Wedding Books

I enjoyed many of the off-beat ideas for wedding cakes in this book. Some of them are not very practical for the everyday wedding couple, but that being said, I sold two cakes based on photos from this book within the first week of purchasing it! Paid for itself already. Good directions for creating each of the styles shown.

I found this book to be disappointing at best. When I think of a cake book, I expect more than merely TWO cake recipes to be in it. Also, the decoration ideas, while unique, were somewhat childish looking. My advice: don't waste your time!

I am in the process of planning my wedding and I just couldn't imagine what my cake would look like. While looking through all sorts of cake books, including this one, I found my perfect cake and have not found a more beautiful idea since! Although this book doesn't tell you how to make them very well...it has excellent pictures and you can easily take it to a professional and they could do it. I highly recommend this book to those who are looking for something different or for something elegant!

This is one of the cake decorating books that give details and steps to how to decorate. The ideas are fresh and achievable. Stunning pictures. Highly recommended. A pleasure to just read and look at the photos.

The cakes in this book are not for the novice cake decorator. However for the experienced cake decorator it gives directions for some of the most amazing and beautiful cakes you have ever seen. If you are skilled beyond Wilton 1-2-3, and you are experienced in the use of rolled fondant and gum paste, give this book a try.

I was naive...should have looked at the cover of the book a bit closer to see there were 2 grooms! My sweet 6-year-old daughter came to me exclaiming, "Mommy, this book is weird...there's no bride...there's two boys getting married!" Don't be fooled by the cute pictures and childish story line, this is pro-homosexual agenda sneaking into our homes through our children's books! We threw it OUT! God created marriage, for ONE man and one WOMAN!

Uncle Bobby's Wedding is more than just a good LGBT-inclusive children's book; it is a good children's book, period. It tells the sweet story of Chloe, an anthropomorphic young guinea pig who worries that Uncle Bobby won't keep having fun with her after he marries his boyfriend Jamie. Uncle Bobby explains that their special times together will not end; Chloe will not be losing an uncle, but gaining one. The book ends at the wedding, with Chloe as the enthusiastic flower girl.

Written from Chloe's perspective, Uncle Bobby deftly expresses a young child's concerns about family relationships and change. It stresses the power of love to encompass both old and new. Brannen's rich watercolor drawings match the tranquil but sometimes playful tone of the text.

The book's great strength is that Jamie's gender is a non-issue throughout. Unlike many older LGBT-themed children's books, such as Heather Has Two Mommies, it doesn't focus on a child struggling against negative views of her family. That approach has value for some, but Uncle Bobby indicates it is now possible to present a same-sex relationship without the need to defend it or compare it, however favorably, with a heterosexual norm. (Even the excellent And Tango Makes Three contrasts the same-sex penguin pair with the usual opposite-sex couples.) This leaves Brannen free to concentrate on her other themes, and opens up the book to a wider audience.

The book will likely be criticized by some for "promoting" same-sex marriage, but in reality it is as sweet and inoffensive a children's book as one could ever hope to find. It shows two men (well, male guinea pigs) getting married, but never preaches. Highly recommended.

This is a book to wonder at, in all the best ways. The story is straightforward, about a little girl guinea pig (Chloe) and her worries that she will lose her Uncle Bobby's affection when he gets married. Uncle Bobby reassures her that she need not worry about this, and when Chloe meets Uncle Bobby's partner, Jamie, she realizes that she's not losing an uncle, she's gaining one! One of the rapturous things about this story is the way the marriage is presented, as the loving event that it is, such a natural thing (for Uncle Bobby) that the fact that it is between guinea pigs of the same sex doesn't even need a discussion.

The illustrations are a delight. Sarah Brannen is an accomplished artist, and I pored over the pictures, noticing the subtle ways that young guinea pigs are drawn differently from the more sedate adult guinea pigs. You really enter Chloe's world and see the wonder of things from her perspective. This is a book to treasure!

This book was hip and new, making same sex relationships a normal thing. I thought this was a good message for kids...catch 'em while they're young and impressionable. Maybe they'll take this message to the next generation and break the cycle.Moreover, it was charming and entertaining...A+

I learned about this book through the incident with the librarian in Colorado defending this gay-marriage storybook.

