Customer Reviews

Beverly Clark Wedding Collection, Planning a Wedding to Remember, 7th Edition

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have bought about 5 different wedding planning books and countless wedding magazines, and none of them had EVERYTHING in them like this one. This planner has wedding music suggestions (actual songs) for the first dance, bouquet toss and garter throw. It also includes a list of not to miss photos for your photographer. It gives information aboout formations of the bridal party in the procession and recession. Also it has a list of attendants responsibilities. There are worksheets for vendors and questions to ask each vendor. If I could give this book 6 stars I would, I definately recommend it to all brides-to-be. I gave it as a gift to my newly engaged friend and she adores it also. Good luck!

I became engaged in November of 2000. My fiance and I were on a bit of a budget, so we would be planning the wedding on our own. I wanted to find an inexpensive planner that could help me plan the many details, make decisions, and keep me organized. My reasons for choosing this planner were:

1. Worksheets, Information Sheets, and Checklists
There are worksheets covering everything from writing your engagement announcement to changing your name and address. There are information sheets to keep every aspect of your wedding organized, for example, catering, flowers, music. Most importantly, there are checklists to make sure you don't forget anything.

2. Spiral Bound and Easy to Carry
This planner is spiral bound like a notebook. I knew I would have it with me quite a bit so I wanted something easy to carry and fairly durable.

3. The Content
Each section covers, step by step, what needs to be done and how to do it.

Here are some of the different sections.

Your Engagement
This section covers telling your family, engagement announcements and parties, engagement and wedding rings (how to choose diamonds, style, etc.), and even etiquette on breaking the engagement.

Date and Planning Calendar
There is an undated nine month calendar that you can fill in to count down and keep track of appointments. There is a bride's and a groom's checklist as well as information on hiring a bridal consultant.

Wedding Ceremony
There are creative ideas on how to personalize your ceremony, a worksheet for writing your own vows, and a couple sample ceremonies.

Wedding Budget
A very important section for us. It tells you how to determine your budget, has money saving tips such as borrowing items or doing your own flowers, and a wedding expense record to keep track of how much you really spend.

Invitations and Stationary
The all important guest list. There are 650 spaces, so you won't run out of room! There are ideas for many different styles of invitations and stationery as well as examples on wording and addressing.

Planning the Reception
Tips for the location and type of reception. Special touches and money saving tips. Questions to ask the caterer and bakery. Again, plenty of room for the seating chart with 260 seats.

Beyond this there are some of the more self explanatory sections such as The Wedding Party, Bridal Gown and Accessories, Flowers, Music, Photography and Videography, Pre-Wedding Parties, Gifts, and The Honeymoon.

The only problems I see with this planner are that the calendar is only nine months. Where I live planning needs to start at least a year in advance. There's also not much room to write daily appointments especially if you have more than one in a day. I also would have found it helpful to have tabs for each section as well as pockets for business cards and receipts. There is a pocket in the back but it's kind of flimsy. The book comes with a Beverly Clark accessory catalog in the back pocket. Mine was glued in, so it ripped the pocket just a bit. There were several of the sections that I didn't need to use since we had friends helping out with things like music and flowers.

Overall, this planner helped keep me on track with my planning. It gave me quite a few ideas and in the end I had a beautiful, low stress wedding.

This book contained very generic information and was not near in-depth enough. The information it contained is the same you can find from many other sources. It only scratches the surface and does not contain enough information to successfully plan a wedding. Especially if you want veer even slightly off the beaten path. You will definitely need another source for planning a wedding. I found Weddings for Dummies (available on amazon) combined with the Knot website (especially the checklist and budgeting tools) to provide me what I needed. However, if all you are looking for is a "wedding organizer" ( a place to keep phone numbers, prices, and contracts), then this will fill your needs. I found the "information gathering sheets" to be helpful. It provided places for information that I didn't realize would be handy to have in one place (such as everyone's name and phone number) and the various price quotes from different vendors. The spiral binding makes it easy to write in because the pages lay flat and it is easy to take with you on all appointments. But, if you are looking for information, tips, or ideas, then you should get another book.

I am a wedding planner and an instructor at the local college. I was looking for a book to use as a "textbook" for the wedding planner class and based on previous editions (I own the 2nd, 4th, and 5th editions), I chose the sixth edition for my class before actually reading it. I thought this book was the Bible of wedding planning. Beverly Clark is one of the most renowned wedding experts out there and always has written very thorough and detailed books. I must say I was VERY DISAPPOINTED with the latest edition however. The book took out several chapters, left out key information, and inserted very little new information other than references to their new website, where the reader is forced to be exposed to their annoying banner advertising.
Despite my previous enthusiasm for Beverly Clark, I must say I would NOT recommend this book. There are so many others out there to choose from. I must say, if you are a bride, you should go to a bookstore and choose one that suits you and your wedding style, rather than purchasing from a website, where you can't really tell what the book is like.

I became engaged in November of 2000. My fiance and I were on a bit of a budget, so we would be planning the wedding on our own. I wanted to find an inexpensive planner that could help me plan the many details, make decisions, and keep me organized. My reasons for choosing this planner were:

1. Worksheets, Information Sheets, and Checklists
There are worksheets covering everything from writing your engagement announcement to changing your name and address. There are information sheets to keep every aspect of your wedding organized, for example, catering, flowers, music. Most importantly, there are checklists to make sure you don't forget anything.

