THE
EVERYTHING
Wedding
Book
THIRD EDITION
The ultimate guide to planning
the wedding of your dreams
Shelly Hagen
Copyright 2004, F+W Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced
in any form without permission from the publisher; exceptions
are made for brief excerpts used in published reviews.
An Everything Series Book.
Everything and everything.com are registered trademarks of F+W Publications, Inc.
Published by Adams Media, an F+W Publications Company
57 Littlefield Street, Avon, MA 02322 U.S.A.
www.adamsmedia.com
ISBN 10: 1-59337-126-8
ISBN 13: 978-1-59337-126-5 (paperback)
ISBN 13: 978-1-60550-469-8 (EPUB)
Printed in the United States of America.
J I H G F E D C
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hagen, Shelly.
The everything wedding book/Shelly Hagen. 3rd ed.
p. cm.
(An everything series book)
Rev. ed. of: The everything wedding book / Janet Anastasio, Michelle Bevilacqua, and Stephanie Peters.
Rev. and expanded 2nd ed. c2000.
ISBN 1-59337-126-8
ISBN 13: 978-1-60550-469-8 (EPUB)
1. Wedding etiquette. 2. Weddings-Planning. I. Anastasio, Janet. Everything wedding book.
II. Title. III. Series: Everything series.
BJ2051.H34 2004
395.22dc22
2004001788
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional advice. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.
From a Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations
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The Series
Editorial
Publishing Director | Gary M. Krebs |
Managing Editor | Kate McBride |
Copy Chief | Laura MacLaughlin |
Acquisitions Editor | Kate Burgo |
Development Editor | Karen Johnson Jacot |
Production Editor | Jamie Wielgus |
Production
Production Director | Susan Beale |
Production Manager | Michelle Roy Kelly |
Series Designers | Daria Perreault |
Colleen Cunningham |
Cover Design | Paul Beatrice |
Frank Rivera |
Layout and Graphics | Colleen Cunningham |
Rachael Eiben |
Michelle Roy Kelly |
John Paulhus |
Daria Perreault |
Erin Ring |
Series Cover Artist | Barry Littmann |
Visit the entire Everything Series at www.everything.com
THE WEDDING BOOK THIRD EDITION
Dear Reader:
You're engaged! Good for you yo u found a winner! So where Dear and when do you start planning the wedding?
The answer is now. No matter how long your engagement, it's never friends throw together planning. I've seen various others plan events too beautiful soon to start months, and I've seen weddings in a matter of over the course of years. If you have a lot of time, take advantage of it but if you're short on time, don't panic. There's a perfect wedding out there fo r every bride who's willing to do the work.
When I got married, my mom almost literally held my hand and took me through the process of planning my wedding. If you don't have the advantage of a personal (and free!) wedding consultant, this book will be a great help to you. It covers ever y aspect of the planning. The information is here at your fingertips the rest is up to you.
Congratulations!
This book is for the women out there with the shiny new engagement rings on their fingers, the incessant grins on their faces, and the big dreams in their heads. Good luck, girls.
Acknowledgments
The following people made it possible for me to work on this book, and for that, I am in their debt: Jessica Faust, my agent at Bookends, who feeds me my work; Bethany Brown at Adams, for keeping me in mind for this project; and my husband, Mike, who is (almost) always ready with offers of encouragement and another cup of coffee.
Top Ten Utterances of the Bride Who Didn't Consult This Book
- What do you mean I should have registered at a store? I registered to vote !
- Thanks for coming to my shower. Sorry I can't invite you to my wedding. Great gift, though!
- Gee, you know what? There's just no way to save money when you're planning a wedding.
- Sure, I invited my ex and his whole family. We're all friends!
- Why should I ask my fianc's parents what they want?
- Wedding planners do the same thing that I could do and I will do, after I'm done working eighty hours this week.
- I'll just go ahead and bake my own wedding cake. I'll make it from brownie mix and just pile it all up like a big tower.
- Even though my fianc has wild tastes and we're having a traditional wedding, I trust him to pick out his own tux.
- Our honeymoon is going to be absolutely perfect, or it will mean that we made a big mistake getting married.
- Adjusting to married life? Piece of cake!
Introduction
DING DONG! Are those wedding bells you hear? Congratulations on your engagement and on finding the man of your dreams! Though you've been busy showing off your ring (and cleaning it and admiring it on your hand), you need to get yourself in gear. Time's a-wasting! You have an event to plan, and you can't start soon enough.
Whatever kind of wedding you have in mind, chances are you'll run the bridal gamut through the dress shops, through the reception halls, through the caterer's office, through the baker's shop and you'll be exhausted long before the big day arrives. Maybe you'll enlist the help of a wedding planner, or maybe you'll just start going to bed a lot earlier so that you can deal with the long days ahead.
The funny thing about planning the various aspects of a wedding is that each little part of the planning takes on a life of its own once you get into it. Who knew that your wedding cake could come in any flavor under the sun, and almost any shape? No one ever told you that a limo isn't the only option for transporting you and your wedding party around town. And the honeymoon narrowing down
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