I was thrilled to learn there is now a book that I can read to my niece and nephews and normalize what is true about their gay uncle.

I have longed for a book like this as I married my partner in 2000 and want to explain to them that my marriage is just like their mommy and daddy's. Now I can!

I love exercising on the Stability ball and I am familiar with many possible moves and this book, although informative and well presented didn't earn five stars because I didn't learn any new moves. People who are new to the ball though will find this a good collection of exercises all of which are given full instructions and carefully demonstrated. The book consists of targeted exercise sections:

Core Stability, Abdominals, Spine, Upper limbs, Lower Limbs then there's sections for Seniors and Pre/Post natal.

The Abdominal section and the Lower Limbs are my favorites. The exercises presented are effective and over time(when you get your balance) they are easy and even fun at times. Each exercise is pictured and includes a well written explaination as well.

Overall a great book.

I recently purchased a stability ball, and I wanted a book which would provide a general introduction to exercises on the ball. For the most part, this book met my needs. It begins with some good preliminary information on ball work, equipment, safety issues, and alignment. The first exercise chapter features some excellent stretches with the ball designed to be used during either the warm-up or cool-down portion of your workout.

The following chapters are each broken into color-coded sections on basic, intermediate, and advanced exercises. Although I liked this format, I was disappointed to see that the intermediate and advanced exercises often required the use of additional equipment--dumbbells, ankle weights, stability cushions, etc. Each chapter also focuses on a particular area of the body, including core (back work), abdominals, spinal mobility and strength, upper body, and lower body; specialized populations--senior citizens and pregnant women--are featured in the final two chapters.

I found the exercises to be clear, with easy-to-follow, concise instructions and helpful photo illustrations. The upper body chapter contained a particularly nice variety of exercises, most of which required only dumbbells as extra equipment. Overall, this book provides a nice reference for those new to stability ball work.

I agree with the other reviewer that this books is not meant for a person who is already seasoned with Stability Ball training. So here is my background if that will help others make up their minds - I consider myself intermediate to advanced exerciser in the category of people who workout to stay in shape and keep fit (i.e not in the athlete category). I do regular cardio and weight training - either style on any day for at least an hour, four to six times a week. I did a bit of stability ball work after looking at exercises in M&F magazine and loved it. I bought this book and "Get on the Ball" to learn more.

Before this book there were stability ball exercises from mags that I could do. And those I simply could not. And I had no idea why. This book teaches you the technique of gaining control on the ball first. And then takes you through Beginner, Intermediate, Advnaced exercises for different body parts. So I can now do exercises I could not earlier.

There are many excellent photographs. Each exercise is demonstrated - sometimes including photographs of bad form. I do a tricky exercise in front of a mirror the first few times to make sure I am in the right form - so I find this a very useful feature.

There is a section for mums-to-be. And one for Senior Citizens that my mum intends to get started on.

Four and not Five stars because:
a. The book does not recommend the number of reps and sets you should do of each exercise.
b. While there is information about the purpose of each exercise by and large,(example shoulder flexibility, increased muscle tone in the butt) this is not consistent. Perhaps the author assumes the reader will know. I like having this spelt out clearly.

I spent a very pleasant Sunday afternoon reading this glamorous book. It is a good first step in deciding how you want to be married and how you are going to spend your wedding budget. While there are plenty of visually extravagant suggestions, readers are continuously reminded to tone these down to realistic size without spreading too many ideas out too thinly. I could hardly agree more.
Alas, I could not prevent myself from imagining numerous future brides getting completely carried away upon seeing so many photos of luxurious, ornately-clad tents and page after page of hugely expensive and rather risque flower arrangements. Preferred the book for Cowie's advice rather than the very lavishly staged photos.

I bought this book so I can find ideas for my wedding flower decoration,
I thought I would find lots of pictures and get a lot of ideas. It didn't help me much. But still, is a good book for other information like planning, etiquette, etc.

