31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

My Wedding Planning Bible, August 17, 2007

I used this book to plan my wedding that happened in May ’07, which was done without a wedding planner. My wedding was held in a historic, beautiful synagogue and historic beautiful hotel (similar to the country club chapter). So many of our guests have commented directly to us or my parents about how beautiful our wedding was — and I have to say this book helped me more than any other. Simple Stunning Weddings guided most of my decor decisions over the 9 months that I spent planning our wedding.

For starters, I used this book to communicate with my florist — it was extremely helpful for that. So many of my friends and family have commented on how stunning our flowers were — we used fresh seasonal flowers in colors that suited our venue but they were of a style and in containers similar to the ones presented here.

In addition, her ideas about where to splurge and where to save for a given venue were invaluable. Not only did they save money, but they also saved time and stress.

Her suggestion of bringing old family photos into a reception site was one of the biggest hits of my wedding — both my husband and I found old photographs of our family going back to the early 20th century and had them displayed on a large table. People couldn’t stop talking about them — not just our relatives, but friends too. That suggestion cost us about $50 — how great is that? Her idea to hire a swing band to harmonize with the classic space was another giant hit — the dance floor was full until the band stopped at midnight.

I didn’t copy her ideas, rather I adapted them for the synagogue and ballrooms that we used — and I found it quite easy to do so. It is so easy to be overwhelmed by all the choices around planning a wedding — everything from table linens to wineglasses to lighting to picking a band — it was wonderful to have her photos and text to guide and influence our decisions.

I spent nine months being fairly wedding obsessed while planning our wedding — I purchased many books and magazines, spent lots of time figuring out our options and looking around for ideas, and I have to say that the ideas presented here were the best resource I found. My other favorite book (in a very different vein) was Bridal Bargains — it’s discussions on how to hire vendors from photographers to caterers to dress shops informed and influenced all of our vendor selections. By doing so I hired great vendors right away and avoided many of the hassles that my friends went through while planning their weddings. I’m not sure how much money I saved through their suggestions, but they really do understand what good vendors look like — which was tremendously helpful.

