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9th out of 156 books
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21 voters
Bridal Bargains: Secrets to Throwing a Fantastic Wedding on a Realistic Budget
The national best-seller the wedding industry does NOT want you to read! Bridal Bargains teaches couples all the tricks to saving money on a wedding--and how to avoid pitfalls and scams. With the average wedding costing $20,000, Bridal Bargains is the solution to tying the knot without breaking the bank.
Paperback, 468 pages
Published
November 1st 2006
by Windsor Peak Press
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This is the smartest book about planning a wedding I have ever encountered. It exposes, with a wry voice, the million little scams perpetrated on unsuspecting brides and grooms by the wedding-industrial complex, and gives excellent tips on how to avoid the pitfalls. What's refreshing is that it never tries to push a particular kind of wedding (small and non-traditional vs. large and observant of traditions, for example) but helps you figure out what kind of wedding you want to have, and then hel...more
Dec 29, 2008
Myridian
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
anyone planning a wedding
Shelves:
marriage,
nonfiction
This book really does have good advice and I'm sure I'll save money by following it. The only thing is that after reading the first "bridal apparel" section I felt really depressed. One of the things I always thought would be fun about getting married was being able to justify a really cool, expensive dress. The upshot of the wedding dress section is that everyone will try to rip you off. And while it's good to know and watch out for this and their other consumer awareness tips, it does feel lik...more
1 like · like · see review
A few days before Christmas I went from girlfriend to fiance and like every other bride-to-be once my head stopped swimming reality set in. I now had a party to plan. A big, expensive, 130 people on the guest list party.
Right.
I'm not going to try and kid myself here. While I've planned corporate parties for 300, I've never planned this kind of party and never, ever when my own credit card was involved. I wanted... no needed some info to help prepare me for the battles ahead. Enter 'Bridal Bargai...more
Right.
I'm not going to try and kid myself here. While I've planned corporate parties for 300, I've never planned this kind of party and never, ever when my own credit card was involved. I wanted... no needed some info to help prepare me for the battles ahead. Enter 'Bridal Bargai...more
Dec 08, 2009
Kristy M
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
And Bride-to-be or wedding planner
Recommended to Kristy by:
library
I'm updating this review from my previous "yay". Yes this book is chocked full of great info but there are some annoyances:
1.) I originally read most of the parts from a previous edition from the library. Imagine my disappointment when I saw that the coveted breakdown of dress manufacture quirks was - missing. Instead they only provide you with a quick reference chart. This was extremely disappointing to me as I gathered from a previous edition that some of the problems that give a lower rating...more
1.) I originally read most of the parts from a previous edition from the library. Imagine my disappointment when I saw that the coveted breakdown of dress manufacture quirks was - missing. Instead they only provide you with a quick reference chart. This was extremely disappointing to me as I gathered from a previous edition that some of the problems that give a lower rating...more
The tips in general are very helpful and the tone is casual and friendly. There are great suggestions for what to look out for and avoid when dealing with different aspects of making purchases and signing contracts, which is helpful because presumably you've never done any of this stuff before. It also doesn't answer every question with "spend more money," as sites like theknot.com do. When it gets down to specifics the book is flawed, recommending websites that barely function and weird things...more
It's a good book to get an idea on how to work with vendors. However, regardless of how many books one reads while planning for their wedding it's always important to know that some vendors do not care to work with their clients aka the bride/groom or their family even if asked nicely. Think of it as a general rule of thumb when flipping through these pages to get an idea of what may or may not work for yourself. Again, the book has a ton of insight and I cannot praise them enough for not boasti...more
Hands down, the best guide I have found for the early stages (and beyond) of wedding planning. Particularly if you are like me and have only been to a handful of weddings (or less) and are planning and paying by yourselves. Even my fiance found the book very helpful. We are saving money in places we didn't know we could. And the authors' sense of humor shows through. Just look at the copyright page.;-) This guide is definitely recommended. Only caveat being that the edition I read is the 8th edi...more
This book was amazing - best of the genre in my opinion. There were a lot of things I wasn't going to do at my wedding just because I couldn't afford them and this book allowed me to do them all. My entire wedding & reception only came to about $3500 using this book. It gave me a practical time table so that everything was done in time. I was able to get the most amazing dress for $250, which would have cost me about $1000 at David's bridal. We were able to get a great price on a suit for my...more
I found this book to be the most helpful of all of the bridal books I have read to date. In fact, after checking it out from the library, I purchased this book for my personal library.
