Wedding Books

This is a great reference book if all you know about engagement rings is what the four "c's" stand for. The tables were the most helpful references and it is written so you can reference areas you want most to learn about. There is more than enough information, including a lot of history and information on other stones other than diamonds. It even gave me a dollar range to expect, which was the biggest unknown for me.

Excellent book. A must for anyone purchasing an engagement or wedding ring.

This book was really helpful in making me feel comfortable shopping for a ring for my girlfriend.

I also used howtoproposemarriage. com to come up with a proposal that knocked her socks off.

I purchased this book along with the book Diamond Ring buying guide by Renee Newman. This book only contained B/W diagram drawings and described the 'flaw's that diamonds have. Hello? dianmonds are not B/W diagram drawings, that little dot on the drawing tells me nothing!
The book seems to ramble and drone on and on about diamonds, like a good old high school history book. Of all the 14 pages of color photos, there are 6 pages dedicated to 'designer rings' and the rest are just photos of different styles of jewelery. What does a yellow diamond look like? What about a diamond that was cut incorrectly? A simple line drawing does not help at all.
I found Newman's book much more detailed and well written than this book. Newman has many photos, practically the entire book is made up of color photos of diamonds and flawed diamonds (so you know that to look for).
If you have a lot of time on your hands and don't mind a boring book, then buy this book, other wise Newman has condensed this 300 page book into just a mere 150 pages or so into hers.

After reading quite a few books in this category; I found Matlins book informative but not practical in the real world. The book was in my opinion too generalized and wasn't what I needed, i.e. expert advise on how to buy a top quality diamond from a reputable jeweler at the best price. If you want to learn about the history of the diamond the book might pass but won't tell you what you need to know if your out shopping for one.

I found the concept of three separate stories by three different authors all centered around the same group of friends in the same setting to be very cool!

These are typical romance mini-novels, where the protagonists stubbornly push each other away because of silly misunderstandings and annoying bickering, with conflicts that could very easily and amicably be resolved with open communication and better dialogue.

I had a hard time maintaining my interest - also I kept having to remind myself that these were contemporary westerns, because they had many elements (particularly male chauvinism) usually found in historicals.

I didn't find this book that bad as far as anthologies go. You don't get an indepth story when you read an anthology. I did enjoy that the characters were carried forward in each of the 3 stories even though written by different authors. I bought the book for the Diana Palmer story but enjoyed the 2nd story (by Ann Major) much more. It was more involved.

This book definitely had a lot of great information. I really appreciated reading a book that showcased weddings couples had done that were very traditional. I was relieved to read one story in particular where the couple didn't do any introductions of the wedding party, or themselves, at the reception. I never wanted to do this, but everyone was telling me that it's so important. But this book gave me the confidence to say, "You know what? It's my wedding, but that doesn't mean I HAVE to be princess for a day."

The only thing I had a really hard time getting over was the format of this book. It's layed out like a novel, which is fine, but if I want to reference something quickly, it's really hard to find. I wish the pages had been formatted in shorter paragraphs with more bulleted points or pulled information because I always remember things from this book I want to reread, but can never easily get back to the page. For a reference book, that was not planned out well.

But overall, a great reference if you already have the wedding planning basics down, but need to think outside the box.

I'm surprised to read others' reviews describing this book as limited to glitzy "Oscar-party"-type wedding ideas. There were no glossy photos in the edition that I read. There were, however, lots of ideas for saving money and prioritizing what really matters to you. I found the book very helpful and I got married when I was in grad school--we certainly didn't have tons of money to spend on our wedding.

What's more, this book doesn't induce "craftmania"--you don't come from this book feeling as if the only way to have an affordable wedding is to dragoon everyone you know into a cooking and crafting marathon. So many "affordable wedding" or "non-traditional bride" books berate you if you don't seek out EVERY bargain and do EVERYTHING yourself with your trusty glue gun. This book is alot more relaxed.

