Wedding Books

This is a great book that kept me organized through the whole stressful process of planning my wedding - which went off without a hitch (except, of course, I DID get hitched!). What's good about the book is that it covers every detail and has lots of spaces to keep track of your planning progress. I found the coutdown calendars and budget charts to be helpful too. I bought other wedding planners, but this is the one I ended up using.

after my fiancee and i got engaged about a year ago, she asked me to order this book for her... it has everything.. and can help you to organize and plan different aspects of your 'special day'... i think it is well worth its money and can be useful for alot of couples where it is the first time either of them are getting married..

Don't buy this book. It's not worth the money. The book is really small like 6 inches by 6 inches with not that much ideas or wedding favors. Customer's are better off searching for another wedding favor book.

Is was a very small book for my taste. I like big ilustrated book were you can see all the details in the pictures. This book isnt a must have to me...

The book was full of pictures but not practical favors.. they were not fabulous like the book implied... i wouldnt recommend anyone waste the 10 bucks for this book.. you can find much better ideas on the internet!!

Not at all what I expected. Did not give instructions.

Some really nice favors, but none that are very practical. I was looking for something more unique that people could use after the wedding. It is nicely put together, but unfortunately I did not find anything that worked for me.

I have been playing the violin for a little over 3 years, and will be playing at my first wedding in a couple of weeks. My teacher and I have both been impressed by the quality of the arrangements and the variety of the pieces.

I've been using this book at weddings, where my friend and I get hired to play violin duets, and we use most of the songs in this book at some point in the ceremony. Pretty much any song that someone will ask for-- whether for processional, recessional, bride's song, pre-wedding mood music-- is in this book. The arrangements mazimize the sound and harmony despite the presence of only two instrumentalists, and the parts are not too difficult (but they sound great anyway). Highly recommended!

This book was supposed to have been published in 2001. I felt as if I was reading a book published in the 40's or 50's. The characters were not believable at all. People in England do not talk like this in the 2000's. Waste of my money. I would have liked to have given it 0 star (but couldn't) due to how too old-fashion the whole writing was for the year 2000.

Back Cover description: A business proposal�or more? Meeting Dr. Roele van Dyke was a blessing for Emma Dawson. He always seemed to go out of his way to make her happy, and she couldn�t imagine life without him�.
And when the time came for Roele to return to Amsterdam permanently, he knew he couldn�t leave Emma behind. So he offered her a job at his surgery. Emma was in love and simply couldn�t refuse. But did Roele want Emma to be his secretary or his wife?

A nice, pleasant Betty Neels story. Emma is not a nurse; she is taking care of her whiny, selfish mother. The mother is almost too much to take, but thankfully she is gone by the halfway point. Emma has no skills, so it is not easy for her to get jobs she can make money at. Roele is in love with her by page 72. The rest of the book follows along the same route that Ms. Neels always uses, but hey�it�s why I read these

Miss Neels has always written a special way, that is what makes her books so very enjoyable. If you are wanting sex and drama, look else where. But for soft comfortable romance Miss Neels stands alone. She has been saddly missed.

Every pastor must from time to time prepare for funerals and weddings. In today's individualized world, people expect that their pastor will come up with a unique and special service. Where does one turn when the creative juices are running low? Bob Blair's Funeral and Wedding Handbook holds the answer.


I recently conducted a wedding that try as I might, I couldn't get to come together. I pulled Bob's book off my shelf and it provided just the spark I needed. Afterwards, the father of the bride told me it was the best wedding he had ever attended. That I could go from "I've got nothing," to putting together a meaningful service is a testimony to how God can use the help found in this book in the life of an ordinary preacher.


Rev. John Battern
New Sharon United Methodist Church

As a preaching minister I have found myself going to Robert Blair's book numerous times for help and suggestions in ministering in two of the most emotional times in a person's life -- marriage and death. I would highly recommend this book to any one who is involved in these area's on peoples lives. You will keep it close for quick reference.

Some books in this general category are primarily collections of readings and references to be used when performing a religious ceremony. "The Funeral and Wedding Handbook" is not such an anthology. It provides a good discussion of the important issues and circumstances one should remember when involved with a funeral or wedding ceremony.

What emotions will you encounter, in your own experience and in working with families and others? What are the formalities or legal issues one must remember? What are the accepted and expected activities for which you will be responsible.

