The Step by Step Guide to Planning Your Wedding by Lynda Wright.
Less a book than a workbook this is packed with checklists and suggestions for everything from Bible readings to cake sizes. Due to the lack of things to actually read, this book hasn’t emerged from the pile of wedding paraphernalia since it was purchased and, to be honest, is probably headed straight back there.
Too much like school, not enough romance. Although brides who need someone else to organise them could do well with this.
The Reluctant Bride by Lucy Mangan.
This chronological tale from engagement to the wedding is more entertaining than most bridal books but if you don’t like Lucy now you definitely won’t after this. A humorous story this may be but with Lucy constantly painting herself as the fool, by the end of the book it’s hard to take the wedding seriously and as the newlyweds leave their own painstakingly (actually, more just painfully) organised bash at around 8pm it left me realising all-too-late that, for me at least, this was a handbook to how not to do it.
Rough Guide to Weddings.
For a truly instructive guide which covers everything from the ceremony to the gift list, the Rough Guide to Weddings is the best out there. There are quotes from past brides and grooms in here but the focus is on what needs to be done, when and how, and everything is laid out simply and insensible chapter order.
Advice is low-key, explaining the obvious without those “well, duh” moments and getting into the nitty-gritty without being dogmatic about traditions or what you should and shouldn’t be doing. This is coffee-table content in the coffee-table format, and as such has been sitting on ours since it arrived, being referred to as and when we think of something we’re not too sure about. Perfect.
Confessions of a Wedding Planner by Tamryn Kirby.
Literally, everything I was looking for in a wedding book. Funny, heart-warming, informative and enlightening, it focuses on Tamryn’s rise from newbie to wedding coordinator extraordinaire and tells the tales of many a wedding, both good and bad.
There are tips in here but the best don’t come from lists, they come from the stories of past weddings – which, in reality, is exactly where they should do.