I loved the eloquent yet down-to-earth tone of the book. I truly enjoyed reading it. It was by far the best wedding book I read, and like most of the other reviewers, I read quite a few!

I was 42 when I got married, and even at that age, I still needed someone's permission to make my own choices. This book gave me that freedom, and I'll never forget it. If the ideas are not very creative, well, that might be the couple's job as wedding planners to get creative. With the help of this book, our wedding day was exactly the day my husband and I wanted, and we look back on it with great affection.

I was looking for a book that gave some clues about having a wedding that was a great party - this was it. There are entertaining stories/examples of weddings & how brides solved adult problems. It assumes you know the basics & goes from there. The other good book for grownups is "The Wedding Guide for the Grownup Bride."

I had two concrete notions in my head when we got engaged:

1. I wanted to have a nice wedding, surrounded by all my favorite people in the world.
2. And--at 30 years old--the Pretty Princess fairytale event was not my thing.

But then I wasn't sure exactly what step to take next to ensure I ended up with an event that would relect us as a couple.

This book proved an invaluable guide in helping me formulate what I wanted the day to look like. Both my fiance and I got our own copies, read it cover-to-cover, took notes and started our conversation about the festivities from there. I'd highly recommend Weddings for Grownups to any adult who wants their wedding to be a reflection of them as a couple, rather than some image of what the bridal industry in this country is trying to sell you.

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.

The problem with the missing pages has been corrected. We were unaware of this problem until recently. Sorry you got a defective copy.

I had two attempts at purchasing a copy of this book. Both times it was misbound - one section missing but a second section duplicated. In the end Amazon.com gave up and refunded my money. Disappointing as the rest of the book was interesting and useful.

I am not sure what i was expecting, but it wasnt this. i think this book is more for those who actually perform ceremonies as a career, or something. i just wanted some good alternative ideas to holidays and the traditional christian way of doing things here in this country, which the book did provide. but i got lost in the details of the verbage suggested during ritual. although i will keep the book on my shelf and maybe look through it every now and then.

I am surprised that I am the first reviewer of this book since I have found this work to be such a valuable resource in alternative ceremonies.

When my father died earlier this year, I was the one who deliver his eulogy since my dad "did not want anyone to speak over him who did not know him or his life.

That my father had suddenly and unexpectaly died was devastating enough, when coupled with the fact that I had to deliver his eulogy, I was, needless to say, a nervous wreck.

Being that I had for many years subscribe to an alternative spiritual belief (alternative to Christianity) I was lucky enough to have this book on hand. Its contribution in helping me sort out my words were enormous because although I had wonderful memories of my father, I really didn't know what to do with those memories--how to put them into words and how to deliver them in a segued and coherent testimonial to my father's life in front of what turned out to be 135 relatives and friends.

The Rituals Alternative Weddings, Funerals, Holidays and Other Rites of Passage guided me through putting all my memories together. It served as an outline for the eulogy that I wrote. The author not only provided 3 full funeral services, which I modified to my liking, but other practical and knowledgeable information on funerals and dying such as: meditations, the pre-planning of one's funeral, legal information, poems that would be appropriate to read at a funeral (two of which I used), and additional resources.

And for as good as this book is on funeral info, it is equally well written in the other topics that it covers, such as: Marriage, rites-of-passages--love, parenting and adulthood rites, alternative holidays--Winter Solstice, Christmas, Valentines Day, Labor Day, Autumn Equinox, etcetera.

Finally, throughout the book (as opposed to at the end of the book) the author list many relevant resources one may want to refer to for further information on the subject at hand. The Rituals Alternative Weddings, Funerals, Holidays and Other Rites of Passage is a truly wonderful "tool" for anyone who is looking for information on alternative rites.

I am surprised that I am the first reviewer of this book since I have found this work to be such a valuable resource in alternative ceremonies.

When my father died earlier this year, I was the one who deliver his eulogy since my dad "did not want anyone to speak over him who did not know him or his life.

