The Knot Complete Guide to Weddings

by Carley Roney

From the #1 wedding website, this completely revised and updated edition of the classic wedding planning bible answers all of your questions, with all the latest information and tools a bride could want. 

Overwhelmed by the countless questions and details your wedding entails? Don't despair! The Knot Complete Guide to Weddings takes you step-by-step from your engagement to the big day, from the reception to the honeymoon. Inside you'll find checklists, worksheets, insider advice, and in-depth sections

• How to personalize your wedding
• Updated wedding etiquette
• Creating a realistic budget
• Sneaky cost-cutting tips
• Dress shopping advice
• Tips for working with florists, caterers, officiants, and others
• Invitation wording
• Vows and ceremony details
• Unique Wedding customs

Plus, all new sections Planning Online and Destination Weddings, and a color-coded section with over 100 vibrant photographs.

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, Adult

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Carol]

Amazing book no notes... well actually a lot of notes, and highlights, and post-it notes.

[Caitlin]

I found a few other books more helpful than this one but it’s still informative and goes down to the minute details. If you don’t have a budget, or you have a big one, this would work well. So as someone who is on a tight budget, I mostly just used it as an overall review of my choices.

[Jen]

This is...comprehensive. While I am not having a huge bash like much of the book is focused on planning for, it was a great resource to help me think about what I might not know to think of. I definitely took away one or two nuggets. That said, it is a 400-plus page book and very reiterative because things are presented in paragraph and checklist format. I can absolutely see the value and it really felt like reading a book on my profession, project management, because that's essentially exactly what you're doing even if you're not calling it that. The etiquette may be a bit outdated being 25-years old but there were a lot of links to The Knot and that did keep a lot of the relevance. If you're planning a wedding, I'd definitely check this out.

[Margaret]

I am a bit biased because this was the first wedding planning book I got that I didn't flip through and immediately return (to the library). I appreciated the checklists and only used about 25% of them... Which I guess is the point -> to figure out what you actually care about and want to have in your event.

[Alane]

Did what I needed it to do.

[Lizzie Peoples]

Pretty sure my brain absorbed none of this information

[Parnian]

Very American-centric but still a very helpful guide for a semi-ethnic wedding

We held a semi-western style wedding fused with Perdian and we found it a very helpful guide. You have to ignore some of the "oh my gosh your beautiful day is coming" cliche vocabulary and attitudes in the book. But the general advice is sound. I would say they could drastically improve the book by learning and incorporating more from other cultures with different marriage practices.

[Laura]

Ok, I'm not a prospective bride but I checked this out at the library because back in the early 2000s I helped my mom plan my sisters wedding long distance on a minimal budget & remember using this website as a source of ideas. A dear cousin is getting married & if asked or called to contribute advice I wanted to be in the know.

Perhaps the website is still a good resource but the chicks who wrote this guide have got to be out of their minds. The basic wedding they are planning is $30,000!!! Yikes!

I don't even know a person who has spent that much on a vehicle much less a party.

I ended up skimming most of it. I will say if you have paid vendors involved in your wedding the info on contracts & marriage insurance is excellent. I guess even if costco is doing your cake & the men are renting formal wear these chapters could be useful, but the same info is probably on the web site.

[Jazzmin]

This book is definately a know-it-all guide. Anyone getting married or anyone remotely interested in weddings should not only read and retain this book, but keep it. So far, covering everything from the invitations to the honeymoon, this guide is brilliantly written and I would definitely recommend it.

[Shanna]

This is the first book I read to help me prepare for my wedding. It was helpful and served as a good guide in the beginning. The most useful part of any bridal books I have read has always been the checklist of what needs to be done when. I recommend this as a good starter book for a newly engaged bride.

[Ben Murray]

3.5 stars, truly. This is a serviceable book for planning a wedding. Helpful parts include the checklists and any section offering advice on communicating with vendors - the most helpful part for me! - and guests. Unhelpful parts include assuming that a "budget" wedding will cost $30k and will involve much of the wedding-industrial-complex.

[Jessica]

This book is useful for planning and is full of information. Most of it can be found on the website, but having the book lets me take notes, write in margins, and fill in all the helpful forms and time tables.

[Jess Hicken]

This book really helped me through the planning stages of my wedding. I found this one to be more helpful than some of the others that I read.

[Lauren]

I thought it was helpful in planning.

[Sarah]

Great book for wedding planning. Lots of great lists and timelines that I found very helpful.

[Eileen]

So much information! it's overwhelming.

[A. B]

Complete guide to planning, essential if you are planning it yourself.
Great information and detailed.
Best suited for traditional american same gendered couples.

[Diana Davis]

Great tips for planning a wedding. I just wish I had had the "average" wedding budget! LOL

[Christine]

This book is intended for people who have huge wedding budgets, which is not me. I don't need half of the stuff they talked about. Moving on to other wedding advice books.

[Megan Thomas]

Super helpful, and brief which is great. :)