Anti-Bride Guide: Tying the Knot Outside of the Box

by Carolyn Gerin, Stephanie Rosenbaum

Into a sea of pearl white and pale blue comes the hot pink and orange Anti-Bride Guide. The perfect book for anyone alienated by the high-brow wedding industry, this practical guide fills a huge gap in the wedding planner market. A riot to read and filled with sassy illustrations, each chapter offers up fabulous advice and unusual ideas for those brides looking for more than the standard fare. Hundreds of fantastic tips give great insider advice on how to deal with any and all wedding eventualities (lipstick stain on dress, caterer from hell, wedding day breakout). A handy planner and resource guide keeps the bride on track, and tabbed chapters have pockets for stuffing brochures and clippings. For the bride who wants her wedding her way, this is the ultimate guide.

Genres: Nonfiction, Marriage

144 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2001

Reviews

[Bree · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting checklists at the back, but the rest of the book was useless.

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I was ever to get married, I might use some of these ideas.

[Mary Margaret · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is 20 years old and it shows. I was really hopeful when I read the back cover, because I feel like the most important part of the wedding is love, not material. But it very quickly turned very vapid.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Outdated and sexist but some good reminders.

[Ashton Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basic, helpful ideas. I liked the list at the end, and this book can be helpful for brainstorming ideas for a wedding.

[Eunice Mandecote · Rating 5 out of 5]

Things have been going fine with my wedding planning because of this book. I got at least 5 priorities that I can splurge my money on instead of wasting money on things we don't really need!!! How lucky we are that my future in-laws are paying for the catering! And some of our family members and relatives are pitching in for the favors, wines, photo/video!!! Wow! Just keeping the faith that everything will work smoothly until the wedding day! It's going to be one of the best days of our lives!!! Gathering both our families and friends to celebrate with us would be really cool! The lessons I've learned from this book will totally be executed at the wedding! Can't wait!!!

[Unwisely · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm helping a friend plan her wedding, so I thought this sounded like the real her. I admit to not having read any other wedding planning books (although I've read a lot of websites), but it sounded like one part common sense, one part practical timeline, and one part "be artistic and know other artistic people". I dunno. There were a few tips that I thought were really good, but overall, I was glad it was a library book.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although the phrase "outside [of:] the box" makes me punchy, the book was actually pretty good. Disclosure: I never even fake-planned my wedding before I got engaged, and elopement was off the table pretty quickly. So, since I had no clue what I wanted to do, this book has some good guidelines which might be pretty duhh to women and men who are more on top of things. The book has a kind of hip tone, which could be grating if that's not your thing, but it was just the thing I needed.

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a bride myself, just intrigued by the title. Though it was well-organized, this book made my head spin. I didn't realize how much planning goes into weddings! The book did have some interesting ideas for unconventional, more creative parties. It's not super inventive, but worth a quick browsing.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

As opposed to theknot.com's INSANE to-do list (complete with not-so-subtle hints about my need to hire a personal trainer ASAP, ugh), this guide is keeping me pulled together and on my own track (and feeling rad about it).

[Kelley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nope, nothing here. It's all very in-the-box, or maybe I'm like not even in the same zip code as the 'wedding' box. It all rang pretty traditional to me.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I kinda of skimmed this, but it seemed useful.

[Jamie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh. Too basic to really be helpful. More of a "here are some things to consider" kind of book than a "here is how to plan a wedding" book.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some practical advice for planning a wedding, navigating your own expectations with those of your family & friends.

[lucy black · Rating 1 out of 5]

what's anti about this? it's still totally mainstream and boring

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

ok found interesting facts but info was not really anti bride

[L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and to the point.

[Delecia Sampson krevet · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing really "anti" about it. Has some good checklists in the back. Helped me remember a few things when I was doing my planning.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hate weddings. Now to look for the etiquette guide so I can try not to hurt any more feelings.

[Jamz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty informative. A lot of basic information, though that's what all these consist of. I found it witty, which sets it apart.