]]> http://the-wedding-handbook.com/wedding-planning/planning-the-music-for-your-wedding-piano-solo-songbook-and-cd-package/comment-page-1#comment-2042 S. Casey "bookworm" Thu, 21 Apr 2011 12:50:59 +0000 http://the-wedding-handbook.com/wedding-planning/planning-the-music-for-your-wedding-piano-solo-songbook-and-cd-package#comment-2042 <div style="margin-left:0.5em;"> <div style="margin-bottom:0.5em;"> 44 of 44 people found the following review helpful: </div> <div style="margin-bottom:0.5em;"> <span style="margin-left: -5px;"><img src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/common/customer-reviews/stars-5-0._V192240867_.gif" width="64" alt="5.0 out of 5 stars" title="5.0 out of 5 stars" height="12" border="0"/></span> <b>MVP for Wedding Ideas</b>, <nobr>October 5, 2005</nobr></div> <div style="margin-bottom:0.5em;"> <div><div style="float:left;">By </div><div style="float:left;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A3D6Y5LPZ7SGAE/ref=cm_cr_if_pdp/179-5974431-1548664?ie=UTF8&tag=the-wedding-handbook-20&linkCode=xm2" target="_top"><span style="font-weight: bold;">S. Casey "bookworm"</span></a> (CO, USA) - <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A3D6Y5LPZ7SGAE/ref=cm_cr_if_auth_rev/179-5974431-1548664?ie=UTF8&tag=the-wedding-handbook-20&linkCode=xm2&sort_by=MostRecentReview" target="_top"></a><br/><a href="/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=cm_rn_bdg_help/179-5974431-1548664?ie=UTF8&nodeId=14279681&pop-up=1#RN" target="AmazonHelp" onclick="return amz_js_PopWin(this.href,'AmazonHelp','width=340,height=340,resizable=1,scrollbars=1,toolbar=1,status=1');"><img src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/reputation/c7y_badge_rn_1._V192249968_.gif" width="70" align="absmiddle" alt="(REAL NAME)" height="15" border="0"/></a>    </div></div><div style="clear:both;"/> </div> <div class="tiny" style="margin-bottom:0.5em;"> <b><span class="h3color tiny">This review is from: </span>Simple Stunning Weddings: Designing and Creating Your Perfect Celebration (Hardcover)</b> </div> The philosphy of this book is even more useful than the stunning pictures are. When I was planning my weding, it was so easy to be overwhelmed with the choices and ideas available. This book offers a 1-2-3 approach than can simplify some of the decision-making, at least as far as decor is concerned. While I too was occasionally frustrated by my location not fitting into any of the "themes" given, the point of the book is to inspire brides to work WITH their locations, rather than against them. By doing so, I saved a lot of time, effort, and money by not trying to make my location into a castle or a country club when it was a renovated school, but rather embracing the beauty of the architecture and gardens already there. <br/><br/>Aside from the basic philosophy, the pictures are incredible. I love thumbing through this book even though my wedding is over, just for the beauty of the photography and the creativity of the ideas. This book, along with Bridal Bargains, gave me the wedding I wanted with the budget I had. <div style="padding-top: 10px; clear: both; width: 100%;"> <div style="float:left; padding-right:15px; border-right:1px solid #CCCCCC"><div style="padding-bottom:5px;"><b class="tiny" style="color:#666666;white-space:nowrap;">Help other customers find the most helpful reviews</b> </div><div style="width:300px;"> <a name="R2L2ICF23LX60I.2115.Helpful.Reviews" style="font-size:1px;"> </a><span><span class="votingPrompt">Was this review helpful to you? </span><a rel="nofollow" class="votingButtonReviews" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/voting/cast/Reviews/2115/R2L2ICF23LX60I/Helpful/1/ref=cm_cr_ifvoteyn/179-5974431-1548664?ie=UTF8&token=6D54B782C075E413EE41D1D8407ED682E7FB3F4E&target=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5hbWF6b24uY29tL3Byb2R1Y3QtcmV2aWV3cy8xNTg0NzkzNjUxL3JlZj1jbV9jcl9pZnZvdGVyZHIvMTc5LTU5NzQ0MzEtMTU0ODY2ND9fZW5jb2Rpbmc9VVRGOCZzdW1tYXJ5PTAmYWxpbmtDb2RlPXhtMiZ0YWc9dGhlLXdlZGRpbmctaGFuZGJvb2stMjAmdj0yJmxpbmtDb2RlPXhtMiZhc2luPTE1ODQ3OTM2NTEmdHJ1bmNhdGU9NTAwMCZha2lkPTFLMTk0TkpZWFZWUVZaRjdEUTgyJnNpZz1yTiUyQk9DUVBuUUZsNDZ1NzY1WG1FVG9pUFUlMkJlZHdOJTJGdW1DV0ZGanlpJTJCZHclM0QmZXhwPTIwMTEtMDQtMjJUMTklM0EyMCUzQTQ0WiZhdGFnPXRoZS13ZWRkaW5nLWhhbmRib29rLTIw&voteAnchorName=R2L2ICF23LX60I.2115.Helpful.Reviews&voteSessionID=179-5974431-1548664"><img src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/reviews/btn-yes-sec-md._V192249951_.gif" width="35" alt="Yes" style="vertical-align:middle;" height="18" border="0"/></a> <a