Anna Post - Emily Posts Wedding Parties

This book never could have been completed without the help of so many people. Id like to give a huge thanks to Royce Flippin whose versatility, experience, (patience!), and dedication were invaluable to me throughout the process.

After years of hearing their names at the family dinner table, its been a pleasure to finally work firsthand with the terrific team at HarperCollins. Id especially like to thank my editor, Toni Sciarra, for her excellent advice and keen eye for organization, and Mary Ellen ONeill, my publisher, whose enthusiasm for this project was infectious from our first conversations. Thanks also to Smallwood and Stewart and Alexis Siroc for the masterful design work, and to Chesley McLaren, whose beautiful illustrations bring these pages alive.

None of this would have come into being without the brilliant foresight and tremendous hard work of my agent, Katherine Cowles. Thanks, Kitty!

Thanks also go to my aunt, Peggy Post, who has been so welcoming as I enter into her world of wedding etiquette. My parents, Tricia and Peter Post, and my sister, Lizzie Post, deserve thanks for their love, encouragement, and constant support and belief in my abilitieswithout which I dont know how I would have managed!

And of course a huge thank-you goes to the staff at the Emily Post Institute: Cindy Post Senning, Elizabeth Howell, Matt Bushlow, and especially Katherine Meyers, for being my unerring sounding board.

Thanks also to wedding consultant Mark Kingsdorf for his expert advice. And last but by no means least, a big thank you to all of my friends who shared their experiences and opinions with me. Im so glad to be part of your lives; thank you for being part of mine.

Im delighted that my niece, Anna Post, has joined The Emily Post Institute full time as an etiquette expert and author. Anna has been involved with the Institute for years, starting as a summer intern. Her contributions have included researching the 17th edition of our flagship book, Etiquette, and answering hundreds of the letters that come to us via our Web site, www.emilypost.com. Anna and I have worked together numerous times, most recently at a major wedding show, and its been a pleasure for me to experience firsthand the calm and factual manner in which she has helped brides and grooms solve their wedding etiquette dilemmas.

Im now extremely pleased to tell you about her latest effort, Emily Posts Wedding Parties . What a fantastic job Anna has done on this, her first book! Besides drawing on her own experiences at the many weddings shes attended and participated in, shes also done a great deal of research into the variety of parties that surround todays weddings. Emily Posts Wedding Parties combines Annas knowledge of whats out there with her knack of clearly explaining how the principles of etiquetteconsideration, honesty, and respectcan be used to solve even the stickiest of quandaries that can arise when trying to ensure that everybody has a great time at a celebration. Anna has a wonderful way of offering practical solutions and applying her own fresh insightsall delivered with wit and wisdom in a uniquely personal voiceto todays etiquette situations.

At the Emily Post Institute, were constantly fielding questions about weddings and the parties surrounding them. Who hosts? Whos invited? Is it ever okay to invite someone to a pre-wedding party if theyre not invited to the wedding itself? Whats the best way to word the invitation for a delayed wedding reception? Are gifts for the couple always necessary? How about gifts for the partys hosts? If you cant attend a shower, do you still have to send a gift?

These issues have been heightened by the increasing variety of wedding-related parties, and by the enormous role that travel now plays in these celebrations. Today, friends and relatives often live far away from the bride and groom. With people expending so much time and effort to get together, wedding-related events have become even more meaningful and specialwhich means theres even more incentive to make sure these parties are just right. Whether youre hosting or attending an engagement party, looking for some new, fun tips for showers or bachelor/bachelorette parties, or preparing the wedding reception itself, Anna beautifully presents the reader with new party-planning ideas, while at the same time weaving in inspiration and etiquette advice for hosts, party guests, and the couple being honored.

Among other things, youll learn:

• The timing of all the various wedding parties.
• Who to invite, and how and when to extend the invitations.
• What to do when the grooms parents want to throw a party to introduce the new bride-to-be to their friends in the months following the official engagement party.
• The etiquette of hosting attendants parties in the week prior to the wedding.
• How pre-and post-wedding gatherings are taking on more significance for many couples and their guestsplus exciting ideas for extending the wedding weekend, with events such as an impromptu pre-wedding barbecue, an after-the-reception party, or a farewell brunch.
• The dos and donts of belated receptions (now more popular than ever, thanks to the growing trend of destination weddings, which are often smaller than the typical wedding).

Whatever the occasion, Emily Posts Wedding Parties offers options, advice, and new ideas for the reader. Im confident youll agree that this book is truly a complete guide to all of the possible parties that may occur before, during, or after a wedding. These days, there really are more and more parties and celebrations surrounding weddings, and each one brings its own set of questions and dilemmas. Luckily, Anna Post has addressed these quandaries for you. Youre holding the solutions in your hand!

A wedding is an incredibly special time in two peoples lives, and the various parties and celebrations that take place from engagement to I do are all important parts of this experience. These celebrations dont happen every day, however, so people understandably are often a bit fuzzy on the details. Should you bring a gift to an engagement party? Whos allowed to host a shower? How do you word an invitation to a wedding reception? Knowing the answers to these and other questions will help ensure that any wedding party youre hosting or attending goes smoothly for everyone involvedand that everyones focus can be exactly where it should be: on celebrating the upcoming marriage of the bride and groom.

Emily Posts Wedding Parties covers all the wedding parties that may occur before and after a wedding ceremony. Youll learn about traditional wedding parties and the etiquette that comes with them. In addition, youll get up-to-date info on all the latest trends in wedding-party customs and entertaining styles. If youre the one organizing a wedding party, youll also find all the tips you need to plan the perfect event, from developing a timeline to handling invitations and RSVPs, signing contracts, hiring caterers, and even creating your own flower arrangements!