Hosting Wedding Parties (Hardcover)

Book Description
From showers to receptions to bridal teas, you'll find everything you need to toast the happy couple in style. HOSTING WEDDING PARTIES offers the inspiration and the how-to instructions for planning and hosting unique wedding-related theme parties that will be remembered for years to come. Each party is beautifully photographed to show every detail, from handcrafted invitations to exquisite centerpieces to thoughtful and unique party favors. Decorations and specially crafted accents are explained in step-by-step instructions, yet all party elements are easy and affordable! Also included are complete party menus with easy but delicious recipes, along with suggested table settings and beverages. A special section on entertaining help includes etiquette tips, floral arranging ideas, and more. Whether you're the maid of honor, the mother of the groom, or the bride herself, this book has the details you need to plan the perfect party.

Just look what makes this book a must for your collection:

** Covers a wide range of parties, not just showers! Includes parties for rehearsals, engagements, and receptions.

** Perfect for anyone involved in a wedding - the maid of honor, mother, father, grandparent, bridesmaid, groomsman, uncle, or aunt.

** Contains complete menus and recipes for each party.

** Features easy and affordable party plans that don't require weeks of preparation.

** Includes a special section on etiquette tips, floral-arranging ideas, table setting, and more.

** It's the best book you'll find on the subject. Most "shower" books are one color, and don't have recipes. This one is full of full-color photos that help you make your wedding party a smash.

The Wedding Shower Book; How to plan the perfect celebration-including creative ideas for invitations, games, themes, decorations, gifts, and more (Paperback)

Book Description
Giving a special wedding shower that's fun and memorable takes planning. Inside you'll find all the practical help you need, including creative suggestions for invitations, favors, and decorations you can make yourself. You'll also find recipes for special treats, innovative theme party ideas, and helpful suggestions to make the shower enjoyable for everyone. Open up and begin planning a great party!




Creative Wedding Showers: Homemade Invitations, Decorations, Games, Planning Tips, Menu Ideas and More! (Paperback)

Book Description
It's a snap to throw a stylish wedding shower with the wealth of ideas and crafts found in this book. Covering everything a hostess needs to give the bride-to-be a memorable day, Creative Wedding Showers:
*Features 10 inspired shower themes and 50 easy projects to match any bride's personality

*Provides information on invitations, decorations, entertainment, menus and party favors--all in one place

*Includes clear, step-by-step instructions that make these creative projects accessible for everyone

There's no reason for a hostess to stress out with this indispensable guide at her side. It's the next best thing to a party planner!

Review: great ideas
This book offers great ideas for shower themes, favors, games, menus, etc. including pictures and step-by-step instructions. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for some trendy wedding shower ideas.

Review: Beautiful ideas!
I don't know about you, but most of the bridal shower books I found before this all seemed to have the same old tired stuff. FINALLY someone came up with some beautiful, orginal ideas! The invitations, favors, and decorations in this book are really very creative and pretty, and most are fairly easy to make. She offers menu ideas, recipes, and activities that go with each party theme. I really liked the way she used color in her themes. I also liked the full-page color photos for each theme, and the step-by step instructions also had a photo for EACH step. Vey nicely done! Ms. Dewberry, if you are reading this -- I'd love to see a book on creative BABY showers as well!



The Ultimate Bridal Shower Idea Book : How to Have a Fun, Fabulous, and Memorable Party (Paperback)

Review: Great Shower Planner
This book has given me such great ideas for the bridal shower I am planning. From the invitations to the games to the favors and more! I definately recommend this book!

Review: So fun! Excellent co-ed shower ideas!
The bridesmaids and I LOVE this book by Sharon Naylor -- we looked everywhere for some really great, non-cheesy co-ed bridal shower ideas and didn't find anything good. And then we found this book. Now we had so many good ideas, we had to choose between them. Finally, some original themes! And great favor ideas, decorating tips, budgeting advice. What worked best for us was the advice about how to divide up planning tasks when some bridesmaids don't have a lot of money. We couldn't have put this party together without this book, and we recommend it highly.

The Best Wedding Shower Book (Revised Edition) : A Complete Guide For Party Planners (Paperback)

From Publishers Weekly
Cooke (The Best Baby Shower Book provides an encyclopedic look at wedding showers that includes a discussion of prewedding traditions in other cultures and a look at the roots of American customs. (For example, "The bridal veil originated in ancient Greece and Rome, where it symbolized youth and virginity.") There are pointers on planning the shower ("don't expect people to balance a sit-down meal on their laps"); checklists; suggestions for themes (kitchen showers, romance showers) with appropriate food, activities and decorations; and advice on "keeping the party rolling." Cooke is a tad cute at times, recommending, for example, that shower guests make a list of endearments for the couple to use in marriage"the more creative or ridiculous, the funnier." But readers can pick and choose among the ideas offered, and this book will help anyone stage a successful shower.

Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Book Description
This new edition contains more fun activities, party recipes, decorating hints, gift ideas, and planning tips than any other
book.

Practical party-planning checklists

Designs for invitations and name tags

Decorating ideas that don't cost a bundle

Creative ideas for "couples" showers

Engaging party games that won't embarrass your quests

Dozens of delicious, nutritious recipes and menu ideas

Attractive serving suggestions

Tips on choosing a party location

Updated planning section

More creative, contemporary shower themes

And much more

Review: Great for beginners
When my sister announced that she's getting married, I announced that I'd love to throw her a shower. I'd never thrown a wedding shower before, and I needed to find something to help me plan one--fast! I was pleased with Ms. Cooke's "Best Baby Shower Book" that I'd bought to plan my friend's baby shower a couple of months before, so I thought I'd try her again. I wasn't disappointed. This book offers instructions and tips for throwing fun parties in a straight-forward way, and none of the parties seemed overwhelming to plan or impossible to pull off. The theme I chose was fun to plan, and the party was a blast. This book is a new edition, and it seems as if the problems with the previous edition mentioned in the previous review were addressed.

Beautiful Wedding Receptions (Pennies from Heaven Series)



The Perfect Wedding Reception : Stylish Ideas For Every Season (Hardcover)
Book Description

Once couples decide to say "I do" there are dozens and dozens of decisions to be made. It's hard to know where to begin and even more difficult to fit all the dozens of details together into one wonderful event. Thankfully Maria McBride-Mellinger, author of acclaimed bridal books, stylishly illustrates just how to create a dreamy reception that will be forever memorable.

The Perfect Wedding Reception features exquisite wedding celebrations designed by Maria McBride-Mellinger that capture the magic of each season in refreshing, contemporary style. The nuptial adventure begins in a formal spring garden but soon its off to a beach front for a fanciful summer wedding, to a revolutionary era stone barn for a rustic fall wedding and finally to a gracious country home for a candle lit winter wedding feast.

Glorious photos of each location, flowers, menu selections, table details, centerpieces, bouquets, invitations, wedding cakes and favors tell the story of each wedding with helpful tips and most importantly McBride-Mellinger's favorite resources from around the country that will actually help bring your wedding reception to life.

Whatever season you choose to marry Maria McBride-Mellinger offers delightful flourishes to tempt every couple as they plan the party of their lives and create memories meant to last a lifetime.

Review: Perfection!
As a second-time bride, this was the book that "did it" for me. My October wedding reception, while not the exact replica of Ms. McBride-Mellinger's, incorporated as many of her ideas as I could. This is an absolutely beautiful book which will be an inspiration to any bride to be that wants a classy, memorable wedding befitting her chosen season. The settings, invitations, floral designs, cakes, and small touches are unique and certainly can be "scaled down" for those on a smaller budget.
Not the end-all, be-all catalogue of a bridal book...but a digestable and exquisite source of inspiration.

Review: Beautiful pictures, but not enough different weddings
This book has wonderful pictures of four weddings, one in each season.
The pictures are truly extraordinary, but they are almost exclusively of these four weddings, so there aren't tons of different ideas for each season, rather one "theme" idea for each season. One thing that disappointed me was that her summer wedding was a casual one on the beach, so if you want more formal ideas for a summer wedding you are out of luck. Like other reviewers have said, most of these perfect presentations would be completely out of a lot of people's price range, but you could definitely pull a few ideas that you loved from her spreads and make it work on a smaller budget. By and large this is a good supplementary book on reception ideas, with tons of photos and some good "idea" text (as opposed to "how-to" text.)

