Wedding Books

Discussion about the technical aspects of wedding jewels but where this book really excells is in the pictures and references to celebrities. It is great to see the jewels up close and personal with thoughtful stories about the reasons behind the design.

Like anyone who's studied astrology in any depth, I'm a little wary of sun sign astrology. But April Elliot Kent's "Star Guides to Weddings" has made a believer out of me. This charming book is packed with so much insight into the effects each sun sign has on a marriage, you'll laugh in recognition as you read.

In fact, I'm going to give a copy to my future daughter-in-law as a shower gift.

This book is small and perfectly formed, with a sweet and frothy exterior. Inside though, while it's definitely a fun read, it quickly becomes apparent that beneath the froth there's real wisdom. As well as the depth of her understanding of astrological lore, April Elliott Kent knows a lot about marriage. This book is a great resource for couples planning their wedding, as well as for those who are already wed. It will help you understand the flavor of marriage you inhabit, and how to make the most of it.

This is an amazing little book! April Elliott Kent writes in a witty, user-friendly style with astrological insight into the complexities of modern love. When I read about my own (now defunct) "Sun-in-Cancer Marriage," I laughed out loud at the accuracy of the portrayal. Wish I could have read this prior to our break-up! I've shared this book with family and friends, and everyone has commented on how "right on" April's descriptions and advice are, and everyone has shared how much they've enjoyed her literary style. If you're thinking of taking your relationship to the next level and want some ideas about the timing of that vow, do yourself a favor and consult "Star Guide to Weddings...." I think you'll be glad you did!

I loved this handbook and so did my friends...it's kicky, engaging, and downright fun.

From the wedding cake graphic on the cute, cute, cute cover to the real meat and potatoes content inside, Ms. Kent's book is a must give gift for every bride-(or very hip groom)to-be.

I can't wait for her to do another!

An excellent resource with a unique angle that is sure to assist in the practice and study of astrology on all levels.

`Star Guide to Weddings' is a no nonsense little book that will surely hold it's own the astrological bookshelf.

~Anna Davis

Sherryl Woods progresses the Adams' family bloodline into The Next Generation series of Baby Makes Three. In romance novels it is very rare that you can come into such an in depth series of family based storylines that tie generations together but also give each individual novel a life of its own. You can pick up the first book or the last book and enjoy it immensely with Woods' characters and plots, but when you continue with the series you feel a sense of family, belonging, and security in the circle of life. Well written and easy to follow and enjoy, I recommend this book highly to anyone.

I like to put my couples in control of the biggest day of their lives. Why not let them choose the words? When my clients book with me I give them the book. It makes life simpler for me. They pick the parts to include and leave out and I show up, do as they ask and pronounce them Husband and Wife. My only problem is keeping myself in stock.

The new book, bright canary yellow this time (I noticed there was no picture yet), is truly outstanding! There are more ceremonies and the layout is very professional. I am a minister and I've been buying the pink version and giving it to my brides and grooms to help plan their ceremony, so I know the book very well. I'm even more impressed with the revision. There are pictures, more ceremonies, more planning stuff, just more. And the yellow cover is really eye-catching.

As a photographer, I am sometimes the first thing on a brides mind when planning a wedding. Usually the bride knows that she has to have a photographer, cake, dress, church, groom, and a reception hall. Unfortunately, putting all of the pieces together poses a challenge to most. When I sign a client to a wedding contract, the best part is being able to provide a sense of calm by giving them a copy of this book. They really appreciate it as a "bonus" to signing with me and have expressed a multitude of compliments to its simple stress free approach to wedding planning. I definately recommend it as a deal closer!

This is the most helpful wedding planning book I've read. It gives a lot of great ideas and really explains and organizes everything you need to do to get ready for the "big day". The checklists were wonderful. She thought of everything! This is a lifesaver!

I really enjoyed the conversational style of this book. I have read many a book for the wedding planning process and none of them gave many details to help create the ceremony. Luckily, this books exists or else I would feel totally lost!! This book was very easy to understand and much fun to read. I feel like I can rest a little easier knowing that this book will be right by my side. Great book!!!!!!!

This book was okay for a good "girl" book. A quick read with a few hilarious stories where I was litterally laughing out loud. I was hoping for more stories, more details and less fluff in between the two. I have to agree with other comments here- I was looking for the article she wrote that got her kicked out of the bridal party, destroyed her friendship with "The Bride" and spawned this book. That would have been a nice inclusion. It seemed at the end of the book the author is trying to make up for all the "Bride" bashing of the entire book by saying "we really do love you" but it was too little too late. Being a five time bridesmaid and a bride I didn't mind the bride bashing, weddings are what they are, dramatic and stressful. These stories were entertaining, a good fluff read.