2. Spiral Bound and Easy to Carry
This planner is spiral bound like a notebook. I knew I would have it with me quite a bit so I wanted something easy to carry and fairly durable.

3. The Content
Each section covers, step by step, what needs to be done and how to do it.

Here are some of the different sections.

Your Engagement
This section covers telling your family, engagement announcements and parties, engagement and wedding rings (how to choose diamonds, style, etc.), and even etiquette on breaking the engagement.

Date and Planning Calendar
There is an undated nine month calendar that you can fill in to count down and keep track of appointments. There is a bride's and a groom's checklist as well as information on hiring a bridal consultant.

Wedding Ceremony
There are creative ideas on how to personalize your ceremony, a worksheet for writing your own vows, and a couple sample ceremonies.

Wedding Budget
A very important section for us. It tells you how to determine your budget, has money saving tips such as borrowing items or doing your own flowers, and a wedding expense record to keep track of how much you really spend.

Invitations and Stationery
The all important guest list. There are 650 spaces, so you won't run out of room! There are ideas for many different styles of invitations and stationery as well as examples on wording and addressing.

Planning the Reception
Tips for the location and type of reception. Special touches and money saving tips. Questions to ask the caterer and bakery. Again, plenty of room for the seating chart with 260 seats.

Beyond this there are some of the more self explanatory sections such as The Wedding Party, Bridal Gown and Accessories, Flowers, Music, Photography and Videography, Pre-Wedding Parties, Gifts, and The Honeymoon.

The only problems I see with this planner are that the calendar is only nine months. Where I live planning needs to start at least a year in advance. There's also not much room to write daily appointments especially if you have more than one in a day. I also would have found it helpful to have tabs for each section as well as pockets for business cards and receipts. There is a pocket in the back but it's kind of flimsy. The book comes with a Beverly Clark accessory catalog in the back pocket. Mine was glued in, so it ripped the pocket just a bit. There were several of the sections that I didn't need to use since we had friends helping out with things like music and flowers.

Overall, this planner helped keep me on track with my planning. It gave me quite a few ideas and in the end I had a beautiful, low stress wedding.

After looking through dozens of wedding planning books, I finally decided to use this one. It has tons of charts and is full of useful hints. The layout is logical. There are several quizzes, which I love, that help you discover which type of wedding might suit you. I would suggest this book to another bride-to-be! I only wish that it had more money-saving tips and storage pockets. There are two pockets for clippings, etc., but more would be a big help. Other than those two small things, this book is EXCELLENT!

I really like this book. I was able to stay organized during my whole wedding ceremony because of it. I still use it sometimes to see who got us the Whirly Popcorn popper, or the set of beer mugs. Also for addresses for Christmas cards--I want to keep in touch with all the people who went to our wedding!

Chapter One: Your Engagement (Engagement Announcement Example, Engagement Ring Worksheet, Jewelry Shopping Worksheet)

Chapter Two: The Date and Planning Calendar (has both bride's and groom's checklists)

Chapter Three: Your Wedding Style

Chapter Four: Your Wedding Ceremony

Chapter Five: The Wedding Budget

Chapter Six: Contracts and Consumer Fraud

Chapter Seven: Invitations and Stationery

Chapter Eight: The Wedding Party

Chapter Nine: Bridal Gown and Accessories

Chapter Ten: The Wedding Party Attire

Chapter Eleven: Planning The Reception (Questions to ask the coordinator, reception site worksheet, questions to ask your caterer, reception seating chart, etc.)

Chapter Twelve: Wedding Flowers

Chapter Thirteen: Wedding Music

Chapter Fourteen: Photography and Videography

Chapter Fifteen: Wedding Transportation

Chapter Sixteen: Pre-Wedding Parties

Chapter Seventeen: Wedding Gifts (one of the things here is a Gift List with name, gift, store, and box for if the thank you was sent)

Chapter Eighteen: Business and Legal Affairs

Chapter Nineteen: Second Marriages and Reaffirmations

Chapter Twenty: The Rehearsal

Chapter Twenty-One: Your Wedding Day

Chapter Twenty-Two: Your Honeymoon

Chapter Twenty-Three: Important Information at a Glance

I wasn't going to review this book until I saw that others had said this wasn't a good book. I have no idea why!!

I went to the book store and spent several hours reading every available planner. I chose to buy the Beverly Clark Wedding Planner because of the taste level of Ms. Clark as well as the efficiency of the planning organization component.

I bought the book on Amazon because they had the best price available. I used the book to plan our wedding and it was truly a life saver. Our wedding was simply lovely and we enjoyed every moment. We even bought the Beverly Clark wedding accessories at www.bridalsalon.com.

Congradulations and good luck on your wedding plans!!!!!

Heidi

As a professional in the catering business I have many books that I use for references. I always find myself turning to this book for etiquette, processional/recessional information, etc. This book has all the answers to your questions. If I want to answer someone's question quick, I look to this book. I highly recommend it. Even if you are not a bride, this book will be very useful!

We are 4 months away from our wedding and the book looks like it has been through 4 years of college. It is an excellent tool for keeping track of a variety of items, from ideas and conversations to storing contracts. We both use the book and it was given to me along with my engagement ring. It is as valuable to me as the ring itself.