just a note-I get quickly annoyed by the tone many authors take-the whole "New York is the best place in the world and anyone else is a poor backwards rube." It can take away from any other hillarity that follows. Browne, being a proud Southerner, does the opposite: "You're a Yankee! Why bless your heart. Don't y'all want to move to where it isn't snowing all the time? Oh, and get over yourself." I find that hillarious, but if it grates on your nerves, skip this helpful, funny, and friendly book. It's your loss.

I bought the cd because I really enjoyed the first two so much.

I laughed once in the third cd. This book is a rehash of many stories from the first three, with a bit of new stuff thrown in.

Don't waste your money.

Jill Conner Browne is just hilarious! I always enjoy her books and this one was NOT a dissappointment. I'm sure people think I'm crazy driving down the road while listening to her books and laughing hysterically. She is a true southern comedian....

I bought this book and read it to a friend going through a nasty divorce. Not only did she laugh, she said absolutely every word rang true. The wedding planner half is silly fun with a few good ideas thrown in, but any woman who's had to kick out a Man Who Needs Killing will relish the divorce guide and all its wicked humor.

I bought this book a couple of years ago because I was considering making my own cake. I consider baking a hobby anyway, so I knew regardless I would eventually get some use out of it. There are a lot of recipes I still want to try.

All in all I like the book. There is a good bit of detail in how to go about preparing, baking, assembling, etc. I would say this book is not for a newbie, but not for a seasoned baker either. It's for people like me who have a pretty good idea what they are doing but would like instructions from beginning to end.

I have two basic complaints about this book. First of all, if you want to make a cake exactly as described it's fine. It also has certain combinations of cake sizes and all the necessary amounts of icing, syrup, etc. It should really break it down into specific amounts per cake size(e.g. you need X cups filling, x cups icing, x cups soaking syrup for x size cake). I'm sure I can figure this out with some effort on my own, but it would really have helped alot to have had that broken down.

Second, the genoise recipe instructions just aren't specific enough. The first time I made the espresso genoise it was completely flat, rubbery, and inedible. I did some research on other genoise recipes. Using a combination of techniques my second try was perfect (and delicious). Also, it would have been nice if the author would have warned in the beginning description of any genoise recipe that this is apparently a very finnicky cake. If you do one little thing wrong it will be flat and horrible. Maybe experienced bakers or Europeans may already know this, but I was completely unprepared.

Disappointed with the book... lovely pictures... I returned it to Amazon, due to my expectations not being met. Cannot and will not recommend this to anyone who is more than a beginning baker.

I bought this book looking for new ideas. I have been baking wedding cakes for family and friends for years and I am now doing my son's. Notice they don't show you any pictures of cakes in the, "see inside", section that is because they are all ugly except the one on the cover. Fortunately, with Amazon you can make returns easily. Which I did immediately.

This book has all the techniques needed to make your wedding cake. Even for basic cakes it has lots of details on trimming and cooks secrets to perfect looking cakes, and lots of delicious recipes.

This has to be one of the best books on the market for special event cakes and especially wedding cakes. Ms. Wilson gives many great tips and "how to's" along with some wonderful cake recipes and mouth-watering illustrations. This book is a must for any cake baker.

I was given this book by a friend who recently got married. I found it entertaining and extremely easy to read. This book is most useful right when one gets engaged to help you sort of piece together how the whole planning process should go. It has a lot of background on wedding traditions- both in different cultures and superstitions. All advice, when taken with a grain of salt, can help you see the kind of decisions to consider. The back section has checklists and suggestions on registry item. I was happy to read it, but also happy to pass it on to one of my friends when she got engaged.

A easy to read, informative book with great lists and sheets but preachy to say the least. The authors of the book seem more concerned how your guests want the wedding to be than what the bride wants. For example, they suggest a French manicure, light pink or another pale color because "Fire-engine red might be fun for the honey-moon, but it will probably raise eyebrows during the ceremony." They go further by saying wearing perfume for your wedding is a bad idea because one of the guests may be allergic. While practical this is the couples wedding, not the guests wedding.

If you want you wedding to truly be you "own" skip this book. However, if you like to be told what to do, right down to the underthings you wear then this is the book for you.

I have only read half of this book so far, but it has had quite a few tidbits on ettiquette that I didn't know and lots of great suggestions on how to do different things for your wedding. It is very readable and it gets to the point. It also has many worksheets and checklists to help you keep organized.

I would recommend this as a nice book to cover the basics of planning a wedding!

We just used this book to help us plan our wedding and it was very helpful. It was easy to read, practical and had some GREAT ideas!

This was one of the first books I bought for weddings because I thought it would give me a general overview. It's also one of the books I refer to the least. I wasn't ready for a planner at the time since I was still figuring out my wedding, but in retrospect, I wish I'd just done that.

There is some interesting background about certain traditions, e.g. the meaning of the wedding ring, but not enough for those really craving that kind of content.