That my father had suddenly and unexpectaly died was devastating enough, when coupled with the fact that I had to deliver his eulogy, I was, needless to say, a nervous wreck.

Being that I had for many years subscribe to an alternative spiritual belief (alternative to Christianity) I was lucky enough to have this book on hand. Its contribution in helping me sort out my words were enormous because although I had wonderful memories of my father, I really didn't know what to do with those memories--how to put them into words and how to deliver them in a segued and coherent testimonial to my father's life in front of what turned out to be 135 relatives and friends.

The Rituals Alternative Weddings, Funerals, Holidays and Other Rites of Passage guided me through putting all my memories together. It served as an outline for the eulogy that I wrote. The author not only provided 3 full funeral services, which I modified to my liking, but other practical and knowledgeable information on funerals and dying such as: meditations, the pre-planning of one's funeral, legal information, poems that would be appropriate to read at a funeral (two of which I used), and additional resources.

And for as good as this book is on funeral info, it is equally well written in the other topics that it covers, such as: Marriage, rites-of-passages--love, parenting and adulthood rites, alternative holidays--Winter Solstice, Christmas, Valentines Day, Labor Day, Autumn Equinox, etcetera.

Finally, throughout the book (as opposed to at the end of the book) the author list many relevant resources one may want to refer to for further information on the subject at hand. The Rituals Alternative Weddings, Funerals, Holidays and Other Rites of Passage is a truly wonderful "tool" for anyone who is looking for information on alternative rites.

I had the privilege of seeing a copy of "The Wedding Vows from CWG" at the time of deciding vows for my own wedding. The minister who was going to preform our ceremony had two versions of vows that she used before, one for a wedding and one for a commitment ceremony. Neither one seemed to be complete, so we gave her our copy of "Wedding Vows from CWG" and used that. The words in this book were EXACTLY what we were looking for. With a few minor changes, we had the perfect vows that expressed exactly what we wanted. Our commitement ceremony was the most beautiful "wedding" and this book was a tremendous help in writing the vows. It is not intended to be a self-help book about staying together. It is a book about VOWS that you make to your partner for a "wedding," as the title suggests.

I'm a huge fan of the CWG books, so when my wife and I got married recently, I knew I wanted to incorporate a lot of the CWG insights into our wedding. These vows (which we altered a bit to suit us) are amazingly powerful. Throughout our wedding reception the one thing our guests kept commenting on were the vows, about how good they were. People wanted to know where we got them. (These weren't just polite conversational questions, either. Our family and friends were really wanted to know where we got them.) I wish I could have taken credit for writing them, but that credit will have to go to Neale. Use these vows in their entirety, or use them as a starting point. Either way, there's lots of good stuff in there.

I started reading The CWG series years ago and I can not tell you how it has helped me to change and become an all around better person. While I was reading the 1st book in the series I was a little hesitant, but as a read and Neale and God were talking, and God answered Neales questions I was AMAZED! I have asked God so many of the same questions, and they have all been answered the exact same way! And now the more people I talk to about the CWG series the more I hear the same from them, it is amazing! These books are based on Gods love for all of us, and the wedding vows are perfect they simply state we are equals and we shall treat eachother as such, just as God does and always will. We promise to accept one another as we are and to always Love eachother Unconditionally-Forever! Perfect, simple and to the point. If you haven't already read the vows do so, you'll be happy you did.

If you have stumbled on this book as I did and are a Christian looking for spiritual content for your wedding, RUN! This book is not about conversing with God but instead about conversations with gods of each man's purpose. I didn't know better when I picked this book off the shelf and was confused and disturbed by the content. I am not of this world but of the heavenly realm, and this sickeningly worldly, new-age dribble left me quite queasy. It's one thing to name a book The Wedding Vows of the New Age Movement. But they aren't conversing with God the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit in this one. Let me warn those of you who want to know Jesus the Author of Truth so you do not fall prey to this deceptive teaching.

