Books Strew the Path to the Altar
By ABBY ELLIN
Published: March 11, 2007
To be sure she is hitched without a glitch, Sarah Cartwright has spent $150 for books on advice, planning and etiquette for her wedding on June 7.
Being a budget-conscious bride who's also a book-ophile, I was conflicted about that $150 price tag. I'd love to spend that much money on books. I myself purchased a couple books to help get me started with my planning. (I literally had no idea how to start planning a wedding.) But your head will spin and nothing will get planned if you take every bit of advice literally. If you are a book person on a budget you can get away with one or two books, and then everything else you need to know is instinct. Or for free online somewhere. (I've always thought that how-to-save-money books should start with the line, "If you're on a budget, then I hope you got this book from the library or used bookstore instead of paying full retail price for it.")
There's no question that wedding book publishing has become part of the Wedding Industry, so much so that there are anti-bride guide books and books criticizing the other books. And any celebrity can slap her name and picture on a book and make the reader feel like intimate celebrity wedding secrets are being shared.
My books. Someone gave me a wedding crafts book. I purchased an Anti-Bride guide and "Everything Weddings on a Budget," both of which I recently gave away to another bride. I also bought "Emily Post on Etiquette" and "Emily Post on Weddings," just for the olde-timey fun of it. It seems like a fairly paltry collection compared to some brides, but they provided more information than I ended up using.
What wedding books are you using?
6 comments:
I bought a gimundo/hokey looking planner that actually was quite useful. I kept it and it has all the scraps of magazine cut outs, notes, etc in it and it's like a mini-scrapbook. I also bought the Everything Wedding guide on a Budget book and gave it away to another bride later. That's it.
Thanks for the business card Stephanie! I'll check back when I get engaged...
You're welcome, avocado! Are you expecting it soon? :)
Pre-marital counseling is a big 'preparation' that a lot of couples seem to go through before their weddings. We checked out Susan's Piver's "The Hard Questions: 100 Questions to Ask Before You Say 'I Do'" from the library instead of meeting with a counselor. The book was insightful, and saved us a TON of money on counseling.
Vicky, I think I remember lugging your planner around that weekend in Vegas.
Yup, I did lug that thing around. I just saw the revised and BIGGER version of it today at Borders. Holy Ugly Cake Toppers it was huge!
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