I had been wanting to read this book for a while... the creative title piqued my interest right away. It was a quick and interesting read, by no means an intellectual or sociological look at the wedding industry like Cinderella Dreams, but it was still fun to read for someone who is interested in the behavioral aspects behind weddings. If you watch the reality shows on TV about weddings you will probably like this book... it offers examples and stories upon horror stories of crazy brides and the poor bridesmaids put in terrible situations. The complacency of the bridesmaids was a bit unnerving and I have to admit that these stories convinced me that the author only used the most extreme examples she could find of these pre-weddings gone wild situations. But that was the purpose of her book I suppose and we are not supposed to take the book as a whole too seriously. Enjoy it, don't let it scare you away from weddings forever, and try to remind yourself that it's just a silly read and you'll be happy.

I loved this book. Too bad more of the insanity was not in it. I too hate all things commercialized wedding. Having stood up a few times (always wonder why anyone would ask me with me being so vocal in opposing)I hated every single minute of it. My brides were very nice and paid for the dresses and we did not have to do all the crap some bridesmaids do. Do people really expect bridesmaid to throw a shower? Have you no family that likes you? Do brides really expect bridesmaids to do their errands? COME ON!

Dear Brides,
If you really want people to enjoy your wedding then don't ask them to stand up. Simple as that. No one likes to stand up. It sucks! This whole, "It's my day" crap is just that, crap. We barely want to attend the wedding let alone deal with you. Who hasn't shuddered at the sight of an obvious wedding invitation in the mailbox? Who hasn't called everyone in the family to warn them it is coming. I personally think you should ask your enemies to stand up for they deserve it more.

This book showed how goofy weddings can get. I'm SO very glad I'm old enough to never again be asked to be a bridesmaid!!!!! In my day, we threw a shower, showed up for rehearsal, did the wedding and promised not to get drunk at the reception!!!

I was a bad bridesmaid - almost twice.

My near miss was when my best friend asked me to be a bridesmaid. Tho' I found it impossible to support her choice in groom, I agreed. Until she then informed me that even tho' I was her 'Best' friend I was the 5th person she asked and she wanted at least 3 bridesmaids! Evidently she was having a hard time finding enough random strangers to wear a "baby-teal" 80's-reject, prom dress (with sleeves bigger than a basketball) for her kegger/wedding. My ego let me back out within 10 minutes of being asked. (their marriage lasted slightly longer than that.) Oddly enough our friendship survived that awkward blip in our 16 year relationship.

Even when I finally went "all the way" with it for another friend things were so difficult and AWFUL, that after the wedding we quickly broke it off and neither of us have ever looked back - Thank God!

At first I really thought it was me, I felt guilty. Maybe I'm not cut out to be a bridesmaid, maybe I really am the anti-wedding witch. Or maybe my friends lost their minds (and souls) when they became engaged.

Thank you, Siri Agrell! Your book has provided me with the thearpy and knowledge I needed to realize: It is not just me! There are others out there like myself who were put in exploitive & mercilessly compromised situations all because we knew someone (either well or randomly) who lost all common sense the second they got engaged.

This book made me laugh...and wince, but mostly I identified.

I loved this book for it's absolute tradition. This will show people tradition is still very much alive and kicking. Very handy tip's easy to use and doing the arrangements looks easy and won't put you off.

I enjoyed this book because of the ideas it presented for the little details ... suggestions for floral arrangements that were dramatic, beautiful, and unique. It gave examples of floral arrangements for everything from baptismal fonts to tents. I was inspired to think beyond the standard altar pieces and table decorations.
While many of the actual examples were a little heavy for my taste, I found them to really demonstrate how powerful flowers and greenery - beyond the white roses and baby's breath - can be, and how carefully chosen floral arrangements can compliment any decor and create ambiance. I recommend that anyone needing to choose flowers for a wedding - or really, any occasion - at least take a look at this book for inspiration, even if one isn't going to actually arrange one's own flowers.

I am thoroughly enjoying Shirley Monckton's book, which I happily discovered on returning from an "early honeymoon" in England, in which my fiance and I explored wonderful Gothic cathedrals and appealing parish churches. Yes, Ms. Monckton is writing for an English audience and her lovely decorations are suited more for the churches and manor houses in her country, but she has a great sense of design and lots of detailed advice for the rest of us, too. Being "florally-challenged," I greatly appreciate Ms. Monckton's experienced guidance on things I would never have considered, such as determining what the rules are in decorating a particular church or hall and who enforces them, how to keep a vertical arrangement from looking like a Christmas tree, how to prevent plastic in a basket arrangement from reflecting sunlight or camera flashes in your wedding pictures, and how long to condition flowers before arranging them (two hours to overnight . . . not the two minutes I would've allowed). Shirley emphasizes planning ahead and informs the reader which things can and cannot be completed until the Big Day. She kindly nudges the bride to delegate the last-minute work to the florist or talented friends/family members. Of the three wedding flower books I've read in recent weeks, Shirley Monckton's is definitely the best.

