The Wedding Book: The Big Book for Your Big Day

by Mindy Weiss, Lisbeth Levine

Announcing the wedding the most complete, lively, handholding, step-by-step guide to help every couple have a perfect wedding—no matter their budget, taste, or personalities. More than 2.2 million North American couples tie the knot each year; until now, only a mere fraction could work with celebrity wedding planner Mindy Weiss. But the significant fact is not Ms. Weiss's clientele, but the reason for She's so very good at what she does. And now she shares all of her hard-won experience, wisdom, inspiration, and style tips.

The Wedding Book covers everything, in a voice filled with announcing the engagement, and what to do when someone isn't happy about the news; creating a budget; the pros and cons of destination weddings. Drawing up the guest list; planning the ceremony (and how to personalize your vows); menus to inspire; contracts and wedding insurance. Shopping for the dress, six great hairstyles, tuxedo vs. dinner jacket, the etiquette of invitations. Style tips for flowers, the tabletop, linens; a cake that says "you"; the crucial "Sixty Days Until I Do"; rehearsal dinner strategies; plus freezing the cake and preserving the bouquet.

Today the average cost of a wedding is $25,000—at $19.95, The Wedding Book is the smartest investment a bride-to-be could make.

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, Relationships

496 pages, Hardcover

First published March 27, 2008

Reviews

[Elizabeth]

The gospel of wedding books. I actually interviewed Weiss a few months ago for a wedding piece and I can see why she is Planner-To-The-Stars. There is something about her voice and tone that makes you really, really relaxed. Suddenly, my deadline meant nothing to me.

Anyway, I also used this book for my own wedding and found it superlative for it's level of detail and scope. The timeline was extremely helpful. In all the other wedding books I noticed that the timelines were vague and unhelpful. Her planner definitely kept me on track. It was the perfect way to get some useful tips without paying the big bucks.

[Allison L]

So happy to be done wedding planning🤯🤯🤯 this was very helpful to me, especially the checklist portion.

[Kimberly]

I read as much of this book as I am going to. It helped me for the most part to let me in on things I may not have thought of otherwise. The lists in the back were very helpful for the last month or so before my wedding. There were certain things I wanted answers to and was surprised that the book didn't have them, which was frustrating at times. My only other criticism was that the writer seemed to provide more traditional answers and advice than I wanted-- though she was uncritical about many different aspects of modernizing a wedding and understanding of certain situations, her celebrity clientele I think keep some of her ideas/answers/advice more "uppity" than I would have liked. I google searched everything this book didn't answer/anything that it said that I disagreed with-- in that way, the book was an extremely helpful starting point. Only when the book didn't know did I have to turn to bridal message boards-- for anyone who hasn't experienced them, they can get pretty nasty sometimes! I was grateful when the book had the answers. Thankfully, this book coupled with the internet really helped me get through the process of planning our wedding-- and most importantly, my wedding was awesome. I wish I could go back to it and enjoy it all over again!

[Carolyn Page]

Useful reference. Pinterest helps with the vision, but this helps with the details.

[Alienor]

This book is PHENOMENAL!!! I’m so glad I got it - on a whim, knowing nothing of wedding planning AT ALL. And Mindy Weiss... well... especially since I’m not having my mother or family at the wedding, Mindy Weiss made me feel loved, supported, seen and guided with the utmost wisdom, kindness and knowledge! She would be anyone’s favorite aunt! She could rule a country! She could take over the world! She’s thought of EVERYTHING. Details details up the wazoo but she makes it all seem graceful, easy and elegant. And then overarching visions and creativity.
If my future wedding is half-good, it will be thanks to her!

[Licia]

The only wedding book worth buying, in my opinion. Of the eight I purchased (mind you this was almost six years ago) this was the ONLY ONE with any practical advice. I had no idea where to start, and this book will walk you through it step by step, going over etiquette and wedding types and all that jazz. You'll learn about dress and suit styles, different reception options, invitation wording, budgeting advice, bouquets and food and manners. I buy this book as a gift anytime someone gets engaged and starts talking weddings.

Highly recommend, I hated planning a wedding and this made it bearable.

[Wizard]

8/10

One of the best wedding guides I have read so far. I think I will continue to refer to it as my wedding day approaches. The scope of details and timelines are very helpful if you're like me and have no idea where to begin planning your wedding. I will add that I think most of the time the book is meant for brides having either large or expensive weddings with the sky is the limit budgets, but I can make the advice work for me and my wedding vision in a general way.

[Batzul Gerelsaikhan]

This book literally has everything related to your wedding. Budget. Planning. The dresses. The work outs. The flowers. Decoration ideas. Traditions. Even getting the cold feet! Not sure reading this book made me ready or just more nervous, but if you are like me who like to get ready before doing anything, this is your bible

[Debbie Wakefield]

A must read for anyone planning a wedding! This is the most down to earth and thorough wedding planning book I’ve encountered. I dog eared, took notes and photos of pages while reading it. It’s filled with useful helpful knowledge and things you didn’t think of. I very much enjoyed this book and it helped me a lot in my wedding planning!!