Review: OSTENTATIOUS IDEAS FOR EVERY SEASON BUT NOT EVERY BRIDE
If Kennedy or Vanderbilt is your last name and I mean The Kennedys and The Vanderbilts, if Bill Gates is your wedding sponser or if you are a member of the Royal Family then this book is for you. If you live in the real world you may not want to bother reading a book that would embarrass even Martha Stewart. Even if your wedding budget isn't that of a small nation you can uncover some ideas to use on a realistic day of bliss. But I would leave out the "Honeymoon bed out in the open" next to a swamp unless you are marrying Jeff Corwin or the Crocodile Hunter. Look at page 116 and see if you would like to spend your wedding night there but McBride-Mellinger says "far from sight of the area's inhabitants". It's also far from sight of a bathroom,room service and Walgreen's to get some mosquito spray and close to sight for anything with four or six legs or even eight hairy ones that hopefully would be four groomsmen rather than a spider. As in all the weddings in the book, the cakes are works of art, the prettiest I've ever seen (pgs 106&107, 214&215 "a masterpiece" and the chapter on Confections) and the flowers are magnificent. If you read this book make sure to have a dictionary for all the $2.00 words as it must have been written with a word processor in one hand an a Thesaurus in the other. Also, a really good cook book will come in handy to try and figure out what everyone was eating. McBride-Mellinger is even so helpful as to tell you how to dress the "help" as if in this day and time the guests even know what to wear, where the "help" should go to the bathroom, and to prepare food incase they work more then four hours. But do show respect because Maria McBride-Mellinger has a very high opinion of herself and a much over inflated ego. "The Perfect Wedding Reception" is that: perfectly ostentatious,pretentious,over the top and prefectly not for middle class America. The book is a "perfect" waste of a good tree. For over 30 years I have been a floral artist and wedding planner with the experience of over 500 weddings in all parts of the US and Europe.

Review: creative suggestions
This book suggests many creative ways to make your wedding reception fun and unique. The author describes 4 weddings (one for each season) thoroughly and with an artist's eye for detail and color. She also provides an extensive index for all aspects of reception preparation and planning. The pictures vividly display the character of each wedding, bringing them to life. I would have prefered some extra examples with illustrations of decorationg ideas for each season that were not part of the featured wedding. It would have been nice to have some more practical examples of possibilities. The featured weddings are gorgeous but, for people like myself, a bit out of reach financially. Surely, one can put a creative, unique twist on some less eccentric styles to make them equally as special, beautiful and perfect for any wedding.

Review: Very helpful
There are some wonderful suggestions here to make your day special. You will read this and remember the little things to do. One recommendation would be to direct readers to Katherine's Song, the wedding song in Defenders of the Holy Grail (Ken Agori)...this is THE song for this millenium. Of course, this may belong more at the service, but at the reception for the first dance, WOW!! THis book is worth the money...

Review: One of the Best
In preparation for our wedding, I ordered just about every book that I thought looked appealing and got great reviews, literally HUNDREDS of dollars' worth of books! This and its companion, The Perfect Wedding, stood out among the rest.
I liked it for the following reasons:

1. Beautiful pictures of original ideas. There were lots of pictures and lots of ideas. Obviously you aren't going to find a book that has absolutely every idea for flowers or cakes (it would be HUGE!), but the ones that this book included were very nice.

2. Good mix of pictures and text. About 3/5 of the book was pictures and ideas. It was divided up into 4 sections representing the 4 seasons, so you could get ideas for your specific season (getting inspiration from the best of your season is a great idea!). The other 2/5 of the book was resources with phone number, addresses, websites, etc., so you could actually get ahold of the people who put together the beautiful things in this book or go to the places that would give you more of a similar idea.

3. Not just for the wealthy. Granted that I personally am not too concerned with books geared for my budget, this book gave ideas for all ranges of budgets. Of course, some of the cakes, flowers, etc., must have been expensive, but she also gives ideas that are more budget-conscious.

I would recommend this book, no question. It's better than Colin Cowie's, on par with Martha's, and definitely much better than Vera Wang's.

The Ultimate Wedding Reception Book (Paperback)



Review: Wedding Details (Hardcover)

Book Description
Whatever the setting -- a minimal, modern buffet, an intimate wedding breakfast, or a sophisticated formal reception -- this invaluable book is full of elegant and imaginative ideas to help you transform your wedding day into a magical and memorable occasion.
Throughout the book, clear and concise text is paired with evocative, inspirational photographs that are guaranteed to capture the imagination.

About the Author
Mary Norden, a succesful textile designer, has been commissioned by Liberty, Ralph Lauren, Christian Dior, and Yves Saint Laurent. She has written for Homes & Gardens and is the author of Gift Wraps: Baskets & Bows and Decorative Embroidery. Sandra Lane is a successful still-life photographer. Her work appears in magazines such as Elle Decoration and Homes & Gardens, and she has photographed several of Mary Nodens's previous books. She lives in London.

Review: Great resource tool
I have a small wedding business and found this book very helpful. It is a very simple short book but it is loaded with great ideas for weddings and receptions. Pictures are excellent, lots of new ideas to try, I would recommend it as a resource guide and was very happy to receive it as a gift off my wish list.