I found that this book was not detailed enough for beginners in terms of creating the arrangements. It focused more on the wedding day rather than the actual flower arrangements. I was looking for more of a step-by-step guide for arranging wedding flowers.

This is a cute book with lots of ideas. Doesn't have a lot of "how-to's", but does have some. Great pictures. I use this as a book for "brides-to-be". Someone always chooses something from this book.

At one point in Ulysses, Stephen thinks--or says something to somebody about how you can always tell Synge because he sounds like Shakespeare. That's a jab, but a friendly one. I don't think it's intended to be far off from the truth either.

I agree that reading these plays aloud is wonderful.

In a class I took, we read extended portions of "Playboy of the Western World". The class was busting, tearing up with laughter. The play is fall-over funny even if you're reading to yourself.

I just have to say though, that the plays are for performing.

A friend of mine and I did a scene as an acting exercise for a class she was taking--it was one of the scenes in which Christy courts Pegeen Mike--from "Playboy of the Western World". The audience--about 15 people--were spellbound. We looked out at dropped jaws.
This friend of mine and I did a competent job of acting. What blew the class away, really, was the ecstatic language and the infatuation one feels for the characters, their solidity, and the dramatic electricity between them... Lines from this bit come back to me, what? 20 years later? It's like music! The action goes from high tragedy to knockabout.
Well, it's what makes the Irish the Irish.
And the play's been just as good when others did it.

"Riders to the Sea" is like a religious ceremony, similar to the way that the plays of Aeschylus and Sophocles are. They use choruses to much the same effect. The action is ritualized and repetitive. Idealized characters utter formula phrases. "Riders" sounds out some elemental terrain: it packs a deep sort of wallop. I'd love to see this performed.

These are classic plays by Irish playwrite and poet John Millilngton Synge, with the attention to language and folklore that is typical of Synge. Best enjoyed by reading the plays aloud.

I found the book instrumental in planning the shower I am hosting, especially since I am a host virgin. The author presents all the tiny details that could go wrong, and those that could make your shower perfect. The checklists and worksheets were beneficial to my planning process; I have the budget, plans, and addresses all written in the book for the shower.

The only drawbacks were the themes and games. Unoriginal. I have heard of all of them and have even played most all of the games. I have created my own theme and games.

The book is divided equally between baby and bridal showers, so I know I will be using it again in a few years... Now I feel totally prepared to give the perfect bridal shower!

After taking a look at the whole book, I discovered that this book is truly only helpful to those who have no clue about how to plan a bridal/baby shower (complete idiot's guide). I have given a baby shower before and was looking for some new interesting ideas. I wouldn't recommend buying this book for ideas on games. This book was not worth the amount I spent on it. 'The Baby Shower Book: Etiquette, Decorations, Games, Food' by: Pauline Glendenning is a great book that has everything in it, especially great games!!!

I found this to be the most helpful book! The author makes everything seem so easy that I jumped right in and tried it (and I don't consider myself crafty at all!). I recommend this to ANYONE planning or even attending a shower of any kind. If the next shower you go to is dull you'll be the life of the party just knowing even one of the ideas mentioned in this book. I'm telling all of my friends!

I really liked this book because it did not try to give you so much information just to fill the pages. All of the hints were smart and well thought out, as were the games and recipes. I got a different book for games (it had 200 games in it) and I found only one or two that were perhaps worthwhile. This book doesn't have many games, but I used almost all of them - they are good ones, not a waste of time. I would recommend this to you if you are planning a shower, bridal or baby. I also used some of the recipes and they turned out very good. I think the SOS scallops were the biggest hit. Some of the drinks turned out great too. Good luck to you! Hint: I used the facts that are throughout the book as my questions/answers in "Bridal Jeopardy". Everyone was interested and enjoyed it!

I spent days trying to find websites that would give me ideas on bridal and baby showers (I just threw the bridal shower and will throw a baby shower in about 3 weeks.) It took me so long to find these websites, and they all had the same information as each other. I finally broke down and bought this book - I wish I had done it in the first place. It has UNIQUE games (not silly ones) and a section on money and some great recipes. FYI -I made "Lu's clam dip" on page 88 and it was gone about 1/2 of the way through - it was the biggest hit! I would make a double batch if I were you. I used all of the worksheets too, they helped me organize it. I honestly think this will save you time and is well worth the money. Best of luck throwing your shower!