Simple Stunning Weddings: Designing and Creating Your Perfect Celebration
by Karen Bussen
List Price:
Our Price: $17.36
You Save: $17.64 (50%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $11.26 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Karen BussenPhotographer: Ellen Silverman
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-11-16
ISBN: 1584793651
Number of pages: 192
Publisher: Stewart, Tabori and Chang
Book Reviews of Simple Stunning Weddings: Designing and Creating Your Perfect Celebration
Book Review: My Wedding Planning Bible
Summary: 5 Stars
I used this book to plan my wedding that happened in May '07, which was done without a wedding planner. My wedding was held in a historic, beautiful synagogue and historic beautiful hotel (similar to the country club chapter). So many of our guests have commented directly to us or my parents about how beautiful our wedding was -- and I have to say this book helped me more than any other. Simple Stunning Weddings guided most of my decor decisions over the 9 months that I spent planning our wedding.
For starters, I used this book to communicate with my florist -- it was extremely helpful for that. So many of my friends and family have commented on how stunning our flowers were -- we used fresh seasonal flowers in colors that suited our venue but they were of a style and in containers similar to the ones presented here.
In addition, her ideas about where to splurge and where to save for a given venue were invaluable. Not only did they save money, but they also saved time and stress.
Her suggestion of bringing old family photos into a reception site was one of the biggest hits of my wedding -- both my husband and I found old photographs of our family going back to the early 20th century and had them displayed on a large table. People couldn't stop talking about them -- not just our relatives, but friends too. That suggestion cost us about $50 -- how great is that? Her idea to hire a swing band to harmonize with the classic space was another giant hit -- the dance floor was full until the band stopped at midnight.
I didn't copy her ideas, rather I adapted them for the synagogue and ballrooms that we used -- and I found it quite easy to do so. It is so easy to be overwhelmed by all the choices around planning a wedding -- everything from table linens to wineglasses to lighting to picking a band -- it was wonderful to have her photos and text to guide and influence our decisions.
I spent nine months being fairly wedding obsessed while planning our wedding -- I purchased many books and magazines, spent lots of time figuring out our options and looking around for ideas, and I have to say that the ideas presented here were the best resource I found. My other favorite book (in a very different vein) was Bridal Bargains -- it's discussions on how to hire vendors from photographers to caterers to dress shops informed and influenced all of our vendor selections. By doing so I hired great vendors right away and avoided many of the hassles that my friends went through while planning their weddings. I'm not sure how much money I saved through their suggestions, but they really do understand what good vendors look like -- which was tremendously helpful.
Summary of Simple Stunning Weddings: Designing and Creating Your Perfect Celebration
The three biggest trends in weddings are simplicity, personalization, and colour! Wedding designer and expert Karen Bussen focuses on these elements as she shows couples how to design their own weddings without going crazy or broke. Simple Stunning Weddings is the first wedding design book to focus on the WHERE of the event. Location is the first and most important decision; everything else flows from it. Bussen then shows how to create unifying themes with colour, flowers, and personal touches; how to talk to vendors; how to decide where to spend the wedding budget; how to adapt the design for every budget - for example, by changing tablecloths from silk to cotton; striking flower arrangements that use only one or two flower types, which can be a significant cost saving; and advising the reader when it is actually faster, safer, and less expensive to hire someone else to do a job than to tackle it oneself.Marriage Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Marriage Books
Boundaries in Marriageby Henry Cloud, John Townsend
Zondervan; Published: 1999-09-01; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $10.78
Price in other shops:
Rock-Solid Marriageby Robert G. Barnes, Rosemary Barnes
Zondervan; Published: 1996-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.00
Price in other shops:
Insuring Marriageby Michael McManus
Zondervan; Published: 1996-03-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.40
Price in other shops:
Friendly Talks About Marriageby George Wolfe Shinn
General Books LLC; Published: 2010-10-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.13
Price in other shops:
Marriage, Debt, and the Estates System: English Landownership, 1650-1950by Sir John Habakkuk
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1994-10-27; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $182.50
Price in other shops:
Uncertain Unions: Marriage in England 1660-1753by Lawrence Stone
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1992-10-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $127.23
Complete Idiot's Guide To Budgeting For Your Weddingby Sue Winner; Gerard J. Monaghan; Winner
Alpha; Published: 1999; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.09
The Year of Yesby Maria Headley
Harper Collins Publ. UK; Published: 2006-01-31; Paperback; Book
Lovely Love Storyby Edward Monkton
Harpercollins; Published: 2004-01-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $6.00
The Proper Care and Feeding of Marriage CDby Laura Schlessinger
HarperAudio; Published: 2007-01-02; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $2.78
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Weddings by Tara Guérardby Tara Guerard
Gibbs Smith; Published: 2010-01-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.99
Price in other shops:
Emily Post's Wedding Etiquetteby Peggy Post
William Morrow; Published: 2006; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.75
Price in other shops:
The Big White Book of Weddings: A How-to Guide for the Savvy, Stylish Brideby David Tutera
St. Martin's Griffin; Published: 2010-01-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.24
Price in other shops:
The DIY Bride: 40 Fun Projects for Your Ultimate One-of-a-Kind Weddingby Khris Cochran
Taunton Press; The Taunton Press; Published: 2007-12-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.15
Price in other shops:
The Perfect Wedding Details: More Than 100 Ideas for Personalizing Your Weddingby Maria McBride
William Morrow; Published: 2003-12-23; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.99
Price in other shops:
Colin Cowie Wedding Chic: 1,001 Ideas for Every Moment of Your Celebrationby Colin Cowie
Clarkson Potter; Published: 2008-12-23; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $23.98
Price in other shops:
The Best of Martha Stewart Living : Weddingsby Martha Stewart Living Magazine
Clarkson Potter; Published: 1999-12-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $20.99
Price in other shops:
Bridal Bargains: Secrets to Throwing A Fantastic Wedding On A Realistic Budgetby Denise Fields, Alan Fields
Windsor Peak Press; Published: 2010-11-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.01
Price in other shops:
The Wedding Book: The Big Book for Your Big Dayby Mindy Weiss, Lisbeth Levine
Workman Publishing Company; Published: 2008-03-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.81
Price in other shops:
The Knot Ultimate Wedding Lookbook: More Than 1,000 Cakes, Centerpieces, Bouquets, Dresses, Decorations, and Ideas for the Perfect Dayby Carley Roney, Editors Of The Knot
Clarkson Potter; Published: 2010-12-21; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $24.49
Price in other shops: