The Bride's Money Book: How to Have a Champagne Wedding on a Ginger-Ale Budget

Rating:
Summary: A Good Starting Point
Review: As a Professional Bridal Consultant I am always on the look out for helpful resources to add to my library to use assisting brides plan their own weddings. This book presents some good ideas ' the questions to ask service providers is definitely beneficial since each bride, whether or not on a strict budget, needs to be an informed shopper. The tips offered in the later chapters are useful as they give each bride many cost saving ideas which she can choose from. Although these tips can often be found in other sources (bridal magazines, planners, web sites) it is nice (and time saving) to have them all in one place.

There is no one way to have a ceremony and reception as the "Sample Weddings" section explained, however only one included the budget used, and it was over budget. Also, paying [their estimated expense] for dinner is NOT budget minded. It may have been helpful to know where Rachel and Mark's reception was taking place, since weddings (and budgets) vary from places like New York or Los Angeles to the Midwest.

I must disagree with the statement on page 7 which states, "people seldom use wedding consultants unless they are having a larger, more expensive wedding." Many of my brides had small guest lists and low budgets... I would think that the brides with less money to spend would want the assistance of a professional to ensure that their hard earned dollars are spent wisely.

Rating:
Summary: Did not live up expectations
Review: The book consisted of mainly stories of other weddings. Only one story showed how they budgeted and that couple went over budget. The budget wedding cost over $10,000. Ginger-ale is cheaper than that. The wooksheets in the book look useful but you can find similar charts in other better resources. Don't waste your money.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Resource!
Review: This book is an outstanding tool to use for establishing and following a reasonable wedding budget. By using the checklists and service provider question sheets, we were able to uncover the "hidden costs" charged by many providers and were in a much better position to negotiate favorable arrangements. We saved at least $2,000 - $3,000 by following the recommendations in this valuable planning guide!