Marcy Blum - Wedding Kit for Dummies

Wedding Kit For Dummies

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Wiley Publishing, Inc.
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Copyright 2002 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Library of Congress Control Number: 00-104225

ISBN: 978-0-7645-5263-2

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7

3B/RV/QR/QV/IN

About the Authors

Photo Credit: Harold Hechler Associates Ltd.

Marcy Blum , one of the first female graduates of The Culinary Institute of America, is a highly respected expert on weddings and special events. She has appeared on a number of television shows including Good Morning America, The Today Show, Weddings of A Lifetime, The Food Channel, and on NBC Nightly News. Ms. Blum was named as a Best of New York in New York magazine, is a recipient of The Silver Spoon Award for professional excellence from Food Arts magazine and is a member of the prestigious Les Dames DEscoffier. Marcy serves on the advisory boards of TheKnot.com and Disney Fairy Tale weddings. She is a contributing editor for Modern Bride magazine and a spokesperson for Things Remembered.

Photo Credit: Michael Edwards

Laura Fisher Kaiser is the co-author of Weddings For Dummies with Marcy Blum and The Official eBay Guide to Buying, Selling, and Collecting Just About Anything (Fireside) with her husband, Michael Kaiser. As a writer and editor, she has tackled a variety of subjects from fashion and design to health and home improvement. As editor of eShopper magazine and special projects editor of Yahoo! Internet Life magazine, she has covered the world of e-commerce and consumer affairs extensively. Prior to that, she served as editor in chief of Avenue magazine and deputy editor of This Old HouseMagazine.

Dedication

From Marcy: This book is dedicated to the memory of Gertrude and Harold Blum, my parents; I miss them every day.

From Laura: For Michael Bear.

Authors Acknowledgments

This book, like most things in life, was not nearly as simple as it looks. We are thankful to everyone who helped us professionally, especially our friends and families who keep us safe and sane so we can attempt to do 300 things at once.

Our thanks must start with, Michael Kaiser: Lauras husband, Marcys good friend and our anonymous third partner/co-author. Michael not only kept us beautifully fed and watered as we wrote, but also labored over the spreadsheets, technical details, and many of the Internet-related aspects of the book with laser-beam focus and his usual perspicacity. We are truly appreciative.

We are grateful to our agent, Mark Reiter, who, even though he is a superstar, returns our calls, eventually (and his marvelous assistant, Michelle Yung, who makes sure that he does). We thank our acquisitions editor, Stacy Collins who picked up after others dropped the ball and nurtured us appropriately, and the patient Linda Brandon our project editor for shepherding this project along and taking the time to figure out what we were trying to say.

Thanks also goes to Liz Kurtzman whose whimsical illustrations greatly enhance our book, the cartoonist Rich Tennant for his zany contributions, Meaghan ONeill, who cheerfully typed in endless contracts and menus; Mary Goodwin for her diligent editing, and Kathy Ehrich, who fact checked this book in record time.

We are grateful to Barry Golson, editor in chief of Yahoo! Internet Life, for generously allowing Laura the time to finish this project.

Most of all we both thank from the bottom of our hearts the brides and grooms who made our first book, Weddings For Dummies, such a success.

From Marcy: I feel blessed for the many really special friendships I have and to some of those who support me, both professionally and personally, my gratitude: Maria McBride Mellinger a remarkably talented woman and my patron saint; Rozanne Gold and her husband Michael Whiteman who have adopted me and are never too busy to give the most salient professional advice or simply hand hold; Sheila Lukins who I always learn something from; Marianna and Jay Watnick whose generosity overwhelms me; Laurie and Bruce Wolf and Leslie and Doug Murphy-Chutorian for always being there when it counts; Stacy Morrison of the golden mind; my brother Howard, sister-in-law Jenny and their children Dani, Anna and Tony for being proud of me and to Michael Liebowitz and Susan Burden two consummate professionals who have never, ever, forgotten to be kind. To Millie Bratton for her insight; Sandea for permeating my home with her beautiful spirit; to Preston Bailey for being who he is and allowing me to bask in his glow; to Jack Orr for his eternal kvelling, and of course deep gratitude to Peter Aschkenasy, mentor and friend for life.