Wedding Customs Books

I've been planning my wedding for the past few months and I've been relying on this book, Easy Wedding Planning Plus by Elizabeth and Alex Lluch, and Bridal Bargains by Denise and Alex Fields. This book covers all the etiquette questions that crop up when planning a wedding (who are you supposed to buy gifts for, who is expected to pay for what, etc.) It also offers a tremendous amount of other information such as tips for saving money, things to think about when selecting flowers, music, etc. I'm giving it 4 stars instead of 5 because it won't stand alone. I used the planning book to really keep everything organized, and the budget book offered a lot more specific advice on saving money (specific vendors, websites, etc.)

A well organized book, that answers a lot of these difficult questions and saves a lot of precious time. All what any bride and groom need to know from A to Z. From how to announce your engagement? to how to prepare your Thank You Notes?

Although the book covers mainly traditional weddings, it definitely gives ideas to any couple who want to prepare their own custom wedding.

I highly recommend this book for any couple to get ready for their wedding

This is a fabulous book. It's a great classic, informative guide for those who want to have a proper wedding. If you only want to buy one book this would be it. It goes through just about every aspect of planning and enjoying your wedding. (Contracts, Invitations, Dresses, Expenses and more) I read it cover to cover and continue to return to it for reference.

Excellent information! Very detailed, easy to read and understand.
Highly recommended. One of Emily Post's better books on "Wedding Ettiquette."

for a first time bride, theres a lot of good info in here. But i really dont have any others to comapre it to. I am getting alot of use out of mine though. I made copies of certain chapters for people and will use some of the suggestions.

This book is great! Of course it comes from the most trusted resource in wedding information, but that doesn't always mean something. It does in this case. I have been picking it up constantly since I got it in the mail. I was a little surprised the first time I picked it up because it is in black and white, but they really give you a ton of information that somehow isn't diminished by the lack of color. Anything that they describe usually has a drawing or diagram, or even a black and white photo. I have read a few other planning books and this one definitely takes the cake :). I would definitely recommend using this one as a resource, and I'll probably pass it on to my sister when she gets engaged.

This book is very comprehensive, and helpful. I'm going to be a wedding consultant and this book (along with TheKnot.com) is a big help in organizing a wedding and all of the details from picking out the engagement ring to the honeymoon. There are pictures, diagrams, real-life stories, and helpful tips throughout. Highly recommended! (There is some bad language in it, but what can you expect from a secular book?)

This was an extremely helpful book and it's not bulky. I definitely recommend it.

Bought this item as an engagement gift for the daughter of a friend. She is someone that really enjoys being organized and this book has definitely helped her in planning the wedding.

When my fiancee and I first started planning our wedding, we heard about this book and purchased a copy because of its popularity and mention in magazines and elsewhere. While there is some good advice, it's not the must-have some people say and it's heavily tied into the web site too, which is just more of a time drain. I think much of the material could be condensed into fewer pages and more focused advice. You won't regret buying it, but nor will it make your planning much easier IMO.

If you are looking for something besides the ordinary, this is a great book, with fabulous ideas. We had truly unique vows at our wedding, that were meaningful to us. And we got them out of this book.

This book was only somewhat helpful to me. It needs to be updated to current times. I was looking for ideas for a contemporary wedding and this book has more traditional and religious ideas plus I was expecting to see more in the book, there was not enough information.

After looking through what felt like hundreds of wedding planning books and magazines and always seeing the same ideas over and over again I finally stumbled across this particular book. It was just what I needed as my husband and I both have busy work/travel schedules and we only had two months to plan our Christmas wedding. This book really became an invaluable resource for planning the ceremony that we wanted. The book contains hundreds of quotes from a variety of both religious and secular/literary sources, along with sample programs, hundreds of song lists, and explanations of different cultural wedding traditions. With our limited time, this book became our single most used reference and helped us create the unique and personal wedding that we both wanted.

This book is full of your typical wedding songs and poems, but there are also a good selection of modern/non-traditional ideas. The examples of vows and rituals were a nice inclusion for those wanting a starting point for creating their own unique wedding activities.

I found this book a little dissapointing. Not much to it. It's not all inclusive like it would lead you to believe. I was looking to design a wedding ceremony. Instead of focusing in depth on one topic it has a more broad overview of every topic. I would of preferred more options and explanations

I gave this to my neice who is wanting a Jewish wedding and I used it for my own (neither of us were born Jewish). It's a great reference for the planning of a wedding and also for educating non-jewish guests. Highly recommend it if you just can buy one book!