Review: Big Things Come In Small Packages
A cute-sized book chockful of ideas! Creative ideas on favor packaging, table settings, floral arrangements. Inspirational ideas that can be easily adapted to your budget and style.

Review: Practical and modern-day ideas
Cute-sized book offering plenty of creative, practical and modern ideas on wedding favors, table settings, and floral decorations; beautiful still photography for inspiration.

The Perfect Wedding Cake (Hardcover)

Book Description
The Perfect Wedding Cake is an inspirational guide for the bride and groom on how to choose a wedding cake that reflects the style of their wedding. It covers everything they need to know, including how to select a cake design and baker, when to cut and serve the cake, and how to choose delicious flavor combinations and a cake to complement the season. For those who want to bake their cake at home, the book includes basic but delicious cake and frosting recipes created by a leading pastry chef that can be executed in a home kitchen.
Thirty-five full-color photographs of gorgeous wedding cakes showcase a wide variety of inspirational styles and types-from traditional tiered cakes to contemporary alternatives such as jewel-like single-serving cakes-created by some of the most respected chefs working today, including Sylvia Weinstock, FranÁois Payard, Gail Watson, and Ron Ben-Israel. An extensive resource guide of the top wedding cake bakers in the United States completes the book.

About the Author
KATE MANCHESTER is a food writer and a private chef. She is coauthor of Sylvia Weinstock's Sweet Celebrations (Simon & Schuster), and her articles have appeared in Martha Stewart Living, Outside, and Vermont Life magazines. ZEVA OELBAUM, is a New York-based still life and food photographer, who contributes to the New York Times, Bon AppÈtit, and Metropolitan Home. She has photographed many books, including Perfect Vinaigrettes (Stewart, Tabori & Chang), The Sutter Home Napa Valley Cookbook (Chronicle), and My Favorite Dessert Company Cookbook (HarperCollins).

Review: Wedding Cake Guide for Brides
This whimsical book features 35 full color and 10 black and white photographs of wedding cakes. The diversity of the cakes is the real strength to this book. Many modern books focus primarily on fondant-covered cakes (the cover of this book is a fondant cake), but this book strikes out into buttercream and even stacked pastry cakes. The variety of cakes in this book is a great value-add for brides.
The book is arranged topically. Chapters include an Introduction to Wedding Cake Lore and History, Cake Flavors Fillings and Icings, Choosing a Wedding Cake Baker, and even Recipes for Baking Your Own Cake. While the majority of brides will prefer to purchase a cake, the inclusion of recipes will help brides understand exactly what goes into making a wedding cake, ensuring that the brides who read this book are well-educated consumers.

The cake designs feature modern and classic inspirations. On page 18, you will find a fondant cake covered in impeccable gum paste roses and calla lillies. On page 22 you will find a buttercream cake adorned with chocolate seashells and coral, perfect for a summer wedding. On page 28, you will find the modern favorite tilted design, accented with gold and metallic colors. You will even discover a stacked cupcake design as an alternative to a traditional tiered cake.

Creatively written for the bride, this is an essential guide to choosing your wedding cake. For friends of the bride, this makes a lovely gift.

Review: Good guide for the bride to be
This is a book that is more suited as a guide for the bride to be on how to decide on a cake, choose a baker, etc. It has some beautiful and unusual cakes by a variety of cake designers for those looking for ideas. However, there weren't as many cakes as I had hoped.

Review: Beautiful Book
So many beautiful cakes! I made a friends wedding cake based on one of the cakes in this book and it came out so pretty! There were many helpful tips but basically I used this book for inspiration.

Review: Cakes! Glorious Cakes!
As I looked for a book that would assist my dearest friend, plan the perfect wedding for her daughter?I was fortunate enough to come across a copy of ??The Perfect Wedding Cake??. This beautifully photographed collection of wedding cakes not only provided us with practical information (such as how to choose a baker, in addition to a resource guide to the best cake designers in the US), it made a glorious coffee table book as well. Moreover, the recipes inspired my single friends to create some of the cakes for occasions that call for a touch of ??decadence??! Why wait for a wedding to make one of these gorgeous cakes?

Review: A Beautiful Book...
As a wedding planner, I can attest that anyone who says this book is 'disappointing' has simply never gone through the wedding cake books currently on the market. Most of the cakes in those books look dated and uncontemporary. This is, without a doubt, the prettiest book on wedding cakes. The cakes themselves are stylish, very today, and simply the most beautiful we have ever seen. Bravo Ms. Manchester et al. on a fabulous job!!