This is an excellent book for the new member of the clergy. It would also be of real value to funeral directors or their staffs, and to the many workers involved with weddings.

This book is excellent in every way. Most books on homiletics cover 5-10 pages on these subjects (if anything at all); here is a resource book with over 200 pages. It is very informative (on what to do) and filled with several practical examples (on how to do it) of ministry during these important times in people's lives. For the student preparing for ministry, the "rookie" or experienced minister, this book is a must. It is "as good as it gets" on these subjects.

This book is not only helpful to the clergy but to anyone who is trying to plan a wedding or a funeral. The author calls on his many years of experience conducting weddings and funerals in laying out the proper steps needed to organize either event regardless whether you are a minister or not. Mr.Blair approaches both events with respect and humor. This book is an absolute must have!

For not knowing what I was getting myself into planning a desitnation wedding, this book is giving me an insight to all the details and questions to get answered. This is a great book!

Before buying this book, I did research online at various bridal sites. Most of the information in this book could be found online for free! I also found that the majority of the information pertains destination wedding brides who are planning celebrations in tropical places (of which I am not). Some good information, but buy it used!

The West gets to see so little of what life is really like in the Middle East, much less how gay men live. I didn't want this book to end and wish that there could be a sequel. It's like an old-style tavelogue with a big gay twist, and honor, tragedy, opportunism and harsh reality. These are real people (photos included).

One of the most beautiful travel books and memoirs ever written; one of my favourite books ever.

This absolutely remarkable story brings to life the sights, sounds and smells - in all their beauty and ugliness - of Syria. The book recounts the journey of one gay man has he spends several months traveling around this complex and exotic country, which was actually part of Mark Anthony's love gift to Cleopatra. Robert Tewdwr Moss was tragically murdered in London just after this manuscript was completed, so he never got to realize the fruits of his labors. This is such a pity because Moss was an extremely talented writer, who had a wonderful capacity to totally reinvent travel writing. This memoir works in many ways - as a profound treatise on the Middle Eastern Society; a chilling history of ethnic crimes - particularly the Armenian genocide - a picaresque adventure story, a compelling travelogue, and a touching and affecting tale of sexual self-discovery.

Moss certainly captures the essence of the Middle East - from its indescribable poverty, and its government corruption to its chaos and the unconditional hospitality and uncomplicated generosity that is offered by many of the local people. The story begins with a description of the "hot winds," "the blinding heat," the "fine brown dust" from the dust storms, the "chaos of the streets and the air "clotted with diesel fumes hanging like a cloak around us." As the story progresses and Robert leaves the city of Aleppo to travel to Damascus, he infuses the narrative with descriptions of this suffocating yet exotic world: the dirty collapsing towns that have had a "great past and no present" full of "the old merchants you see here - sly, and leathery, survivors."

Moss had a gift for describing the intricate details of everyday life, from the clothes to the exotic foods, to the markets and bazaars, and of course, the Arab frankness towards sexual transactions, which "are regarded in a purely practical light." The text recounts Moss's trips to various ancient sites, and there are some gorgeous descriptions of the ancient towns of Palmyra, Bosra, and Lattakia (Have a map of Syria handy so that you can trace his journey). There's also an excellent introduction by Lecretia Stewart that fills in the blanks about Robert's life and work and talks, quite frankly about his horrific murder and about his somewhat closeted sexuality. Cleopatra's Wedding Present is profound and beautiful, and is without a doubt, one of the best travelogues of the Middle East that I have ever read. Robert Tewdwr Moss was a real talent, and as this story shows, his loss was just terrible.

Michael

Cleopatra's Wedding Present is an account of the solitary wandering of a Briton through the back roads and alleyways of Syria. What draws this urbane, openly gay man to a country like Syria is a question that draws the reader immediately into the book. Fittingly, Moss begins his book not in Damascus, but in culturally and geographically isolated northern city of Aleppo. He makes his way through a maze of noisy, cluttered streets to the Baron Hotel, an establishment of fading glory, where notables such as Lawrence of Arabia and Theodore Roosevelt once stayed. In the hotel bar, he quickly meets a fellow Briton, Rupert, and becomes entangled with the comings and goings, and affections, of a few young Syrian men. Through Rupert, like himself, an outsider, a loner, and also attracted to Syrian men, Moss realizes that it is only natural for such strangers in a strange land to find in Syria a place to come to terms with one's strangeness.