I got this book for my fiance on the recommendation of my Rabbi. She loves it.

My fiance and I bought this book at the suggestion of the rabbi who was performing our ceremony. He was raised conservative and I was raised reform but at the time of our marriage was not relgious at all. We both thought it a good idea to check out the book, mainly because the rabbi (conservative) recommended it. In particular, I was interested in learning a bit more to blend in with my now-husband's family.

I think the problem with the book is that it was amazingly condescending. Perhaps for people with absolutely no knowledge of Judiaism it wouldn't have been so. However, to me it oversimplified many concepts, seem to claim there was only "one right way" to have a Jewish wedding in some respects, and left out the key information we were looking for -- namely the appropriate processional and recessional formations for a couple without significant family issues or discord.

My suggest about this book would be to purchase only if you have little or no prior knowledge of Judiasm or Jewish weddings. Otherwise, it really did not go past the information we received from our Rabbi and our own personal knowledge.

My fiance and I were looking for a book to explain Jewish wedding laws and customs. We bought a few different books, and I think this was by far the best.

I particularly liked its clarity and organization. While other books bombard you with random Hebrew and Yiddish terms (sometimes translating them into English and leaving out the original language), this book takes time to explain them. It distinguishes which Jewish wedding practices are law and which are custom. It talks about both Ashkenazi and Sephardi traditions and makes it fairly clear which traditions are specific to one ethnicity and which are more universal. It addresses a number of mainstream American wedding practices (such as rehearsal dinners) that are NOT typically a part of Jewish weddings. And it educates in a way that makes me feel like I have a grip on the information, rather than throwing out pieces of information that make me go "Huh? What's up with that?"

There is a reason rabbis recommend this book. If you have any interest in learning about Jewish weddings, especially if you want to incorporate Yiddishkeit into your own wedding, this is the book to get.

I originally bought this book from amazon when I first got engaged. My fiance and I are both jewish and have been to many many jewish weddings, but I wanted to learn more. So, I found this book because of all the glowing reviews! And I would like to add another one!

As I said in the title, I read it once and since I kept telling my fiance little tidbits that I didn't know or things that were interesting, he asked to borrow the book. After his first reading he said that he wanted to review certain sections, highlight them and then pass this book onto his mother!

I really found Diamant's book to be greatly inspiring and full of explainations on what parts are necessary in a jewish ceremony and what parts are customs and why. She really appeals to a large audience because she does not assume you have to be orthodox to understand or take part in anything she discusses. This book has also inspired me to have a Friday night "Sabbath" dinner with close family before our wedding and integrate some rituals I didn't know about previously, like both mothers breaking a plate. (Read the book to find out what it means!)

And since I am having a long engagement, I am going to have to refresh my memory soon because when I read it I just remember saying out loud "Oh, that is so cool! I want that to happen during my ceremony too!"

BUY THIS BOOK! YOU WON'T REGRET IT!

My fiance and I (the Engaged Groom) are planning our wedding, and have less time than you'd normally have to make all our arrangements. We are also trying to be budget concious and not go overboard. So far there is nothing a-typical about our wedding. The Engaged Groom has been so very helpful of providing a good overview of what needs to be done, when, and how. I thought I had all the answers until I read this book. I feel better prepared now and have a much better grasp on where we can cut corners, and the do's and don'ts of the wedding world....but primarily the message is, make sure you have the wedding YOU want, and not the wedding everyone TELLS YOU you need.....thanks Doug Gordon, your book is a life-saver.

All of the other books for grooms are condescending, treat the groom like he's an idiot, or warn him about his "bridezilla". This one's the antithesis of all of that, and actually provides good information for the groom with a question about any part of the wedding. It doesn't need to be read cover-to-cover, and provides a positive spin on handling tough situations.

This book has a lot of good practical advice, like when to get a marriage license. For someone getting married out of state, this was very helpful. I also thought some of the money-saving tips were unique and not your standard fare. There was a part on dealing with problem guests that has been very helpful since we've had to deal with a lot of these types of people and as the groom I usually have to smoothe over a few egos and play peacemaker. To top it off, there's a great section about bachelor parties goes beyond other books and talks about how people really feel about strip clubs, both men and women.