I think the usefulness of this book is summed up in the beginning where they have the "Top Ten Utterances of the Brides Who Didn't Consult This Book." It includes things like "What do you mean I should have registered?" or "Thanks for Coming to My Shower, sorry I can't invite you to the wedding." If you're a total newbie without any basis in etiquette, or if you've actually never been to a wedding and are really starting from scratch, this book is for you. If it never occurred to you to make a budget, or if you want a list of suggestions for your first dance that includes suggestions by 98 Degrees, Shania Twain and Kelly Clarkson, go for it.

But if you have even a vague sense of what you want, skip this and buy yourself a planner that will help you get an idea of what to look for, what to ask vendors and will help you keep track of contracts and business cards. I bought the Martha Stewart Keepsake Planner and have used it much more than this book.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this book. I will definitely keep it for reference material for years to come. I highly reccommend it for those trying to save money and have a beautiful wedding.

I can't say I got many ideas from this book, but it did inspire me a bit. So many people tell you "wedddings are SO expensive" but this book tells you "yes, you can do it cheaper." I didn't actually use any of the ideas, most were pretty unoriginal. But it did a good job of keeping my spirits up, at those moments when I was feeling poor and pathetic while planning my wedding.

I downloaded this book and read it in about 90 minutes. Its not poorly written, but I found it to be very low on substance. I would say I only found about 5 cost saving tips that weren't immediately obvious and I've seen those same tips on wedding websites. The 3 case studies of low budget weddings weren't relevant to what most couples (in the North East) would be experiencing. In my opinion, the author is using oddball cases to support the idea that her advice will save you money, when in fact the weddings referenced would have been frugal anyway.

Overall, I'm very disappointed in this book. I rate it better than a single star in that its not a bad reference book if you know nothing about weddings. However, all of this information could be found on the web with little or no effort.

I recently purchased this book and it has been a GREAT source of useful information. Madeline not only tells you ways to save money when planning, she gives her readers an idea of what you should really spend your money on and where you can afford to cut costs. There are also specific examples of how couples have planned their weddings on a budget of only $3000!! In addition to all of this information, Madeline stresses the importance of setting your "goals" for your wedding to determine what is most important to you and your fiancee' so that you can decide how you would like to spend the money in your budget. I would recommend this book to ANYONE who is planning a wedding.

I've never been married and I've never planned a wedding reception...let alone a reception for 150+ people! Faced with the task of planning my parent's 50th Wedding Anniversary, this book has been a great source of comfort for me with it's practical suggestions and "real-life" accounts of couples and their budgets. The book may have been published in March 2000, but its principles and examples still apply! What seemed like a daunting task at first is now an exciting and creative process! A great book for a great price!

This was our first Eloise book. My daughter loves anything about weddings. It was pretty cute but the story seemed a little lacking. I'd buy it again but there are other books that I would chose over this one. Perhaps Eloise is starting to be upstaged by Fancy Nancy.

my daughter Loves everything about Eloise! it gives her the chance to live out things she may never come up with (i hope) though i would have loved to take her for an overnight @ the Plaza Hotel, Eloise Stories are the next best thing to never at all.

This has been a great tool for weight loss. I have lost 25lbs using this book and simple portion control. Its a life tool that I will always use.

I have tried many journals over the years, since I know that it's the best way for me to lose weight - it helps me tell the difference between hunger and boredom. This one is by far the best, although the DietMinder and BodyMinder journals are also good, and the Outwit Your Weight journal helps identify causes of overeating. This one is small enough to fit in an purse, and has several very useful features - a fold-out weight tracker, motivating "I Did It!" stickers for every page, places for your goals, nutritional info on many foods, and duplicates of "my plan" pages in case you change diets, e.g. if one isn't working for you.

Lluch skips the stuff you probably already know, and gives you enough space for what you need to write without crowding the pages with superfluous (and tedious) journaling. Each day spans two pages, with space for 3 meals & snacks (cal., fat, protein, carbs, fiber), fitness activity & calories burned, vitamins, and notes.

I'm using the journal on the South Beach Diet, my sister is using it with WeightWatchers, and my dad is using it for general food-habit-observation under the guidance of our nutritionist. The journal is really that versatile.

Whether you're on South Beach, Weight Watchers, the Zone, or a diet of your own creation, this is a good little journal to supplement it. I would not recommend this as a stand alone book, only as an add-on to another diet program. It has 2 pages a day that cover all meals, snacks, activities, vitamins, and a little spot for notes. You'll love this journal if you have smaller than average handwriting. But I find myself squeezing information into the margins and writing over columns.

The information about diet and health changes is very basic, hence the suggestion to use this book as a supplement. The most annoying thing is the mostly useless nutritional facts in the back. I thought it would be handy to have the information with me at all times, so I could look up meals and shopping items on the fly. Though it covers over a thousand items, it is missing some of the major foods in any american dieters plan. No nutritional info on broccoli, cauliflower, and most meats are listed in their raw state, not cooked. No regular butter, or salmon, but it includes deer, squab, foie gras, raw skinless leg of pheasant and 11 entries for veal?!

The serving sizes also force you to make more calculations than you already have to when keeping any food journal. Meat is in 1 oz (raw) serving sizes, while lemon juice is 1 cup. Not very intuitive when figuring out your food values.

At 4.5" x 5.5", it's the great size for leaving in your purse and for travel.