Moss forays from Aleppo to other locations in Syria in chapters that begin abruptly, with Moss on the road to a new destination. In other locations, his experiences are similar in tone to that of Aleppo: A lonely man, part tourist, part journalist, and partly a man in quest of some ineffable longing, meets a few people in the new locale, and strikes up brief friendships before moving to the next destination. These vignettes of ordinary people, though, mainly young men, such as the ex-commando named Jihad, but also a variety of people, such as Gladys, the Christian florist recently repatriated from New York, are the highlights of the book. In these vignettes, Moss illustrates how everyday life in Syria is shaped by history, culture, and an oppressive political regime. Nonetheless, the characters Moss encounters are truly individual, never simple products of their environment.

Insightful, too, are the author's mediations on the longing that draws us to travel, and its counterpart heartache at leaving a place. "To travel is to always be to some extent in a state of bereavement, always to have somebody die on you a little," he writes. The fact that Moss was murdered on the day he finished the book, shortly after returning from Syria to London, is oft cited as reason to read this book. This would be a poor reason to read the book; however, his thought that "partir, c'est toujours mourir un peu," does take on added poignancy as a result of his death. To illustrate this theme of love and loss, Moss relates Rupert's doomed pursuit of Syrian boys, culminating in a letter to Rupert the Moss intercepts and steams open. He also relates the more successful, yet also more tragic, love affairs of the Victorian Mary Digby, whose final love, a sheik, brought her to Syria, where she would die. However, it is frustrating that Moss himself initiates a narrative that is personal, not only journalistic, and focused on desire, only to direct the reader's gaze away from himself. Moss speaks of the pain of parting, yet himself takes leave of all he meets in a cool and aloof fashion. The letter we wish he would open is his own, but this letter, scarce begun, remains sealed.

I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting an up close and personal look at life in Syria. From a literary aspect, Moss proves a talented writer, who intertwines elegy, elegance, and wit, in a style reminiscent of Evelyn Waugh. However, because of the disjointed narrative, and the frustration with this fascinating persona who begins his own tale several times, only to turn away from it, I found myself wanting to skim the best parts of the book and leave the rest, wondering how Moss might have rewritten it.

Was not impressed by the actual book. The interior of the book did not provide enough information on what it takes to become a good Wedding Planner. It would be a good book for someone who has been in the Wedding industry for some time and the person was just looking for additional pictures to provide inspiration.

It was not exactly what I was looking for but it was O.K. I will keep the book

This book is nothing but AWESOME starting with the detailed cover flowing through the most vibrant pages one could ever image in a book. As a up and coming Professional Wedding Planner this book was helpful mentally and spiritually. It's not just pretty pages, and flawless creativity but D. Valentine also tells her story of how she came up in the industry starting out with nothing but accomplished a lot. This is a must add to your collection if you are getting married or interested in pursuing event planning.

Ms Valentine I am reading your book and I am enthralled, I am a registered nurse. I have helped friends plan there wedding. I always receive abundant complements about my work from banquet managers and wedding guest. Finally I decided to make weddings and events my business, so I set out to read everything that I could find on weddings and the business end of wedding and party planning. So I got on amazon.com and ordered over twenty books, Preston Bailey, Colin Cowie, David Tutera, Maria McBride Harriet Cole and some I wont mention because they were to put it diplomatically disappointing in their lack of useful content...Ms Valentine you struck a chord I read your book and I was listening to me... a more advanced me. A friend of mine teasingly refers to me as a gay man in a woman's body because she says I am fabulous (by the way she did not say this in any way to be offensive to gay men). Ms Valentine, you are fabulous. Thank You for being dedicated to excellence it is apparent in your work and your enthusiasm. I have learned a lot from your book. Harriet Cole did a great start in Jumping the Broom. Preston Bailey is wonderful but unrealistic to the common budget. However you Ms Valentine brings glamour to the African American urban young professional you "BRING IT". Thank you for laying down the gauntlet.

I am an Event Decorator located in Los Angeles; I must tell you that I was excited when I heard that Diann was coming out with a book on weddings. I purchased my book right away, I didn't care how much it cost, but to my surprise! The book was very affordable. The photographs are absolutely amazing and I loved the articles in the book. Diann style seems to be some what simple but yet edgy.

I guard my book with my life, I take it every where. I recommend this book for every event professional.