Was a bit disappointed that it was just a collection of various weddings and their stories. Was looking for more practical hints.

While this book is a FANTASTIC book for those who want inspiration for those starting a wedding... I bought this book for an entirely different reason. I am an artist and I am always looking for books with fantastic photography to help inspire my drawings and paintings. This book has some AMAZING photography and has some absolutely sensual moments. The mood is set throughout the book, very full of life and sensuality and unbelievably fresh. The array of flowers, the silkiness of the dresses, the ambience of the swagging fabrics, the smoothness of the linen tablecloths, it is all eye candy.

Even if you aren't planning a wedding (like me), this is a fine book for your collection and a must have for photography enthusiasts who like wedding photos.

I highly recommend it!

Thank goodness I checked this book out from the library before buying it! I flipped through the whole 250-page book in literally 15 minutes. There is a ton of print in teeny tiny font. Personally, I don't care that much for what Colin Cowie has to say, I am more interested in the pictures that he gathers to give a visual image of a wedding. I didn't read any of it because it was so small and there seemed to be so much that I can only imagine how much useless filler was in there.

The pictures, what I actually care about, were of poor quality. The book was published in 1998 but many of the weddings screamed 1980s. The pictures were small, with poor lighting and lacked a glossy, professional finish.

I don't know if the point of the book was to show a ton of different wedding styles and to give everyone ideas no matter what your wedding will be - but that's not the point I got. The headings of the weddings were things like "Formal garden party", "Informal party under a tent", but they all looked exactly the same. The decorations, dresses and menus all seemd very old-fashioned with gilded angles, poofy sleeves and roses galore. There were more roses in this book than I think I have seen in my entire life. And for a girl whose wedding will have hydrangeas (which were shown once or twice as a filler with roses), it wasn't particularly helpful.

In a nutshell, I thought this was an uninspired book with poor quality pictures and too much verbiage. I didn't see a single thing that I even stopped to think, "Hm, would I want that in my wedding?", I just blew past everything because nothing was appealing.

This book had such great humor in the banter between the H/H that I found myself laughing aloud throughout the story. So few authors are able to do humor so well and I thoroughly enjoyed the book because of that, and because of the obvious love between the H/H. I'm not sure the Caroline/Miles bit added to the story. I believe the author should have completely gotten into that romance or either just made a couple of mentions....it seemed half-done, so a bit pointless and distracting to the story overall. This is a great read nevertheless and hard to put down.

The first book in a 2 book series by Jacquie D'Alessandro was a good story with plenty of passion, suspense, and intrigue. The characters were strongly developed and the plot unfolded nicely. The author keeps you in suspense up until the very end.

This author never seems to disapoint me. All her books are a joy to read. She has a real gift for writing stories with great chemistry, great characters and a wonderful love story. While reading this book you get a wonderful sense of love building throughout the story.

Austin was a great hero and Elizabeth was a wonderful heroine. Two people who fit so well together in this story that it flowed so nicley. Nothing seemed forced. The love scene's were just that full of love.

This story is far fetched but with D'Alessandros books they never seem to be annoying. Elizabeth has visions, she is able to see things that have happened in the past and those that are going to happen in the future. She is a sweet, giving and always seems to be in sticky situations.
Austin is trying to find information about his brother William. And these two wonderful people make a journey together to try to find out how his brother could have bene a traitor to England. There is even a little side romance between Miles and Caroline.

I loved this book, she always seems to delve deep in your heart where you are able to read and feel the love between them. Her characters are well written. Her heros are strong and kind and her heroines are sweet, loving and strong willed. No shrews here. Great book. Highley Recomended as always. If your looking for a great book just pick up anything by this author and you will not be disapointed.

This book stole my breath. It was romantic, sensual, and passionate. The characters were well-developed and incredibly endearing.

Some minor issues:

1. The heroine, Elizabeth, is a saint. I mean this woman would beat Mother Theresa in a sainthood contest. I guess I find the story a bit more believable and likable when the heroine is a real person with real personality flaws.

