Wedding Planning for Dummies

by Marcy Blum, Laura Fisher Kaiser

Congratulations, you’re planning a wedding! Besides obtaining a fancy tuxedo and a stunning gown, organizing a wedding ceremony takes creativity, planning, diplomacy, and nerve. The whole ordeal can seem overwhelming at first, but with a little guidance, you’ll pull off a wedding people will remember for ages. Wedding Planning For Dummies, 2 nd Edition demystifies and simplifies all the details that go into the Big Day, providing inspiration and innovative ideas to personalize your wedding celebration and, of course, make it fun for everyone—especially you! This one-stop guide is all you need Packed with tips for saving money and common kitsch you should avoid, this is the ultimate guide to satisfying everyone on the Big Day. You’ll discover the confidence you need to make the wedding of your dreams come true with Wedding Planning For Dummies, 2 nd Edition !

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, How To, Self Help

408 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Christina Windle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Should be called Wedding Planning for Rich Dummies because most of the book focuses on the more expensive options for everything and the author often made me feel like if you don't do this and don't do that, then you're basically hosting a cheap classless wedding. The author, Marcy Blum, is a wedding planner to the stars and I feel she and the Dummies series editors were out of touch with what the average book buyer for this series is looking for in a wedding planning book, something at least mildly budget conscious. This book really propagates the whole wedding-industry money-spending complex. I don't mind that expensive options are talked about. But most people can't afford a bar carved out of ice or even the "cheaper" suggestion of a large ice sculpture at their bar. When focusing on a topic, like invitations, I would have liked an expensive/all-out option, a medium priced option, and a thrifty option (that does't make you feel awful for being budget conscious). I think that should have been the structure of the book for all major areas. It's all a big bummer because the author actually had A LOT of great advice for every situation you could possibly think of in between all the extravagance. Very through and covers a lot of wedding styles/religions/cultures. The section on vows was the star of the book for me as it gave about ten of the most common vows for weddings and I really felt like I could find/mash together from a few of the versions, the perfect vows for my wedding. You can definitely tell that she's been in the industry a long time and knows how to host a traditional/upper-crust/formal affair. She's very clear about social etiquette and do's and don't's, which is great because no one wants to offend someone because they didn't know the proper etiquette for wedding invitations or seating arrangements. She also does have budget-saving advice, but I feel that considering the amount of space it got in the book, that part feels more like an after-thought, edited in so the book would be more marketable. She also talks lot about avoiding wedding/family conflict, which is great if that's a problem, but it made me think that most weddings are as dramatic as an episode of The Real Housewives (although she does do celebrity weddings, lol). I think for the average wedding most people can be civil for one day for the bride and groom even if that means that divorcees might have to sit within ear-shot of each other at their child's wedding. I would say buy the book for the hard advice, use it as a technical reference for details like how to format invitations, and then take some of her extravagant advice with a grain of salt. Poll your friends and family on what they think is acceptable or tacky and ignore the pressure from the book to host that open bar or decorate every little thing at the reception if that's not what you can afford. I really liked the Everything Wedding Organizer. I suggest checking that out before this book.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually rather informative book. Helped answer some basic questions about planning a wedding and gave some good advice.

[Ailey Maria · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is a bunch of old BS. Way outdated, has information on things such as writing letters to your guests and so on about things that are soooo outdated! Not to mention the fact that this book only includes how to throw a church wedding. When it showed the wedding day schedule in the book it started from church doors opening and ending with postlude music playing until all guests left the church. No alternate schedule. Pretty disgusted with this book. Will not finish reading it.

[Brittany · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is definitely a bit dated and Blum leans toward traditional/conservative rather than modern throughout. Also, you get the impression she's really not comfortable working with BIPOC weddings from the way she talks about certain things. Still, this was a solid starting point as I begin to think about planning a wedding and there are certainly some helpful checklists throughout. Download those and maybe skip the rest because this got pretty long.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mostly skimmed this one but I thought it was good. I liked it more than the other one I read. Still, too much info for the type of wedding I want to plan.

