How to Have the Wedding You Want

by Danielle Claro

A wedding guide for the bride-to-be who wants to break tradition and minimize stress. With strong support and a sense of humor, Claro offers creative choices, realistic strategies, and advice on how to withstand the pressure of family, friends, and "experts" and have a unique and affordable wedding.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0425145786
• ISBN13: 9780425145784
• Release Date: February 1995
• Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group
• Length: 261 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Hurray! Welcome to reality!

I just got married a few months ago, and am now reflecting back, calmly on the disaster that I made of last year. I read A LOT of wedding books and spent a lot of money on books that scared me. I picked this one up for $0.50 at a book sale at my nieghborhood library. It was my favorite. This book won't help you figure out your budget, and there are none of those helpful little calendars, but this book will help you keep your sense of humor and your sanity. Buy this book. It's short, it's funny. You will be glad you did. This is the one I give to my friends when they call me with the big news.

Great, practical advice

I would strongly reccomend that all brides-to-be purchase this book. It is full of advice written in an approachable, funny and warm manner. No silly lists of what order to do things in or what to register for. You can get all that planning information for free. This is real advice on how to emotionally prepare for your wedding and how to deal with all related parties in a maner that keeps you sane. It helps you think through what you want for your wedding and work with what all of your relatives want too. I feel a lot less anxious, but very excited about my upcoming wedding. I am so glad this is the first wedding related book I bought - I won't need to buy many others!

*THE* most useful, realistic wedding book I've read

Want a tiny, intimate gathering of friends and family in the county park? Prefer an all-night-long extravaganza with everyone you know? Whatever you want (or think you want), Danielle Claro has interviewed someone who did it that way. Learn from other brides - and grooms - and avoid their wedding nightmares, or duplicate their wedding successes. Claro shuns the formula of most "bridal guides" by giving brides AND grooms a voice in this book. The strength of the book is the anecdotes, and they are plentiful. I was rolling with laughter, both before and after the wedding. Whatever your style, it's ok with Claro. If you want to avoid all the wedding cliches, she's got you covered. But what if you really do want to be Cinderella for a day? That's ok too. She's on your side, because it's *your* wedding. (No, really - she means it.)Beyond entertaining, this book actually has useful guidelines (not just cliches) for dealing with rude vendors, overbearing parents or parents-in-law-to-be, and spineless boyfriends. Her second-person voice makes the book feel like a chat with a good friend, rather than a session with a wedding coordinator (especially when she starts telling you about her own wedding). Practical and down-to-earth, this book is indispensible.

I LOVE this book

Little did I know that a book about weddings would turn out to be the most entertaining book I've ever read, not to mention incredibly helpful in planning my wedding. Danielle Claro covers everything-- stuff I hadn't even realized I'd need to know, but definitely did-- and she gives great advice. I ended up saving a serious amount of money by following her suggestions--the chapters on flowers and dresses were particularly helpful, not just in terms of money, but for really detailed, creative ideas as well. This writer also is amazingly insightful about people, which is great when you've got to deal with so many of them. And her writing is so funny, every time I'd read (and re-read) it, my stress level would take a nose-dive. I would recommend this book to anyone--I can't wait for her next one.