Customer Reviews

How to Have a Fabulous Wedding for $10,000 or Less: Creating Your Dream Day with Romance, Grace, and Style

5 star:		(4)
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3 star:		(1)
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Finally, a book on getting more out of your wedding budget without resorting to obviously cheesy things that show you cut corners. Our copy has more pages dog-eared and highlighted than not, and we're even passing ideas along to our friends. The reception section on what to order for food choices was terrific, and I especially loved the part about where to look for a wedding gown that's not one of those cut-rate wedding factories and still find a big bargain on a designer dress. If you want to get twice or three times the wedding for what you have to spend, get this book and get ready to highlight all the great ideas. We're going to have a much better wedding now since we read this.

I just finished reading this book. Although I have only begun planning my wedding, I had already started to feel very overwhelmed at trying to pull off the wedding I wanted for as many people as I wanted, for a mere $10000. This book really helped calm the fears, and inspired me to believe I can do this. Hopefully the tips and worksheets will help, and the checklists of questions to ask vendors seem like they will be wonderful to have. I recommend this book to anyone who (like me) thinks it is insane to spend an outrageous amount of money on just one day, but still wants to have a wedding that doesn't look cheap and poorly done.

I found that this book gave you lots of options when looking for cost cutting ideas. I recommend it for anyone looking at getting married and saving a few dollars.

This book was all right, but the best book on the subject I've read is entitled: Bridal Bargains: Secrets to Having a Fantastic Wedding on Realistic Budget. There were numerous names of vendors and suppliers for desirable brand named items at discount prices. A fabulous find and reference. Elaine Bales Anchorage, Alaska

The first way to spend a very small amount on your wedding is to NOT buy kitchy books like this promising to give you priceless tips.

You can find all the tips in this book online. And it essentially sums up to be, "Invite less people, get married in the Mid-West and only have coffee and cake."

Not much help to this Jersey Girl who has 80 immediate family members and a fiance with even more!

But if you prefer books to the internet, then it's a good buy.

Im in the mist in planning a wedding and I read some really good tips from the book that are really cost cutters. I love how the theme of the book is how to cut corners but not cutting yourself to deep. Which is true, you dont want to cut yourself so deep that you are not happy on your outcome. Also this books is more down to earth and realistic on things that you need and want for a wedding. A lot of wedding books, sites, and magazines tell you oh you should get this or have to get this because it is proper. The main reason why they tell you that you have to get these things because they want to sell a product that you dont have to do or need to do. The book is geared for the modern bride for a today wedding.

I purchased this book this month (March 2009), and my budget for a wedding next year (about July 2010 in Boston, MA) is $10,000. Although the book is filled with generic advice, I do not find the book helpful with specifics, such as specific numbers, estimates, or recommendations. Here are two examples:

As a first example, the chapter on wedding dresses (Chapter 6) advises you to shop in department stores (p. 87) and in the prom-gown section (p.88), but no store names or websites are mentioned. I went ahead and shopped online and in department stores such as Macy's, and I can tell you that these manufacturers do not make "prom" gowns that could double as wedding dresses; the dresses are often too colorful, too short, too flimsy, and too casual to serve as a wedding dress. I found much more practical advice in "Bridal Bargains" by Denise and Alan Fields, whose advice helped me pick out my eventual wedding dress.

Here is a second example: The chapter on photography (Chapter 13) gives you a list of questions to ask any photographer. In this case, there are two websites mentioned (including www.ppa-world.org), but no estimates of what prices to expect are given. I went ahead and combed through the website, and I spent about an hour looking at each photographer's listed website to get a sense of the prices (most do not disclose their prices, which was frustrating). I found photographers ranging from $1,500 to $10,000. Obviously if I want to keep my entire budget under $10,000, I shouldn't be looking at the $10,000 photographer. I wish the book would have spent some time explaining how much estimates would vary and what things I should watch out for on the low end (i.e., $1,500).

Overall, this might be a book for "browsing" and not buying, as the advice is just not specific enough for real wedding planning.