rel="nofollow" class="votingButtonReviews" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/voting/cast/Reviews/2115/R2L2ICF23LX60I/Helpful/-1/ref=cm_cr_ifvoteyn/179-5974431-1548664?ie=UTF8&token=79A098D65CAA6F2412E3588ED5E0D5D39D2114D8&target=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5hbWF6b24uY29tL3Byb2R1Y3QtcmV2aWV3cy8xNTg0NzkzNjUxL3JlZj1jbV9jcl9pZnZvdGVyZHIvMTc5LTU5NzQ0MzEtMTU0ODY2ND9fZW5jb2Rpbmc9VVRGOCZzdW1tYXJ5PTAmYWxpbmtDb2RlPXhtMiZ0YWc9dGhlLXdlZGRpbmctaGFuZGJvb2stMjAmdj0yJmxpbmtDb2RlPXhtMiZhc2luPTE1ODQ3OTM2NTEmdHJ1bmNhdGU9NTAwMCZha2lkPTFLMTk0TkpZWFZWUVZaRjdEUTgyJnNpZz1yTiUyQk9DUVBuUUZsNDZ1NzY1WG1FVG9pUFUlMkJlZHdOJTJGdW1DV0ZGanlpJTJCZHclM0QmZXhwPTIwMTEtMDQtMjJUMTklM0EyMCUzQTQ0WiZhdGFnPXRoZS13ZWRkaW5nLWhhbmRib29rLTIw&voteAnchorName=R2L2ICF23LX60I.2115.Helpful.Reviews&voteSessionID=179-5974431-1548664"><img src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/reviews/btn-no-sec-md._V192249949_.gif" width="35" alt="No" style="vertical-align:middle;" height="18" border="0"/></a> <span class="votingMessage"/></span> </div></div><div style="float:left;"><div style="padding-left:15px;"><div style="white-space:nowrap;"><span class="tiny"> <a name="R2L2ICF23LX60I.2115.Inappropriate.Reviews" style="font-size:1px;"> </a><span class="reportingButton"><nobr><a rel="nofollow" class="reportingButton" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/voting/cast/Reviews/2115/R2L2ICF23LX60I/Inappropriate/1/ref=cm_cr_ifvoteyn/179-5974431-1548664?ie=UTF8&token=2AFE43BAE1C5610D73DA11B3CDF77D8C4545821B&target=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5hbWF6b24uY29tL3Byb2R1Y3QtcmV2aWV3cy8xNTg0NzkzNjUxL3JlZj1jbV9jcl9pZnZvdGVyZHIvMTc5LTU5NzQ0MzEtMTU0ODY2ND9fZW5jb2Rpbmc9VVRGOCZzdW1tYXJ5PTAmYWxpbmtDb2RlPXhtMiZ0YWc9dGhlLXdlZGRpbmctaGFuZGJvb2stMjAmdj0yJmxpbmtDb2RlPXhtMiZhc2luPTE1ODQ3OTM2NTEmdHJ1bmNhdGU9NTAwMCZha2lkPTFLMTk0TkpZWFZWUVZaRjdEUTgyJnNpZz1yTiUyQk9DUVBuUUZsNDZ1NzY1WG1FVG9pUFUlMkJlZHdOJTJGdW1DV0ZGanlpJTJCZHclM0QmZXhwPTIwMTEtMDQtMjJUMTklM0EyMCUzQTQ0WiZhdGFnPXRoZS13ZWRkaW5nLWhhbmRib29rLTIw&voteAnchorName=R2L2ICF23LX60I.2115.Inappropriate.Reviews&voteSessionID=179-5974431-1548664"></a></nobr></span> </span> <span style="color:#CCCCCC;">|</span> <span class="tiny"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/review/R2L2ICF23LX60I/ref=cm_cr_if_perm/?ie=UTF8&ASIN=1584793651&nodeID=&tag=the-wedding-handbook-20&linkCode=xm2" target="_top"></a></span></div><div style="white-space:nowrap;padding-left:-5px;padding-top:5px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/review/R2L2ICF23LX60I/ref=cm_cr_if_cmt/179-5974431-1548664?ie=UTF8&ASIN=1584793651&nodeID=&tag=the-wedding-handbook-20&linkCode=xm2#wasThisHelpful" target="_top"><img src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/comment-sm._V192250344_.gif" width="16" alt="Comment" hspace="3" align="absmiddle" height="16" border="0"/></a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/review/R2L2ICF23LX60I/ref=cm_cr_if_cmt/179-5974431-1548664?ie=UTF8&ASIN=1584793651&nodeID=&tag=the-wedding-handbook-20&linkCode=xm2#wasThisHelpful" target="_top">Comment</a></div></div></div><div style="clear:both;"/> </div> <br/></div>

44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

MVP for Wedding Ideas, October 5, 2005

By 

S. Casey “bookworm” (CO, USA) –

  

This review is from: Simple Stunning Weddings: Designing and Creating Your Perfect Celebration (Hardcover)

The philosphy of this book is even more useful than the stunning pictures are. When I was planning my weding, it was so easy to be overwhelmed with the choices and ideas available. This book offers a 1-2-3 approach than can simplify some of the decision-making, at least as far as decor is concerned. While I too was occasionally frustrated by my location not fitting into any of the “themes” given, the point of the book is to inspire brides to work WITH their locations, rather than against them. By doing so, I saved a lot of time, effort, and money by not trying to make my location into a castle or a country club when it was a renovated school, but rather embracing the beauty of the architecture and gardens already there.

Aside from the basic philosophy, the pictures are incredible. I love thumbing through this book even though my wedding is over, just for the beauty of the photography and the creativity of the ideas. This book, along with Bridal Bargains, gave me the wedding I wanted with the budget I had.

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