Review: Not a good choice if you're looking for ideas for your cake
I chose this book because I'm getting married in June and I have no idea what I want my cake to look like. I thought this book would be filled with pages of designs...I was very disappointed.

Review: Really Beautiful...
I gave this book to friends who became engaged over the holidays, and they absolutely loved it! It's a great gift for anybody that's having cake at their wedding and wants it to be something special.

Review: highly recommended!!
This book is a wonderful step by step guide. It has great recipes and suggested combinations of flavors for cakes and fillings. It is excellent for beginners through advanced cake decorators. I haven't done a wedding cake in a long time and this book has really gotten me prepared to tackle this fun project again. If you're trying to decide whether or not you've got the guts to try to make a cake for yourself or a friend this will give you all the tools and confidence you need!

Review: Very informative
The book is very informative....has great pictures for instructions....hoping my wedding comes out great.




The Complete Book of Wedding Toasts (Paperback)

Brilliant: The bridesmaid's guide to a wedding toast.
I was the bridesmaid in my friends wedding and this book provided me with the know how on delivering an exceptional toast worthy of my best friend's wedding.I would highly recommend this book to anyone.A must own

Review: Very helpful
My brother got married recently and I was the best man. The thought of getting up and giving the toast at the reception was really scary to me so he got me this book to help. When I read through the book I found several that made a lot of sense so I combined a couple together and added a few things of my own. It turned out great and I know I couldn't have done it without this book.

Review: A Maid of Honor's best friend
This is a very cool book! I was recently in my cousin's wedding and had to give a couple of speeches about the bride and groom and it really gave me a lot of good ideas. There was lots to choose from so that I sounded like I knew what I was talking about. Even my mother liked it. Well worth it.

Review: Terrific!
This book really allowed me to enjoy my daughter's wedding. Not only was it a great help to the wedding party it was also a great help to me and my husband. We were able to give loving, appropriate toasts with a minimum of nervousness. I highly recommend it.

Review: A Terrific Useful Book
I just loved this book. I've been a bridesmaid so many times and have had to make toasts and say "a few words" on many occasions. I just wish I had had this book ten years ago. Some of the toasts actually brought tears to my eyes. It's truly a reference book that's written with heart, passion, and humor. I recommend it to anyone who needs to come up with a meaningful speech for anniversaries, weddings, any emotion-filled life event.



The Pocket Guide to Wedding Speeches & Toasts (Paperback)

Book Description
Anyone planning to speak will find plenty of suggestions that fit his or her role in the festivities. Feel confident on etiquette with this advice on what content is acceptable (and what isn’t). Banish jitters by practicing and perfecting an engaging delivery.

Diane Warner's Complete Book of Wedding Toasts: Hundred's of Ways to Say "Congratulations!" (Paperback)

Book Description
The best man brings down the house with a hilarious story.
The bridegroom recites a touching poem.

The father of the groom gives an eloquent toast to the newlyweds.

All of these can happen at your wedding with Diane Warner’s Complete Guide to Wedding Toasts, which features hundreds of sample toasts anyone responsible for delivering heartwarming words at a wedding can use.

And this completely new edition includes:

Special toasts by members of the family and the wedding party

Entire chapters are devoted to special toasts, including toasts by the best man, the fathers of the bride and groom, the bride’s sister, the bride for her mother and the bride and groom to each other.

Toasts with ethnic variations

A chapter has also been devoted to dozens of touching ethnic toasts, including a wedding toast inspired by an old Eskimo wedding prayer, a beautiful Scottish wedding toast and fifteen lovely, lilting Irish wedding toasts. This chapter also includes a list of each country’s preferred toasting beverage.

Toasts inspired by the classics

This chapter is filled with unique toasts inspired by Shakespeare, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aristotle, George Eliot, and many others.

Humorous toasts

The book wouldn’t be complete without a chapter filled with humorous toasts, including charming anecdotes, limericks and one-liners.

Diane Warner is the best-selling author of 22 books, including Diane Warner’s Contemporary Guide to Wedding Etiquette, Complete Book of Wedding Toasts, , Complete Book of Wedding Showers, Complete Book of Baby Showers, Diane Warner’s Big Book of Parties and How to Have a Big Wedding on a Small Budget, 4th Edition. Diane also writes for magazines, newspapers and Web sites. She is a popular speaker and radio and television guest. She has made over 100 national radio and television appearances and can be seen regularly on HGTV and The Discovery Channel. She lives in Tucson, Arizona with her author-husband, Jack.--This text refers to the Paperback edition.