What to do When Place Cards, Plus Ones, and Paying 2 Grand for a Cake Make You Miserable

Planning Your Wedding Sucks by Joanne Kimes & Elena Donovan Mauer
It's funny, back before I was ever engaged I used to look longingly at the wedding section in the bookstore and think, "Someday I'll be able to buy them all!" Except now that I actually am engaged, I would rather avoid the whole situation and pretend that our wedding will somehow plan itself. I do have tons of magazines, and a book or two lent to me by past brides, as well as an official planner, but I figured I would finally live out my dream and pick up a wedding book.

I wasn't sure what I was expecting with this, perhaps some magical formula to get rid of all the stress. But sadly this wasn't that. But it does still give a brief overveiw of all the major aspects of the wedding. It isn't nearly as big as some of the wedding books out there, so as expected it isn't that detailed. There isn't a big list of various traditions by religion or a giant checklist, but the basics are there. I can't say this had anything profoundly new in it, but if you are starting from square one and have no clue on what to do, this could be a good starting point.

I did enjoy the pop culture references and it did feel up-to-date. For example, it suggested instead of a wedding website, why not just make a facebook page. Not something I would necessarily do, but I'm sure there's occasions where it's the perfect idea. Plus it swayed me a little seeing weddingbee in the reference section, and more than that according to the author's biography she's even written a guest post for the 'bee or two.

It really isn't a bad choice for a book, especially if you're looking for something brief and to the point. And for me, by reading it I could at least tell myself I was being somewhat productive for the wedding!

4/5