The Wedding Vows from Conversations With God is a beautiful little book, both in appearance and content. The two red roses on the cover and repeated throughout the book symbolize the Ceremony of Roses, an integral part of the wedding ceremony. Neale Donald Walsch and Nancy Fleming-Walsch have shared their thoughts on love and marriage as well as the vows they wrote for their wedding.

Additionally, they've included essays from Marianne Williamson and Gerald Jamplosky, both well-known for their writings on the nature of love.

When they decided to marry, the Walschs searched for vows they could repeat that reflected their true feelings for each other. Finding none, they wrote their own. Because they believe that "no one can really promise anything with a 100 percent guarantee," they chose to make "Statements of Intention."

On an impulse, Neale included the statements in Conversations With God, Volume 3 "as an example of how a spirit-centered, freedom-granting marriage ceremony might be created." Readers loved them and began using them in their own wedding ceremonies.

The Wedding Vows From Conversations With God "will serve to remind spouses and partners of their commitment to love and treat each other as equals always." It's an ideal gift for lovers planning their wedding, for those wishing to renew their vows, or for "those in whom, by sharing it with one another, love is each day reborn."

There is a great deal of information available for anyone who is planning their own wedding. As a wedding Officiant, I can tell you, people often invest thousands of dollars in their weddings, but typically spend very little time planning their vows, or leave it entirely up to someone like me to write the vows for them, and that's fine. That's part of what people pay us to do. But the truth is, a minister doesn't know the bride and groom as well as they know themselves. Sometimes you get lucky. You run across a couple who will open their hearts and tell their stories in minute detail, giving you plenty to work with, but that is seldom the case.

In planning a ceremony, particularly a Christian ceremony, which is all that I will perform, I find myself turning to this fine book, THE COMPLETE BOOK OF CHRISTIAN WEDDING VOWS by H. Norman Wright, over and over again. For that special couple who go the extra mile to plan the perfect ceremony and write their own vows, this book is a wonderful place to start. As I said, there is a mountain of information out there, but you don't need a mountain of information, you need a place to start, and this 200 page book is it. It will point you in the right direction and give you plenty of good ideas for your perfect day.

As with most books of this nature, there is a certain amount of "page filler" fluff that could have been omitted, although there is some interest here as well, such as the chapter entitled "What Could Possibly Go Wrong". These are experiences Wright has witnessed as a officiant that might give food for thought. But the crux of the matter here are the pages filled with examples of other ceremonies, vows, prayers, vows to include others, reaffirmations and so on. There is something here that, though it may not precisely fit your special occasion, will at least give a good starting point and give you some very good ideas that you can alter to fit your needs.

In the chapter on writing your own vows, there is an excellent worksheet, which I have altered slightly and adapted to my own service. I find it most useful in learning about a couple and I believe it might help you learn just what you might want in your vows. Wright also includes a good selection of prayers from virtually every Christian denomination.

There is even a decent endnote bibliography in case you still want to spend more money on your ceremony. If you're reading this, you undoubtedly have a need and to that I say, congratulations on your upcoming wedding and may God grant you a life of love, happiness, peace and prosperity.

Monty Rainey
Wedding Ministry by Design

This book is a MUST-BUY if you're a Christian couple planning your wedding! H. Norman Wright has written many books on marriage, but this one is unique.

I gave this book to my daughter and her fiance a few months before the wedding. They used this book to get ideas for writing their wedding vows. There is also a section of Scriptures that are good ones to use for a wedding. My daughter and her husband used Colossians 3:12-17. So many couples seem to have 1 Corinthians 13 (the "Love Chapter") almost by default. Come up with something different - something that really suits the two of you!

Right now I'm listening to the author of this book on Moody Broadcasting's MidDay Connection. ... . Order the book here on Amazon and the tape from Moody Cassette Ministries!

May God bless your marriage richly!