[Frances · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's always hard to assign a number of stars to a reference book, and even moreso when it's a reference on such an emotionally-loaded topic as weddings. This book has a TON of information. Instead of just, "there are pros and cons to having your wedding coincide with a holiday; check the calendar to see if the date you want is on or near any federal or religious holidays," there is an entire sidebar with a list of secular and religious holidays that occur throughout the year. Instead of just, "you are going to need to tweak your wedding plans according to the weather forecast," there is a list of websites you can use to check the weather. Some of this TMI- and the cutesy tone- makes you roll your eyes. But this book covers absolutely every detail you may need or want to consider for a large, (expensive!) American-style wedding. Read it if you:
-Want to know how an American-style wedding is done, how it has been done in the past, and what is likely to become trendy in the future;
-Want to know (for curiosity's sake perhaps) how Jewish, Roman Catholic, Protestant and other mainline Christian, Muslim, Shinto, Buddhist, Mormon, Quaker, Unitarian Universalist, Nondenominational, and a bunch of other kinds of weddings are traditionally done in the United States;
-Want to have a list of absolutely everything you need to think about, might want to think about, and don't want to have to think about while planning a wedding.
Don't read it if you:
-Are bothered by the fact that the author often assumes that money will be no object;
-Want to know how to plan a wedding according to a specific ethnic tradition;
-Are not able to take some, most, or all of the advice with a grain of salt.

[Lana. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wedding planning is stressful. When my friend got engaged and asked me to be part of her wedding party, I bought this book and gave it to her for reference. I'd skimmed through it and thought it pretty hilarious (Indeed! Calla lilies are probably a little too javalin-like for a tossing bouquet... unless of course that's the effect you're after).

It was returned to me for planning my big day... um... but things weren't sounding so funny then.

While Marcy Blum obviously has a lot of experience in the wedding planning business, my edition must have been much too old, because the internet was only vaguely referenced, and some of the "how to save money" tips were kind of out dated. The information that is classic and traditional were helpful: How to to write a formal invitation, how to address invitations... But whole sections about rings so far along in the book that it wasn't really that relevant anymore.

As the title states: Wedding for Dummies. So for someone who's never attended or heard about a Western wedding, there's definitely something here for you. For those actually planning a wedding... there are better books out there.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of a young English/History teacher and the stunningly beautiful woman that said yes to marriage. He took her to a nice lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, decorated her room with flowers, rose petals, and chocolate that spelled "I heart you," and then got down on one knee with a ring while she opened a fortune cookie with "Tian, will you marry me" written on the fortune. She said yes :)

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a big fan of the For Dummies series -- I've never picked one up that hasn't been very well written and extremely informative.
A few sections of this were of dubious use to me because the author clearly thinks I plan to have a $30,000 wedding... but still a lot of good (and some fun) information.

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was more technical than the others that I've read about wedding planning. It had some excellent advice about the marriage license and what you would need to change your last name. Other topics were covered in exhaustive detail, but I think most people would find that helpful. I just skimmed over those parts since they didn't apply for me.

[Amanda McGill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of good tips! I didn't read the whole book since I am in the very, very early stages of planning my wedding, but it was a great reference tool. Easy to navigate and if you needed help in a particular part (E.g. flowers or venues) it was easy to find that chapter and get all the information you need. One negative and maybe it was just the edition I read (2004), but it seemed a bit outdated

[Scott Gillespie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't reeeally read this the entire book. I just read a few chapters, breezed through others, and ignored the rest. It did help and if I had started reading it sooner it probably would have helped more.

[Eileen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not kidding when I say that this book was extremely helpful to me in the planning stages of my wedding. With my Mom deceased, I wanted to make sure I had some guidance as to how to do things without constantly badgering my sisters. This book was a lifesaver.

[Judith · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was easy to get through, with very clear examples. For me, especially the spreadsheet example of how to keep track of wedding finances was valuable. A major drawback of the book was how it is directed almost exclusively to American style weddings.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy to read and answered several questions - but didn't love it because who wants all of that stress? If you're not caught up on what you "should" do for a wedding, I'd say just skip the books and plan for the heart.

[Rhonda · Rating 3 out of 5]

checked this out to help a young couple planning a wedding. less stuffy than more traditional etiquette books, easy to understand. covered a lot of topics.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super helpful seeing as how I was planning a wedding and am a dummy. Seems they wrote the book just for me.

[Renee · Rating 1 out of 5]

Alright, a little outdated. Weird organization of chapters and topics.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comprehensive and covers all minuscule details.

[Martine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goede tips, lekker flexibel en openminded.