So many of these money-saving books of all types give the same advice, much of which isn't always practical. I appreciated the breakdowns on each section about why things cost what they do, what to watch out for, what things are negotiable, and what questions to ask yourself to get your priorities in order. This bo...more
So many of these money-saving books of all types give the same advice, much of which isn't always practical. I appreciated the breakdowns on each section about why things cost what they do, what to watch out for, what things are negotiable, and what questions to ask yourself to get your priorities in order. This bo...more
This is the first engagement/wedding gift that my mom bought me after my husband proposed, and from now on, it will be one of my first gifts to dear friends who are tying the knot. This book is a fantastic reminder to brides throughout their planning process: GOING OVER YOUR WEDDING BUDGET WON'T MAKE YOU A HAPPIER COUPLE (on the contrary, it will probably have the opposite effect). This seemed obvious to me when I was newly engaged, but reminding myself of this as the big day drew nearer was in...more
Dec 02, 2008
Marissa
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Anyone getting married in the near future
Recommended to Marissa by:
Got it for free from my previous job
Shelves:
personalfinance
This is a great book for people who haven't ever planned a massively scaled party before. Thanks to my previous job- corporate event planning- I've got 3 "practice runs" of them under my belt (each for 250+ people, 2 buffet & 1 sit down all on budget(s)- <20K, ,<30k, & 45K- and in Manhattan) and I feel prepared to plan my own wedding. However, this book has been invaluable for dealing with the wedding industry specifically. The same venues that I have worked with in the past do cha...more
This book is filled with helpful tips for negotiating contracts and finding a dress. But I had a hard time getting past the fact that the book wasn't proofread (my fiance copyedits, so it's possible this was more aggravating to me than most). There are many simple errors that I found highly distracting. Still, I'd recommend it to others looking for tips on minimizing the effect of the wedding scam.
Every bride should read this book. Although it is depressing to find out how much you can be taken advantage of. It gives good hints about how to save money and what to watch out for when dealing with vendors. The authors aren't preachy either, they present the information to you for you do do with what you will, no "only crazy people would do that" type of commentary.
This book really helped me get my head around the multitude of choices out there for wedding planning. It offered realistic reviews, when the expense might be worth it, and important questions to ask vendors. Wedding planning is still overwhelming, but at least I felt like I knew some of the questions to ask when interviewing vendors.
Small, relatively concise, and has websites and specific ratings and things that are useful. Most of it seemed common sense to me, but common sense doesn't seem to be that common these days. A good gift for anyone in the bridal area. It did spawn a few ideas for me - not even always what they were talking about, but just opening my thoughts and eyes to what could be. Gotten out of the library, best of the bunch so far.
I've been given two copies of this book and it have been interesting comparing them (they are a few years apart.) Even in the few years between publishing, prices have changed. However, between this book series & OffBeatBride.com, I think we will get this wedding thing figured out.
Jul 03, 2008
Jennifer
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
any bride or anyone getting engaged
Recommended to Jennifer by:
I found it at borders by myself.
Of all the books I read for the wedding, this is the best book. I have easily built and maintained my budget with the help of this book. No matter what budget you have, this book is full of ways to help you spend money in the right way. It also covers many ways that the wedding industry will try to screw you, which I think every bride encounters. It is also perfect for any bride who wants to do any aspect of their wedding themselves. It lists invaluable tips and resources. If it didn't get updat...more
While this book was very helpful, it really only works for the beginning stages of wedding planning. I found using Weddingwire.com and their forums to be much more helpful. Do your own research, but this does help to get you started.
This book is a must for any bride to be! There are tons of good ideas, suggestions, checklists, and questions to ask. It will definitely help me keep costs down for my wedding. I will be keeping it by my side for the next 18 months!
I read through this, there is some REALLY good info, and some great ideas...sadly, my FH and I spent instead of saved, and well - I don''t really need this book anymore (as we have less than 3 months left!!)
Wow .... TONS of information in here. While a lot of it didn't apply to my small scale DIY wedding, it was still all very go to know and contained so much useful information about vendors.
good reference tool. already been helpful with website suggestions. will pick up again when planning the actually party starts getting closer. between this book and totally copying (scamming) all of Lisa's tricks i'll get off cheap. :)
This book provided a lot of good tips that seem like they will come in handy during the wedding planning process! I have several pages worth of notes that should be very useful.
Awe.Some. Far and away the absolute best wedding-related book I've seen. Tips on everything from how to find a dress to rings to catering and everything in between. A gem.
As I entered the bridal world, I was glad I had Ben warned by this book of the scam artists preying on brides. Read this book. It has great ideas for saving!
Once the first gloss of planning wears off and The Knot becomes laughably annoying, this book really helps you wade through the whole process. It works great as a "watch out for this" guide and also as basic planning tool. The questions to ask and the pitfalls to avoid were especially helpful. Yes, this may rub away at the some of the bright and shiny appearance of the bridal industry, but not enough to leave you jaded. With no experience hiring professionals or throwing such a large party, I wa...more
Packed with actual specific information about how to save money on your wedding purchases, this book is a must-have for anyone even thinking of planning a wedding. Unlike many books in this category which provide vague advice on cutting costs, this book provides names of companies along with contact phone numbers and even web addresses to help you get what you want at a better price. The information on finding a wedding gown for less was invaluable as was the heads-up on the deceptive practice o...more
This book had a lot of good tips for saving money while planning a wedding. One thing I really liked is that it had tips for people on any budget, whether big, small, or somewhere in the middle. Even if you're not necessarily looking to save money, this book alerts you to potential scams that target brides, teaches you how to plan a wedding, and warns you of some of the unexpected issues that the inexperienced wedding planner may encounter. For example, I had no idea that so many bridal shops go...more
This book was pretty interesting. It is really jam packed with facts and charts so I will probably have to use it as a reference going forward since I didn't take away a lot of specifics.
Not a read for those desiring a novel, but for those brides to be, this is THE go-to book to have a hell of a wedding without succumbing to the temptations of the bridal industry to steal your wallet.
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“Newspaper columnist Dave Barry once wrote that the motto of the wedding industry is, 'Money can't buy you happiness, so you might as well give your money to us.”
—
1 person liked it
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Dec 30, 2008 07:54am