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Many brides spend tons of hours doing wedding research online at theknot.com. Now, there’s a book with lots to offer - just like the website, without the endless searching!

Carley Roney, co-founder of the world’s most popular wedding destination, TheKnot.com, has compiled The Knot Ultimate Wedding Lookbook to make the entire wedding-planning experience enjoyable.

This book is a great resource for inspiration with over 1000 photos of ideas that would wow any guest. Also, there are tons of helpful tips and lists to guide you through your planning process. There’s a limited supply of signed copies from Carley so the sooner you get it, the better the bonus. Enjoy!

Written by Ashley Mason - TwoFoot Creative Grand Rapids

Grace Ormonde Wedding Style magazine is one of the most influential wedding resources known across the world. After ten years of documenting extraordinary weddings and their elements in her magazine, Grace Ormonde presents this collection of her personal favorites in one comprehensive volume titled “being in love never goes out of style”.

5 reasons to get this book:

1. Couples can visually reference elements that intrigue them, and replicate or modify them.
2. Wedding coordinators can use it as a planning guide.
3. Photographers can use it to find inspirational subjects, settings and lighting.
4. Cake masters and chefs can discover creative designs and presentations.
5. Florists will appreciate amazing bouquets, boutonnieres and tabletops.

The book is being marketed as “The Quintessential Bible of Romance and Glamour”. With more than 375 images of opulent tabletops, colorful bouquets, creative boutonnieres, amazing cakes, dramatic ceremony decor, reception lighting and extraordinary real weddings to inspire your imagination, this book is definitely a must-have! Its available on graceormondestore.com and amazon.com

Robert Kiefer and his wife, Carol Ponder, have written a book entitled “How to Write Your Own Wedding Vows and Toasts: A Workbook for Brides and the Men Who Love Them”. Written in workbook format, it leads brides and grooms through the creative process of writing their own vows.

Many of the couples we plan weddings with get married outside of a traditional place of worship. They tend to utilize the services of a professional officiant for their ceremony, but often do not stray too far from “standard” when putting together the words for the ceremony itself. I don’t think that is necessarily the couple’s fault - they are just going in the direction they are steered in by their officiant!

This workbook, on the other hand, does a great job of guiding couples through their vows and other spoken elements of the wedding, asking them to think about what will be said on such a momentous day in their lives, and gives them control to do something about it. You will be guided through:

• Vows (both his, hers and traditional)
• Value of the Rehearsal
• Toasts and Tributes
• Value of working with a Wedding Planner
• Poetry and Prose

If you are looking for something just a hair’s length away from the traditional to something completely unique and different, this book is for you! It does a great job of guiding the thought process from the contents of what you want to say and why you want to say it, to formatting and rearranging the words so that they also sound terrific when they are being said out loud on your wedding day.

For more information, testimonials, and to view sample pages from the workbook, visit their website!

Tara Guerard began planning weddings in Charleston, SC over ten years ago and has climbed to the top of leading event designers in the Southeast United States. In “Weddings by Tara Guerard”, she showcases eleven of her most spectacular events, and takes the reader through her thought and decision making process during those dream weddings.The photographs in the book were taken by Liz Banfield.

The book is is such a journey, including hundreds of pictures for inspiration as well as a great idea of the work that went into each event. Various recipes are included, tips and tricks of the trade, eco-friendly ideas and some wonderful ways to personalize your wedding and make it truly unique.

“There are a few moments in life that are truly breathtaking - those moments that are so overwhelming in their beauty, theatricality, and scope, that they transfix us with wonderment and stay with us for the rest of our lives.” Preston Bailey from the Introduction

Preston Bailey’s “Celebrations” features some of the most breathtaking images I have ever seen compiled into one volume. His work truly does speak for itself and would transform the opinions of anyone who doesn’t believe that weddings are magical, once-in-a-lifetime events.

