The Complete Outdoor Wedding Planner: From Rustic Settings to Elegant Garden Parties, Everything You Need to Know to Make Your Day Special [Paperback]

Sharon Naylor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 11, 2001

Let Nature Be Your Wedding Chapel
Whether you're thinking about exchanging vows on a sandy beach, a majestic mountaintop, or simply the friendly confines of your own backyard, you can enjoy the elegant, breathtaking wedding you've always envisioned.
Inside, wedding expert Sharon Naylor takes you step-by-step through planning the perfect outdoor wedding day—from special and important considerations for outdoor locations to creating a fabulous reception under the stars. You'll discover an array of tips, hints, resources, and answers to vital questions, including:
·The best choices for location, time of year, and hour of day
·Practical considerations, such as space, privacy, and weather
·Suggestions for choosing outdoor-friendly wedding attire
·Information on regulations, permits, and other requirements
·And much, much more!
"Sharon Naylor's book is the most comprehensive guide yet for those planning an outdoor wedding. She covers every detail and offers lots of smart advice so brodes and grooms can enjoy a beautiful, worry-free celebration."
&151;Deane Forden, editor in chief, Bridal Guide magazine

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Sharon Naylor's book is the most comprehensive guide yet for those planning an outdoor wedding. She covers every detail and offers lots of smart advice so brides and grooms can enjoy a beautiful, worry-free celebration."
—DIANE FORDEN, editor in chief, Bridal Guide magazine

From the Inside Flap

Let Nature Be Your Wedding Chapel
Whether you're thinking about exchanging vows on a sandy beach, a majestic mountaintop, or simply the friendly confines of your own backyard, you can enjoy the elegant, breathtaking wedding you've always envisioned.
Inside, wedding expert Sharon Naylor takes you step-by-step through planning the perfect outdoor wedding day?from special and important considerations for outdoor locations to creating a fabulous reception under the stars. You'll discover an array of tips, hints, resources, and answers to vital questions, including:
·The best choices for location, time of year, and hour of day
·Practical considerations, such as space, privacy, and weather
·Suggestions for choosing outdoor-friendly wedding attire
·Information on regulations, permits, and other requirements
·And much, much more!
"Sharon Naylor's book is the most comprehensive guide yet for those planning an outdoor wedding. She covers every detail and offers lots of smart advice so brodes and grooms can enjoy a beautiful, worry-free celebration."
&151;Deane Forden, editor in chief, Bridal Guide magazine

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press (December 11, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761535985
• ISBN-13: 978-0761535980
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 0.8 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #140,220 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sharon Naylor is the author of over 35 wedding planning books and as a noted wedding expert has appeared on top television programs including I Do! With the Knot, Get Married With Colin Cowie, Good Morning America, Primetime, Lifetime, ABC News, and many more. She has also been featured in InStyle Weddings, Modern Bride, Brides, Wedding Channel, The Wall Street Journal, Bridal Guide, Southern Bride, New York Bride, New Jersey Bride, and as the resident wedding Q&A expert and spotlight blogger at iVillage.

Sharon has always advised brides and grooms to prepare for the marriage, not just the wedding, and all of her books focus not just on planning details like designing a wedding cake or choosing a gown, but on the *relationships* that build between the couple and their in-laws, the relationships that may change between the couple and their single friends, and the relationships a couple can create between themselves and their wedding vendors. Weddings may be stressful to plan, but they don't have to create stress in your life. Sharon Naylor's 20+ years in the wedding industry have exposed her to so many different personality types trying to work together, she knows the kinds of clashes that can happen and she advises against every type of planning or communication mistake. The goal is, of course, a beautiful and personalized wedding day, but Sharon Naylor wants you to *enjoy* the process with the positive people you know, always taking the time to think about what's going *well* instead of what's still left to do or what's disappointing.

Sharon Naylor says she gravitated to wedding world because it's comprised of all of her favorite things: travel, gourmet food, floral design, fashion, photography, dance...and most importantly the gathering of far-flung friends and family to celebrate a happy occasion.

A recent newlywed, she lives in Morristown NJ with her husband Joe and she is currently the wedding spokesperson for several high-profile corporate brands.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

74 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Completely Useless is more like it, April 9, 2004

By 

A. Livingston "hired pen" (Highland Park, NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Complete Outdoor Wedding Planner: From Rustic Settings to Elegant Garden Parties, Everything You Need to Know to Make Your Day Special (Paperback)

When I bought this book I was assuming--perhaps naively--that its title meant that the book would focus on specific things you need to know when planning an outdoor wedding. I hoped that it would be able to help me with such nitty-gritty details as planning for the possibility of rain and dealing with rentals of items such as chairs and tables. Instead, I found that the book was, in essence, a wedding planner almost exactly like every other wedding planner on the market, complete with a checklist of what-to-do-when, a breakdown of the expenses according to who "traditionally" pays for them, and pages and pages of advice on picking out the dress and the cake. Her advice on making a backup plan for rain was confined to one paragraph, the essence of which was "Make sure you have a backup plan for rain." Not one word on how to go about making such a plan (okay, she did have a short section on the advantages of booking a site with both indoor and outdoor accommodations, but what about those of us who want to use a state park where the only shelter is a pavilion without sides)? As for rentals, there isn't even a listing in the index for them. My advice: if you're looking for details, don't bother with this book. You can find better information on the Web for nothing.

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is amazing!, February 15, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Complete Outdoor Wedding Planner: From Rustic Settings to Elegant Garden Parties, Everything You Need to Know to Make Your Day Special (Paperback)

My fiance and I LOVED this book. We did all the worksheets, completed the questionnaire of what we really, really wanted for our wedding, and planned out our entire dream wedding. The best part was all of the budget tips that helped us figure out how we're going to pay for the whole thing, and we are so excited to have learned all of the details that most couples forget. Before we got this book, we didn't know if we could pull off an outdoor wedding. We thought it might be too much, or that it would be too hard to plan....but now that we have this book, we have no doubts. Sharon Naylor really made everything easy to follow and easy to use, and she made it fun for BOTH of us with her sense of humor and her warnings about common mistakes to avoid. We highly recommend this book to any couple planning a beach or yard wedding -- it has advice you're not going to find in the magazines or other books.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We LOVED this book, March 22, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Complete Outdoor Wedding Planner: From Rustic Settings to Elegant Garden Parties, Everything You Need to Know to Make Your Day Special (Paperback)

So many people told us that having an outdoor wedding was just asking for trouble, and we're glad we listened to this book instead of them!! Sharon Naylor eased all of our concerns about bad weather and finding a location, decorating and all the rest, and her really creative ideas on how to make an outdoor site really beautiful were just what we needed! I loved the part about choosing the right kind of gown and shoes and tuxes for any weather condition, and my fiance got into the 'how to plan your menu' part that talks about warnings and smarter choices we never considered before. If you're dreaming of an outdoor wedding, this book is going to make you very, very happy.