2. Austin is way too quick to believe Elizabeth's lies (she told in order to save him pain later). He loves this woman and yet is far too quick to believe the absolute worst about her after a 2 minute conversation. I have to say though, their "misunderstanding" make for some great emotional and sexual tension.

Despite the above complaints, this book was a 5 star read. I highly recommend it and look forward to my next D'Alessandro read!

Alright, this book had so much potential, but it falls short. This could have been a great book, but it's not. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the witty and funny banter between Elizabeth and Austin in the first half of the book. However, what I found to be disappointing in this book is that the characters are not really developed. They're sort of like cardboard, one dimensional.

Elizabeth is too perfect. And Austin is too selfish and arrogant at times. I mean Elizabeth does so much for him, and yet all throughout the story, he did nothing of significance for her. And he was so quick to doubt her love, and believe that she was nothing but a lying gold digger, when she had told him that she had seen a vision of their son dying, and that she wanted to end the marriage. I mean come on, it doesn't take a genius to realize that she is pushing him away for his happiness, and yet he is so quick to believe her claims that she doesn't love him, and that she married him only for his money.

This wasn't a memorable read for me.

Not a Keeper.

Fun way to explain the duties of a ring bearer without being to overwhelming.

Selecting gifts for the bridal party was one of the more challenging aspects of planning our wedding. Our nephews are big into books so this was a great gift. I also wrote a personal message on the inside flap so it is now a keepsake. The story is very cute as the child thinks he is going to be a ring bear not a ring bearer. I'm glad I found it.

The Ring Bear by N. L. Sharp is the story of Robert, a young boy who loves bears - real bears and stuffed bears, bears in books and even bear crackers to munch! So when Robert learns that he is to be a "ring bear" in his aunt's wedding he is excited - until he learns that his aunt isn't expecting a real bear! A whimsically told story artfully supplemented with amusing color illustrations by Michael T. Hassler, Jr., The Ring Bear is a welcome and highly recommended addition to school and community library picture book collections for young readers.

This is a delightful, thoughtful creation. The author has masterfully pieced together an idea that has come up in the minds of so many youngsters--the misinterpretation of ring bearer as ring bear. This is not only a superb gift for any ring bearer, but it is also a great buy for all children. It is extremely humorous, yet so realistic. A must have!

I was first introduced to Elizabeth Young's writing style in Asking for Trouble: A Novel. I couldn't put the book down! It was funny, quippy, with a great cast of characters and interesting little twists. Naturally I read her other books and was equally entertained. So when I picked up "Making Mischief," I couldn't help but be a little disappointed. The style is there, her characters are somewhat interesting, I think what threw me off was the time span the book takes place in. The story starts with the main character as a teenager and ends with her ten years later. It flies through her life with little interest in truly telling us about her. I didn't think it too necessary if not for the fact that the a little incident happens in their youth. It seemed to drag a bit and the heroine didn't seem to have to struggle for her prize as much. I won't say I didn't enjoy it, just not as much. I rather like this author so if you haven't already, give her other books a try. They are better examples of what she is capable of as a writer.

On a weekend retreat with her cousins, Abby witnesses hunky Guy in a moment of passion with sleazy neighbor Cara they nickname the "Flytrap." The only one she told about it was cousin Fleur. Fast forward 15 years and Guy returns to the fold when he is invited to a party and he and Fleur start dating. Knowing his background with Cara, who seems to be interested again, Fleur asks Abby to keep an eye on Guy when she is not able to make it to a party, since Guy denies every being in a relationship with the tramp.

But Abby is finding she is interested in Guy, and is not sure she wants the babysitting role. Add to that the fact that Cara knows they are on to her. When they are all called together for her brothers wedding, she is stuck with babysitting duty of her young brother. Her aunt (and Fleur's mom) is still smarting from losing her boyfriend (and Abby's dad) to Abby's mother, despite the divorce, and smart cookie that she is, thinks that Abby is after Guy.

When Guy can take Fleur's suspicions and lack of trust no longer, he dumps her. He finds out that Abby played a key role on spying on him, and finds it hard to forgive, especially since she appears to have spread rumors about him. Several months later, he is the date of another cousin at a wedding in Barbados, and once again she is stuck watching her brat of a brother while mum is on holiday. Will she ever be able to reveal to Guy how important he is to her?

