Simple Stunning Wedding Etiquette: Traditions, Answers, and Advice from One of Today's Top Wedding Planners

by Karen Bussen

What’s the preferred way of wording your invitation? How should guests at the wedding dinner be seated? What do you say to people who ask to bring their (uninvited) children to the reception―or, scarier still, to your prospective mother-in-law when she picks out the World’s Ugliest Dress to wear on your big day? Brides-to-be have a lot on their minds, including making sure that everything connected with the wedding is done the “right way.” But nowadays few people are adequately schooled in the do’s and don’ts of proper etiquette―and that’s where Simple Stunning Wedding Etiquette comes to the desperately needed rescue. This newest volume in Karen Bussen’s Simple Stunning Wedding series―whose four previous books total more than 130,000 copies in print―is the perfect marriage between the timeless and the new. Bussen celebrates the beloved rituals (cake-cutting, toasts) that are well worth preserving, while dispensing with outmoded rites (the garter toss) best left by the wayside. And Bussen’s guide goes beyond other wedding etiquette handbooks by dealing sensitively with the sometimes-fraught issues (divorced parents, second marriages, blending religious traditions) so crucial to contemporary wedding planning.

Genres: Nonfiction

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Misono · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book for anyone who is unsure of certain aspects of wedding etiquette - it covers everything from how to word invitations, the timing of sending them out, how to communicate and coordinate with your bridal party, seating arrangements, etc. It introduces basic general guidelines for the confused bride, and although it did clear up some uncertainties, there were a lot of things in the book that I already knew or could guess. Nevertheless, it's always better to be certain rather than unsure when it comes to something as significant as wedding planning, and it is a good reference for traditional etiquette so that you don't step on the toes of some of your older guests. Not a critical wedding planning book, but definitely helpful.

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the book very helpful. It talks about all aspects of wedding planning and gives unified advice, which allows to stop making most vulgar mistakes. It's concise for a book, but certainly more through than any internet resource. I have also enjoyed answers to the questions even if they were not applicable to me. It suggests a certain attitude to the wedding and the wedding planning, demonstrating values of family and love over superficial details of china patterns.