To keep it interesting Gordon puts in a lot of funny stuff, like lists of songs that are inappropriate to play at a wedding and an answer to the question of whether or not throwing rice at a wedding is harmul to birds. (It's not, but his explanation is really amusing and well written.)

I got this as a gift and thought it was really helpful, one source for all of my questions. Four months to go before my wedding and there's still a lot I learned.

I gave this to my future son-in-law so he wouldn't feel so left out, but more importantly, so his mother would realize it's my daughter's wedding not hers. Worked both ways. I haven't read it, but so far, so good.

My bride gave me this even though I didn't think I'd help out too much. But I had a few questions and this really helped. It was funny, which helped, since any book that takes things too seriously wouldn't work for me. I had questions about the budget, since I was paying for somethings and trying to figure out who would pay for the rest, and I also had questions about invitations, who to invite, etc. This worked for me. I will pass it on to friends when they get married.

A great book , written in plain English, explaining in full detail all the difficult situations of these emotional days. It simplifies a lot of problems. It is a must read for every bride and groom.

This book answered so many questions I had about wedding planning ... even AFTER I had done hours and hours of research. I find it to be an extremely valuable reference to hold on to during the planning process.

I strongly disagree with reviewers that say this book is only for rich brides who want that cookie-cutter princess wedding. I'm NOT having that kind of wedding at all, and I tailored the basic information I used from this book to create a very individualized wedding that's a little traditional, and also a little offbeat. The tips in here are mere guidelines, and it's a great place to get started if you haven't the slightest clue where to start when planning a wedding.

One section I found particularly helpful was the invitation wording. Our families are very different, and both are contributing in their own way, financially or otherwise, and this book had about 10 different way to word invitations based on your individual family situation. SO helpful!

After spending months of watching television shows, reading magazines, browsing online, attending bridal shows and reading other books, I found this book and I LOVE it. If you're planning your own wedding, and can't afford a wedding planner, this book is fantastic. It has TONS of details, large and small, on how the typical wedding works right down to the order of who walks down the isle when depending on what type of ceremony you're having, and nice personal touches you can add to your wedding (if you choose to) like using matching stamps on your invitation and RSVP envelope. If you don't have time to plan every detail of your own wedding, maybe you should be hiring a wedding planner so you don't have to worry about the small stuff, but if you're doing it yourself, this has a TON of useful info. It will tell you what elements are traditionally included, and then you can modify them to your own tastes. I've been leaving sticky notes on pages I want to refer to later, and for my wedding with under a $10,000 budget, I have about 50 sticky notes in the book, and I'm not even done reading yet!

Wedding trends change every season, if not every month. It's hard to print a book that can keep up with the ever-changing customs, traditions, styles, etc. This book was useful as a reference - such as for financial issues, tips, advice, seating arrangements, etc. However, it is already very outdated in terms of what is "in", who is expected to pay for what, etc which is what - i think - brides (and grooms!) would be most interested in.

This book was a life saver to me as I planned my wedding . It covers everything that you can think of from invitation etiquette, to wedding ceremony set up, to how plan your reception. I found this guide to be indispensable! It offers loads of sound advice, direction, and suggestions--it gets down to the specifics like what the difference is between a Pomander bouquet versus a Nosegay bouquet, or how to set up a Chuppah etc.. The authors give fantastic advice on how to handle all kinds of tough wedding situations and dilemmas. For those that have no clue and not the foggiest idea of where to begin to those that have a good amount of wedding know how-- this book will be an enourmous amount of help!

I'm so happy Amazon.com has marketplace sellers. I was able to pick this up cheap and take it with me as I got to think about an upcoming wedding I'm excited to participate in. Good ideas and in a good format.

Weddings from the Heart was just OK...I'm planning a wedding and looking for different ideas for vows and readings - and this book just wasnt' for me. I earmarked a few pages - but not many. One book that was INCREDIBLE was "the knot guide to weddings vows and traditions"! Great book with TONS of ideas - i earmarked a TON of pages here. I was reluctant to get it at first just b/c it was "the knot" - even though they are the so called "wedding guru's"...you know....I just thought others might have other insightful advice....well, not so...trust me - save your money and just go buy the knot's guide - it was the best! (at least for me!)