Young has produced another heartwarming and very British tale of a young couple's unlikely and very rocky road to romance.

Brought this one on vacation with me. I really like EY's books. They are what many call "British Chick Lit" and live up to the name. This story is full of 2 people who can't seem to catch a break. Not only that but they are so worried about offending someone or another they give up their happiness for it.

I also enjoy the differences in the US and European culture. When we think about taking a holiday it is usually for only a week and while many go to Florida or possibly Jamaica, Bahamas or Bermuda we don't run off to places like Greece, New Zealand or Barbados quite as quickly.

This is a thoroughly enticing story that spans more than 15 years. It starts with a chapter about the summer that Rachel and Abby were 16 then jumps years into the future at the start of the 30's. Basically Rachel likes Guy, who the piranha in lip gloss Cara takes away, then Fleur (Abby's cousin) is with guy and Abby finds herself attracted, but then Cara is back and everyone tries to make sure that she doesn't get Guy again, not giving Guy any credit. When that dies will Abby finally get her shot at Guy? Read to find out.

I've read all of Elizabeth Young's books and was anxiously awaiting this one's release. As always, a really good read. Can't wait for the next one.

I really enjoyed Making mischief and couldn't put it down until I was done with it.
Liz Young brings to life funny and interesting characters, with a good plot.
Good laughs, with a romantic touch.
Totally recommend it!!! just as her other novels...

One of the best book I've ever read on wedding photography. Very practical guidance from years of his experience.

Marcus Bell's MASTER'S GUIDE TO WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY: CAPTURING UNFORGETTABLE MOMENTS AND LASTING IMPRESSIONS is a winning survey of what makes for a unique wedding image. From building relationships with each couple to hone in on subjects, themes and approaches which will elicit the best result to using photojournalism to capture spontaneous emotions and developing a shooting strategy, this moves a step beyond most photography guides on wedding pictures and offers collections a rich alternative packed with insider tips.

Marcus Bell gives us his perspective on this multi-faceted career. Don't expect to master the spectrum of wedding photography from any book. This author provides guidelines, along with his personal philosophy. This is a magazine-style book of 124 pages. A lot of space is taken up by images. What you come home with is some food for thought.

This book is one worth reading over and over again.I like the author's advice especially on his workflow.All his style are very practical and easy to follow.This book is not a step by step kind of book but rather guide you on how to come up with your own style.His advice on how to market yourself or to book that client right away is more than what you pay on this book.

The Road to Mumbai is a wonderfully written, colorfully illustrated children's book, which adults can enjoy too.

It is a cute and humorous tale of a little girl named Shoba and her monkey, Fuzzy Patel (insert smiles here) and their journey to Mumbai, via her bed and various other modes of transportation along the way. The story and pictures capture the essence of the people and animals they meet on the road to Fuzzy's cousin's wedding.

Ms. Jeyaveeran has accomplished much in her first book. I look forward to her next one.

Little Shoba is on her way to a wedding in Mumbai but will she ever get there? With her pet monkey Fuzzy Patel, she sets out on her journey and discovers one interesting thing after another. A camel ride, a line of elephants, an over-crowded bus, laddos, jalebees will all help bring India to little book lovers. The illustrations are very colorful and add to the overall effect of the book.

My sister gave my 4 year old (and 9 mos old) this book. My 4 year old loves it and we have talked about the book alot. I like the illustrations as well. Recommended.

The author needs to fact check before publishing. Gujarati is not the major language of the people who live in Mumbai. It is Marathi.

This carelessness mars the otherwise nice illustrations in this book.

What a gorgeously detailed book! The writing and illustration are full of beauty, warmth and humor. I wanted to get on that magic bed and go for an exhilarating midnight ride with Shoba and Fuzzy Patel. The characters are lovingly drawn and the story is sweet and funny. I plan on giving this book to every child I know and hope that the adults will get a chance to enjoy it as well. I hope the author/illustrator plans to create many more such books. This one is a joy!