[Rianna]

Very helpful throughout the wedding planning process. I wish I'd read more of it earlier!

[Jenn]

Extremely informative, comprehensive, and helpful

[Kelsey]

I don't know a thing about wedding planning. I’ve only been to a handful of weddings and was never in one—not a flower girl, not a bridesmaid, nada—until last year. When I got engaged this New Years (!), I knew I needed help.

I picked up The Wedding Book because it seemed extremely comprehensive. And it was: everything from announcing the engagement to planning your honeymoon to budgeting for extra lighting at the reception. Weiss gives each topic an overview, then breaks down the different options, and finally lays out what might affect the decision (budget, season, family preferences, religious requirements, theme/style, and venue restrictions). She intersperses the text with fun facts (the origin of the ring on the fourth finger), questions from specific brides (how to politely say no to a relative’s gift of an awful photographer), and lists of legal and logistical questions to ask vendors.

I read the book from cover to cover. My goal was to get a high-level idea of what I need to do when. Later, when I’m tackling individual topics, I’ll go back to individual sections. Reading it this way, I did think the order of items was strange at times: food was Chapter 8, but cake (one of my top priorities) was Chapter 23. Still, it's probably hard to put everything perfectly: the book is 435 pages, excluding the tables and notes in the appendix, and it seems like twice that due to the level of detail. I didn’t realize there were so many things to think about. It’s a bit of a wake-up call but better to get one now than two months before the wedding. She also gave really good advice: pick the couple of things that matter to you the most, focus on those, and compromise on the rest. I’ll definitely take that to heart moving forward.

There are a few flaws. Although the book is bursting with information, there are omissions. As one example, Weiss never mentioned using artificial flowers instead of fresh. It’s not as common, but shouldn’t she mention it? Or if it’s as horrifying as plaid bridesmaid dresses or no open bar, she should say so. She also barely talks about websites or RSVPing online, but perhaps that's new in the 7 years since the book was published. Weiss also tended to assume that the reader already knew the what of the wedding and only needed to figure out the how and how much. Case in point: the post-wedding brunch. I’ve only been to one post-wedding brunch and didn’t realize it was “a thing”. A typical order of events for the ceremony, reception, etc. would have been helpful, either early in the book or in the appendix. Finally, the book seems intended for a more expensive wedding. A modest couple can definitely make use of it, but they might want to buy a budget wedding book as well.

Despite my few critiques, I sincerely give this book 5 stars. I know volumes more than I did before, and any lingering questions can be eliminated with a quick google search. I can talk the lingo, start building spreadsheets and Pinterest accounts, and hopefully have a little less stress. I can’t wait to put it into action!

[Robyn]

Currently on page 158 of 452 of a straight read-through, and shortly to be finished. I am reading this book with a pen and pad in hand, literally writing out action plans and task lists as I moved through the text noting ideas and next steps for every part of our wedding. There is more information in the book than I could ever need, and for that, I am so grateful. I feel like I finally understand what is needed and expected for each part of our wedding celebration and what areas are fixed and malleable.

I also read some reviews of this book here on Goodreads and it really seemed to me that some reviews were a little harsh. Buying this book and getting all of the assistance it provides - outside of my wedding planner and venue coordinator - was like seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I'd recommend the book to any and everyone getting married, perhaps as the best $20 you'll spend on your wedding (... well, I guess that might only be true if you're someone like me who really wants to work through every aspect of the wedding to make sure it's a great day for everyone involved).

[Kim Herzog]

The wedding-planning BIBLE. Seriously, my sister is the best MOH for picking this up for me. It goes beyond a checklist, providing images, diagrams, samples, historical facts and stories, and suggestions that go above and beyond anything I would have ever even thought about, yet is still necessary to plan the big day. I'm actually really enjoying this book for its literary quality, if you can believe that - its graphic organizers are great, and the "For Him" stickers are awesome to remind me what I need to show my fiance, or to return to later. Mindy (yes, at this point, being over 200 pages in, we're on a first name basis) is SO helpful about every facet of wedding "stuff" and shegoes in depth about any and everything you would need to know. I NEVER thought I would be giving such glowing highlights to a book of this sort, but really, it is amazing!

[Laurel]

I hope that by borrowing this book, I will take a quiz to find out what kind of a wedding I want, and it will tell me exactly how to create it, without spending any money.

So far the quiz tells me that I am a "novice."



I'm not reading this anymore because it just stresses me out!
I have to think of one thing at once, and Mindy makes me want to create invitations and try on dresses before I even know where the hell the wedding is going to take place. Can I just do the creative things and let someone else do all the logistics, please? The answer to that is YES, if I had a shitton of money. Screw you, Mindy!

