The Knot Ultimate Wedding Planner

by Carley Roney

From the author of The Knot Complete Guide to Weddings in the Real World, a thoroughly modern, must-have workbook to help you pull off the perfect wedding.

With so many nerve-wracking details to tend to, planning the perfect wedding can seem an impossible task. Now The Knot Ultimate Wedding Planner guides you step-by-step through the countless stages of planning your big day. Packed with easy-to-follow checklists and worksheets, and the hip, insightful wisdom that has made theknot.com an indispensable resource for millions of couples worldwide, The Knot Ultimate Wedding Planner provides:

A one-year calendar with monthly and weekly to-do lists leading up to the moment of marriage
Worksheets to help you:

Organize the attendants, the guest list, and the invitations        
Design the ceremony--from the site and officiant to the dress
Arrange the reception--from the cake and caterer to the music and the photographer

Checklists to keep track of finances, contracts, and post-marriage legalities
Money-saving tips and answers to Frequently Asked Questions

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, Self Help, Marriage

200 pages, Paperback

First published December 28, 1999

Reviews

[Marisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This planning book is so helpful! The tabs keep me organized, the information is useful, and the writing and illustrations are clear, direct, and to the point! My only complaint is that I wish there were a New York specific edition; in some regards, the timeline seemed a bit tight for a Long Island wedding and you can certainly tell it's not a NY publication when cannoli cake filling is listed under "unusual options" (78).

[Cathie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful checklist format with info about contracts, etc and sample questions to ask. We got it because we wanted to make sure we could minimize any surprises.

Since it was last updated in 2013 it would be a good idea to check the online version to see what changes are current.

[Selena · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given this book by my maid of honor to help me plan my wedding since I was doing it all solo and had only hired a day-of coordinator so I needed to keep things organized so she could take over that morning. It was very helpful to keep my planning focused. Before every vendor meeting I read through the appropriate section and it brought a lot great insight to the types of questions I should be asking. You have to take everything with a grain of salt of course as every wedding has it's specific needs, but overall it was a great tool as I planned my wedding. It came as a 3 ring binder as well which made it even easier to add copies of my contracts and add my schedule and other things my day-of coordinator might need. I highly suggest anyone planning their own wedding use this. Like I said, you'll still have to do some leg work on your own and organize some things that this book doesn't include, but as a skeleton, it was incredible. My day-of coordinator still uses me as an example as to how best to prepare her for success. She had everything she needed in her possession as I handed her my book.

[Shannon I · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helped me form some good questions and to do lists but seemed overall geared towards brides with a big budget wanting to have lots of other wedding related activities. Not quite what I was looking for and made me decide to hire a planner because it was overwhelming.

[Kayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

My book was just the wedding planner (no organizer) so it was smaller and the cover didn’t have the blue border. This book is so nice because you don’t have to read much, just grab a pen and write/check things off. Very to-the-point and helpful. Not the only wedding book I was able to use, though.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

It had a lot of helpful checklists and things to help you organize, but I booked my vendors already, so the majority of it was irrelevant.

[Renee Bunker · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of good tips. Helped me create a thorough to do list. I do feel like some of the “traditions” mentioned are unnecessary and just add too much to the cost.

[Sammie Jenkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very comprehensive, but definitely skewed to a traditional approach and rich budget.

[Jaclyn Yepsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been super helpful in planning our wedding.

[Darby Steeves · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's everything I expected and hoped for 🤍

[Allyson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't find this book very helpfu. This book is really best for anyone who is having a six-figure wedding.

[Chrissy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was my Holy Grail while planning my wedding. It made it so easy to stay on task and for nothing to be forgotten. Honestly anyone planning a wedding should get this book in my opinion.

[HallieLou · Rating 1 out of 5]

Probably a great book! Wedding planning was stressful for me- but my wedding day And marrying man of my dreams was the best!!

[Jason Yang · Rating 4 out of 5]

My really good friends are planning their own wedding and it is approaching in about a month. I was honored to be asked to officiate and decided to pick this up to make sure all of the details are taken care of and accounted for. I thought the checklists and forms in this book were sufficiently comprehensive and at a level of detail that was good enough to have the essentials taken care of without getting bogged down. I'm happy too there isn't too much discussion because I didn't really want to do any reading, but if you are looking for a perfect hand-holding walk-through, this may not be it. However, I think it's pretty good resource. I just wish I had come around this sooner.

[Mary Roberts · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just one person’s opinion: I mainly used it for the timeline/checklist, and occasionally would reference it when I wanted to know something like how soon do you send out invites and which side does the bride stand on. (But there is always Google for that). Otherwise, this book is geared towards people who are prepared to spend a MINIMUM of $25K on their wedding. Our budget was much lower. Also the book is geared towards the “traditional” (for lack of better word) wedding, so if you are a modern couple this book is not worth buying. Use The Knot’s online dashboard for pretty much all the same stuff.

[A. B · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was so helpful: I had no idea there were so many things to consider. I did six months of work in two days thanks to this book (but more thanks to the awesome community I live in). It's really easy to get overwhelmed and to overspend and focus on the details that aren't important- everyone wants to get you to buy something. Even this book. But it still has helped me so much!! It was GREAT.

[Jodi Goldberg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately this is very outdated, if was helpful to have the checklists to bring with me to appointments and keep in one place but I had to add info from the website to have accurate questions to ask. The technology especially in photography has increased greatly since this book was published

[Maria Shuffit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good wedding planning resource, though by far not complete, and the information here is readily available online. Great for people like me who like to have a hard copy to sift through during the process, and it has plenty of very helpful lists.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful...kept me on schedule (at least in the beginning when I was still sane).

[Lauren Provost]

It's sad but true...this is the book I am currently reading!

[Tessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

My birthday present from Jack. He knows me so well

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know how good the advice is yet but I did learn a couple of things in preparation of planning my wedding!

[Batzul Gerelsaikhan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Black and white, wedding planner book. Mostly applicable to US locations, but can be used by disregarding the US website/app recommendations.

[Sheila Hill]

Good details for wedding planning; outline of key steps for every stage.

[Rhiannon Lanier]

Great help for planning a wedding. I use it all the time now.

[Deborah Albero-Darata]

The book definitely offered very helpful guidance. Not everything was applicable to our wedding, but the items that were, such as the budget worksheet, music and flowers... those items did aid in our planning and what to expect.
I recommend this to anyone as a guide to helping plan their wedding.