Preston Bailey has a passion for transforming spaces into something magnificent. This is what “Celebrations” excellently showcases. Through each chapter of the book (Dramatic Statements, The Magic of Tents, Ceremonies, Table Settings, Details, and Transformations), the reader gets a brief introduction from Preston regarding his opinions and thoughts on the topic in general, before diving in to a beautiful world of flowers, fabrics and fantasy settings.

Preston Bailey has previously written three bestsellers - and I am sure this will be his fourth! For more on Preston Bailey, and to see some photos from his book launch party, visit his blog for some more inspiration.

Photos and direct quotes copyright Preston Bailey: Celebrations by Preston Bailey, Rizzoli New York, 2009

I had the privilege of meeting Mary Dann at the 2008 Association of Bridal Consultants annual conference. She was a guest speaker at the event, and was also offering business coaching sessions one-on-one to interested planners.

I recognized that I could learn a great deal from someone who also began her career path in Psychology (which has helped me so many times in wedding planning!) and jumped at the opportunity!

Of course I was thrilled to hear that Mary Dann (pictured above) was releasing a new book at the beginning of this year, titled “Wedding Wisdom”. This book combines knowledge she has gained over her 18 years as a wedding planner and 10 years as a marriage and family therapist to help couples prepare for their wedding day both emotionally, practically, spiritually and joyously. I breezed through it in one sitting!

Photo below taken by Andrena Photography. All other photos taken from Mary Dann’s Website.

Not only does her book guide the bride and groom through physical, mental, spiritual and emotional balance; it also guides planners through interactions with their clients as well as general wedding wisdom for the planner to create as profitable an experience as possible for all people involved in the planning process.

It is a truly positive, uplifting and motivational book for any bride-to-be and every planner, coordinator and consultant in the industry!

Happy Valentine’s Day! Today marks the start of a new series of blog posts I am starting, which will review some of my favorite books in the wedding planning industry. The first on my list is Colin Cowie’s “Wedding Chic”, published in 2008. All photographs in this post were taken from the book itself.

Colin Cowie encourages brides to use the photographs in his book as an inspiration toward their wedding day. “Use them as your guide, weed and filter through what’s right for you and what’s not. I hope this book will be a tool that allows you to use my energy, imagination and years of experience to help you create your own path down the aisle.”

Unlike many wedding books out there, “Wedding Chic” manages a wonderful blend of photographs and text. You do get an abundant amount of insider information on how to choose your bouquet, ceremony flowers and decor for example, but also a great deal of photographs to showcase exactly what Cowie is talking about.

Colin encourages brides and grooms to be to seek out a more unique venue for their celebration: “consider taking over a museum space, putting a canopy on a seaside bluff, or inviting your nearest and dearest to spend an entire weekend with you at some exciting destination…” Since TwoFoot Creative tends to attract couples that want a more unique wedding, I love that this book encourages thinking outside the box!

In addition to wonderful inspiration from the photographs and descriptions in “Wedding Chic”, Cowie also parts with great tips and tricks for planning the wedding of your dreams (and occasionally on doing so in a more budget-friendly manner). Some examples include:

• Be honest with yourself and straightforward with your vendors as to what you like, what you don’t like, and what you are willing to pay.
• Schedule a dress rehearsal where you set up a table with the linens and the plates, the glassware and the flatware, the flowers and the menu cards. Eat the food. Drink the wines.
• Menus allow people to see what they’ll be served before a plate is placed in front of them, providing opportunity for them to express to the waiter any concerns, dietary restrictions or food allergies.

My final thoughts? “Wedding Chic” is one of my favorite books on planning a wedding, which is why I chose to start with it in this review series.

It inspires, which is often something that couples need to get going on their wedding day plans.

It provides options, which tend to be avoided at many venues in order to keep clients within their own packages.

Finally, it comforts, encouraging couples on their wedding day to “take a deep breath and let go of the million decisions you’ve had to make. It’s time to focus on one thing, and one thing only: the powerful joy of your wedding day.”