[Erin]

This was a very helpful book to use while planning a wedding. I will say that, many a thing listed in this book seem more traditonal for those who live a wealthier lifestyle and have extra savings to spend on their wedding. But! All of the little planning details and such are the same, and very helpful to be able to read through and organize to further personalize you're own wedding whether it be extravgant or a little more simple. I will also say that I would have been lost if I did not have this book with so many topics and ideas to help me. This is a great book for all of you planners out there!!

[Regina]

SUCH a helpful book when it comes to planning a wedding. There was so much information that I honestly didn't know, and I loved how historical and culture traditions were explained and interwoven. I really did feel like there was something for everyone, although many of the recommendations/items were a bit too posh for my blood. I'm sure Miny's clientele are much higher society than I'll ever be, but I appreciated all of the help regardless. I loved the checklists at the back of the book (you better believed I copied them), and all of the timelines towards the end. This is a book that I'll keep forever (mostly because of all of the highlighting and note-taking that I did!.

[Claire]

This book is definitely going to be my number one resource as we plan our wedding this year. Weiss is billed as the "wedding coordinator to the stars," but she's perfectly down to earth. The book is organized in a helpful chronological sequence, and she doesn't assume you have an endless budget. The timeline in the back is detailed and a great way to make sure nothing falls through the cracks. My fiance is already asking who this "she" is I keep referring to (as in "She says..."). Above and beyond the other wedding books I've flipped through.

[Jessica]

Mindy Weiss is a celebrity wedding planner, and so you have to take some of this book with a grain of salt, in terms of etiquette and whatnot. (You do NOT, in my opinion, have to serve alcohol at a wedding). It is so in depth and such a perfect resource. It has pictures of the different trains, sample wedding invitation wording, questions to ask your vendors, a budget worksheet, etc. If you only buy one wedding book, you should buy this one. I didn't buy it and racked up quite a library fine--I still shudder to think of it.

[Emily]

This book was the ULTIMATE wedding handbook when I was planning my wedding this summer. Mindy Weiss is a very talented, experienced wedding planner for many celebrities, so when I saw her book, I trusted the book at first glance! It was the BEST go-to guide and covered many topics and issues that might arise if you are planning your wedding without hiring a planner. HIGHLY, HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!

[Laura]

V. comprehensive, which is exactly what I - who knew little to none about the intricacies of wedding planning (obviously, or I would have eloped..) - needed. As could be foreshadowed by the authors' names, chuppahs are mentioned on every other page, but they certainly give at least lip service to all varieties of weddings. The timeline is great. For a budget, go with a GoogleDocs template. Mazel Tov!

[Amanda McGill]

Easy to read and follow! I liked the quiz at the beginning and I loved the chart that broke down what percentage of your budget should go to each expense! This would be a great planning book to own since it has contact information that you can fill in as you go. I would of liked a break down of budget sheet included. I will definitely come back to this book later on for more information on the different sections.

[Colleen]

I started reading this book cover to cover. While I didn't finish the entire book that way, I thought it had a lot of good information for brides planning a wedding, regardless of the type of wedding you wanted to have. I would recommend this book to any bride, especially one doing their own wedding planning.

[Erin Nudi]

This is *the* wedding book. You don't need another wedding book.

You are walked through every step of the process, including questions to ask vendors, budget breakdowns, every possible option for every choice you have to make, and there are interesting tidbits about the history behind the customs along the way.

[Mandy Londer]

I bought three books for planning my wedding and this was my favorite by far. Tons of useful information and tons of information you won't need (like ceremonies for various religions) but the headings are extremely clear and it's easy to skip over the stuff that does not pertain to your wedding.

This is definitely an all in one book an the only one you need!

[Kristin Poley]

This book was a tremendous help for me while planning my wedding. A lot of the information didn't apply to me but the information that did really made things easier. She knows everything and thought of things I never would have. There are also a lot of little wedding fun-facts included that made reading it fun.

[Erin]

I won this book in a writing contest for InStyle magazine - it arrived after we got married, but is still fun to look through. It's a little overwhelming though. I think I could write a much better book!!

[Adeli]

ITs Great!!! What a book to add to this, huh!?!?! Its got great tips on every single detail, from sketches of bridal dress silohuettes to various traditions on every kind of religious ceremony and how to combine them and etiquette on everything!!!

[Charlene]

After reading four other wedding planning books, this was by far the best and most thorough! I have 5 months until my wedding and will STILL be referring to it for its tips, helpful hints, and checklists!

[Andrea]

This book was informative, & the ideas in it really could be scaled down to fit any budget. I found the timelines & lists very helpful. I haven't finished it because our wedding plans changed, but I would recommend it to engaged couples.