Emily Post's Wedding Etiquette: Cherished Traditions and
Contemporary Ideas for a Joyous Celebration (4th Edition) (Hardcover)

Amazon.com
What makes a perfect wedding? "[The bride] and the groom both look as though there were sunlight behind their eyes, as though their mouths irresistibly turned to smiles," wrote Emily Post in 1922's Etiquette. Great-granddaughter-in-law Peggy Post, author of the fourth edition of Emily Post's Wedding Etiquette, absolutely agrees with Miss Emily. To ensure those bright eyes and smiles, she imparts thoughtful and commonsensical advice on how to plan for not just your wedding, but for all the social and familial obligations and traditions that a wedding entails.

Unlike many wedding manuals, Post includes advice for the "encore" bride as well as for the new bride. In this day of remarriages and blended families, tact and strategy are often needed to make sure feelings aren't hurt and everything runs as smoothly as possible. A chapter on multicultural and interfaith marriages addresses differing world traditions and how they can be incorporated into a touching ceremony that makes both the couple and their families happy. If you are unsure of who is supposed to do what, Post gives you clear instruction, often including a flow chart that delineates the responsibilities of all people involved in the wedding party (bride's parents throw the engagement party, best man returns the tuxes, flower girl's family pays for her outfit).

Throughout Emily Post's Wedding Etiquette are sidebars with questions asked of Post regarding an amazing array of wedding-related conundrums ("My daughter's fiancé wants to follow his family's tradition of having a money tree at the wedding. I personally find this distasteful; can I say so?"). This is a great book to find the answers for all those sticky questions. All involved in the wedding process should leaf through, get their bearings, smile, and then forge ahead. --Dana Van Nest

Book Description
Peggy Post, America's etiquette authority, presents an indispensable, comprehensive guide to planning and personalizing your wedding. Today's weddings are more complex than ever before, with new traditions and new family relationships to consider. This thoroughly revised fourth edition of the classic Emily Post's Wedding Etiquette addresses countless wedding questions both old and new. With the famous Post blend of sensitivity and practicality, Peggy Post shows how to handle the big decisions and the little details that will make your wedding beautiful to behold and uniquely yours -- and how to carry it off with minimum stress and maximum style.

Three new chapters offer advice on the latest realities of today's weddings, including multicultural ceremonies, encore weddings, and postwedding duties. Expanded sections give guidance on financial matters, working smoothly with wedding consultants and others on your "wedding team," and planning theme and destination weddings. Dozens of at-a-glance lists, boxes, and charts on everything from most-asked questions to creative ideas for personalizing the day are perfect guides for busy brides and grooms.

With this book in hand, a couple can confidently blend the best of classic tradition with contemporary style, making this wondrous event a celebration to be remembered and treasured by all.

Review: Excellent Purchase!
I am studying to be a Wedding/Event Planner and this book is a part of my course study. I loved the material and featured Q&A. The book is very modern yet contemporary at the same time. An excellent buy for anyone planning their wedding or joining the wedding industry.

Review: Panic in the wedding aisle!
Yikes! I am newly engaged, and this book scared the bejebbers out of me! My fiance and I were looking at a simple wedding. This book intends to scare you into looking at more and more elaborate proceedings. Finally, you are at the point where you believe no one but a diety called a "wedding planner" can actually pull off a wedding.

Perhaps it is where I live and my social-economic class, but this book view of etiquette is manners that quickly translates into cash. I literally woke up in the middle of the night when I considered how much everything would cost and how far behind the wedding planning was.

My friends who are married knew what sort of wedding I had in mind and did not hestitate to tell me to send the book BACK.

Review: This massive guide is all-inclusive and brilliant
Not just for Etiquette! This book is an impressive wealth of knowledge and information, and is just loaded with useful information that I've never found in other wedding books, and I've bought and browsed my share of them. You need not worry this book will just repeat information you may already have in other books, this book will complement your collection and give you lots of details you probably won't find anywhere else. It's the wedding Bible. And, although Post is the authority on Etiquette, not only is this guide the only Etiquette helper you'll ever need, it also is a huge help in planning and ideas. You won't find any glossy full color photos in here but this book offers so much those other more "glossy" books don't have. This is a MUST for any engaged couple.

Review: Great wedding resource, more than etiquette.
This is a great book for any bride to be. It includes not only etiquette, but it also has tips. It was especially useful for wording on invitations, and also for the envelopes. A classic!

Review: The only wedding book you'll need!
This books takes the place of so many other books out there, like guides to writing thank yous, guides about religious traditions, what to wear. This book has it all. You're getting about 15 books for the price of one. Emily Post's Wedding Etuiquette guides you from announcing your engagement to friends and family all the way through writing Thank you's and everything in between. It's an invaluable guide for the bride, the groom, the bridal party and even the guests at a wedding! Have you ever wondered how much to give for a wedding? What to wear for a daytime formal wedding? What order to use for the processional? How do you write out an invitation for a same sex couple? What is the appropriate way to write out Thank yous? All of these questions and many more are answered in this thorough, sensible book. It's a great read and very well organized so you will be able to find anything you need. It is a great gift for the bride and groom because its timelines can also be used as a planner. It's also a great gift for the bridal party or parents of the bride because it outlines all of those responsibilities as well. This may very well be the only wedding book you'll ever need, whether you're the bride, the groom, the father of the bride, the maid of honor, or just a guest!

Review: Excellent bridal resource
Read Miss Manners or Emily Post for advice before you throw any major event and you can't possibly go wrong. In this day of Bridezillas and tacky "traditions" such as family-hosted showers, money dances, and registry info in wedding invitations, the astute bride will consult real experts rather than The Knot or Dear Prudence!

Review: A fairly good book
This book is marvelous help in preparing for your wedding day, laying out all the physical aspects of the wedding from A to Z. Sadly, this book doesn't have much discussion on preparing your heart for the day. It is said that a woman looks forward to her wedding day, a man looks forward to the wedding night - both are important, but men often tend to downplay the day's events as they focus on the evening.

Review: Invaluable
An invaluable book to avoid potential wedding/social faux pas. Has guidance from invitations to thank you letters and everything in between. If you're wanting more value for the money, I would suggest "Emily Post's Etiquette (16th Edition or latest)" as it covers wedding (albeit not as detailed), social and business etiquette areas.

Review: Very helpful and incredibly detailed
I decided to get this book because I was struggling with how to make wedding decisions that would potentially upset some people, like not having kids be invited. I was surprised when the book arrived at how thick it is, there is really a wealth of information in it. I like that she gives both a traditional and contemporary view on certain topics, and the sections are clearly marked so its not as though you have to read it from beginning to end to find what you are looking for. I think this book can be helpful even if you're not facing and etiquette dilemma, it makes you think of things you hadn't even thought of. Its also really clearly written.

Review: Excellent Single-Source Wedding Book,
If you only plan on buying *one* wedding guide book, this should be it.
Peggy Post addresses almost every aspect of wedding etiquette in this hefty book. Although you can find most of this information on Internet sites, Peggy Post does a fantastic job of compiling wedding information in one easy-to-use volume.

Book highlights include:

- Exhaustively Thorough Invitation Section
(Example: Outlines specific language you should use if the bride's divorced/remarried parents are jointly hosting the wedding.)

- Engagement Outline
(Example: Gives recommendations for who the happy couple should tell, when, & how.)

- Guest Information
(Example: Discusses gift giving, response cards, etc.)

Peggy Post does an excellent job of conveying information without sounding preachy. She offers recommendations instead of barking standards.

In addition to being a great planning tool, this book is also quite lovely! As such, it would make a beautiful engagement gift.

Highly recommended.