Most of this book was irrelevant for what I wanted. I was looking for a source for religiously-oriented vows, prayers, and blessings which I could use to create an ecumenical wedding service. This book DOES have a section of such things --and I did find it useful for comparison purposes-- but the main emphasis is on contemporary vows, addresses, etc., most of which seemed just too fluffy for me. If you do want very emotionally-laden, "unique to you" and non-traditional wedding, go for this. If you seriously want to compare weddings from different Judeo-Christian traditions, I highly recommend _Weddings: A Complete Guide to All Religious and Interfaith Marriage Services_ instead.

Ms. Kingma gives engaged couples excellent advice and options over the traditional ceremonies. She includes examples for divorced couples, couples with children, couples who want to honor other family members and friends, even couples who have been through abuse and addictions to find love. Also given are wedding traditions and readings from around the world that brides and grooms can incorporate into their personally tailored ceremony.

If you truly want a wedding from your heart, with vows that truly bind, then this book is for you. The suggested ceremonies can be tinkered with and tailored to your taste and honor your personal beliefs. Thanks, Ms. Kingma, for reading the hearts of engaged couples everywhere! We're using this book for our own wedding this year, and I just can't praise it enough.

I plan to elope and have never wanted to say the standard religious vows from my Roman Catholic childhood. Kingma is a master of words. Capturing love is not easy. Saying the most with the least is the magic. Bring illumination into your personal ceremony with Daphne's wisdom. Better yet, consider having her as your marriage officiant.

Great book, delievered in poor shape. Told me book was "new" inside cover was bent.

I was quite amazed to find such a good read. A while back I read "The Corporation". This present book describes the strand from the corporate world that deals with weddings. They also have become a racket, and Rebecca Mead has the necessary information.

The group of people that created "bridezillas" and "monsters-in-law" is the group of people that--when they get together to tally up the profits--make fun of, and ridicule them. The world of weddings has gone whack! More than ever young women (and men) are emphasizing the wedding in place of the marriage (guess which one of them lasts a lifetime). When did meaning in such a deep relationship become so shallow?

Mead writes in a clear, open style. She brings you to the scene, and lays it out for you. She writes in a "no nonsense" fashion, and is able to be with people easily, and garner information from them easily. It is a must read for every mother with college-aged children. I gave my copy (upon reading it) to such a mother. Dads should read it as well, to get to know what is happening in the world of wedding preparation.

The best information is in the first two-thirds of the book, but the whole work should be read, especially Mead's afterword. The work is an eye-opener, revealing how everyone is out to make a buck (actually lots of them) on the modern bride. It is amazing how we are kept from this truth, and I am grateful to Rebecca Mead for telling it all.

Still, I wish that she had offered a chapter on types of marriage preparation. Although these deal with marriage more than the wedding, they are offered before the wedding.

I got this book after my own wedding. This book cannot help you plan a wedding or even save money on your wedding it does give you a first hand look at the wedding industry. This book will only appeal to people (primarily women) who have already gone through the process of planning a wedding. I personally would reccomend this book for any new bride looking to learn about wedding industry. This book is best read AFTER you wedding.

One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding
My husband & I first heard this woman on the Dennis Praeger show. This book is an absolute necessity for a parent to read, as well as the bride & groom. Contains historical, sociological aspects of a huge industry, that is not altogether altruistic when it comes to having your precious daughter given in marriage. I highly, highly recommend this book.
Barbie Perkins
San Antonio, Tx.

Next to coal mining and waitressing, one of the more under valued jobs in our society is that of the intrepid, well-informed skeptic, whose role in life is to question that which the rest of us have accepted without full examination. In her new book "One Perfect Day," New Yorker writer Rebecca Mead dares to question our sense of proportion when it comes to how we marry and what it costs us. Her thin but effective book is less an expose, than a sharply written consumer digest of the people and the practices behind that "one perfect day," when bride and groom are encouraged to surrender their financial and emotional sobriety to a $161-billion a year industry. Ms. Mead has done her homework, and offers it up in entertaining bite-size portions that will supply the reader with plenty of cocktail party conversation. While one reviewer found the book "too cynical" for her taste, I believe the author wishes to be more of a consumer advocate than a romance deflator. When she briefly shares the details of her own wedding day, she does so like any bride who's happy to show you the photos. A good read from one of our most observant writers.

This is a fantastic resource for the stylish bride-to-be! In an age of cookie-cutter weddings--or even worse, weddings that look like giant branding opportunities, with the bride and groom's name emblazoned on EVERTHING-- Michelle Rago's approach was like a breath of fresh air.

Rago is one of the top event planners in NYC, and she knows her stuff. I especially liked that the first two chapters are devoted to explaining her method of event planning, step-by-step. She chooses a theme, four colors, and four to six "Elements" for each wedding, and it's fascinating to watch her weave all of the details together in unexpected ways. In the beginning of the book, Michelle also walks you through the process of discovering your point of view and creating your vision, along with tips on how to handle common wedding-planning challenges.

Then she presents, in painstaking detail, ten weddings that she's designed. There are TONS of photgraphs of each wedding to illustrate her methods. For each event, she walks you through the "Four Cornerstones of Wedding Design": The Checklist, The Three S's, The Elements, and the Colors, so you really get a feel for how its done. Her experience in planning and designing hundreds of weddings means that she's able to impart a lot of valuable advice...I learned a lot about wedding planning in general from this book. I also really enjoyed the fact that Michelle has a strong point of view, and she's not afraid to speak her mind regarding what is and is not appropriate for weddings.

By the time I reached the middle of this book, my confidence had increased 100%, and I really began to feel empowered to design my own wedding and have it look like the pages of a bridal magazine. Michelle's writing style is warm and engaging, and although she's a master designer, she never talks down to her readers. The best part of the book for me was the amazing photographs of the bouquets and floral centerpieces. I am in awe of Michelle's floral design talents, and I picked up more than a few ideas to pass on to my own florist!

Wow! So glad I bought this! The list of core elements and how to come up with them was key to finally getting me to find a focus for wedding style and colors -- worth every penny!! I bought several other pretty books, but couldn't figure out how to make them apply to my wedding, Signature Weddings has truly helped me design a wedding that will be special for us =)

Wonderful book! Full of beautiful idea's, wonderful wedding wisdom, and you can tell it is written by a person who loves her work.

This gorgeous, inspiring book is worth every penny. Buy it. You won't regret it. Its amazingly full of ideas and inspiration, no matter what kind of wedding you're planning.

If Anna Wintour were to pick a wedding book that was as visually and editorially pleasing to the bride as Vogue is to fashionista's she would definetly pick Signature Weddings. Not only are the ideas obtainable the book really shows you how to personlize your wedding. After reading this book I feel that I am able to help make my wedding a wonderful memorable event...one filled with love and inspiration. I have only had the book for only a week and have read it from cover to cover.

I was hoping for the holy grail book on how to use my crafty side to save money on my wedding. Most of the crafts were pretty hokey and I would never want them at my wedding. Secondly, the ideas were more finishing touches rather than essential pieces. I have found much better books than this if you want to "DIY".

I didn't find anything new or "ground-breaking" in this book. You can get similar information for free on wedding blogs. This could possibly be a good book for people that are not already DIY-oriented, but for me, it wasn't worth it.

this book was so much help. I am a creative person myself but this book gave me so many new ideas and showed me new ways to do things. Also, making the projects saved my fiance and i a lot of money. Any DIY bride wikll definately want this book!!!

This book does have a very detailed, excellent series of DIY projects, which would be perfect for a more energetic bride than me. Since becoming engaged, it seems like everything I run across makes me want to elope. However, this book is engagingly written and a good match for women who enjoy putting hours into dainty save the dates or original wedding favors. I think that kind of effort is commendable, I just can't bring myself to really put forth the effort on any of the projects.

By the time we get married, my fiance and I will have been engaged for 3 years (longer than we've been dating)! We pushed the date back in order to save money to pay for this party. Had this book been available earlier, I would have gotten married sooner with all the money I would have saved! I've purchased other DIY wedding craft books, but this is by far the best! The projects are fun and hip unlike some other books that have projects that look like they are straight out of the 80's. Some of the best features of this book are (1) the resource guide in the back--it lists many different websites and stores where the materials can be purchased, (2) the money-saving clues for each project (it lists what the item would cost if you purchased it from a vendor as opposed to DIY--I love knowing that I'm saving money!), (3)skill level and time/manpower needed (it lists whether you can complete the project by yourself or if you should enlist the help of family members, maids, or fiance), (4) the step-by-step instructions with visual aides for those of us that need visual cues, and (5) the timeline in the front of the book lists when you should purchase materials needed by and what projects should be completed first. I definitely would recommend this book as I already plan to do several of the projects! GREAT BUY!