Rating: 
Summary: The Concious Bride
Review: A great read for modern, independent women choosing to enter marriage. It's different for us in this generation, especially when we are becoming wives after having established careers and lifestyles of our own. This book gives explanation for the "roller coaster" of emotions and why family and friends sometimes act (or act out) in surprising ways during an engagement. I kept it on my bedside and referred to it for wisdom when I was overwhelmed during the planning of my wedding. It also helped communication with my husband-to-be throughout, because I understood where my feelings were coming from.
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Summary: More important than to-do lists, cake and wedding gowns ...
Review: After my engagement high ended and the realities of planning a wedding and entering into a marrage settled in, I experienced true panic, anxiety and distress. At first I feared I was having doubts about my relationship. I even went into therapy -- 20 weeks of which did absolutely nothing to help. Then, fortuitously, I found this book. And suddenly, all the emotions became clear to me. I'm going to send a copy to my former therapist so she knows how to deal with "strange" women like me who don't experience total unabashed joy from their engagement to wedding day. (Those people are deluded.) Entering into a marriage is really about finding a new identity, like it or not. And I loved being single and free. The thought of leaving it behind is quite an emotional good-bye for me, even as I simultaneously looked forward to being married. It's a real conflict. More than that, I also had a bucketload of parental and family baggage that marriage forced me to confront. Moving on to a next phase of life really forces you to look at the phase you're leaving closely, especially as you start deciding which relatives to invite to your big day. It's no wonder I was so emotional. I devoured this book, and I am sure I will enter into a much saner wedding, and marriage, as a result of it. I agree with one of the other reviewers, too. This is a much more meaningful engagement or wedding present than kitchenware or negligees.
Rating: 
Summary: DON'T BUY THIS AS AN ENGAGEMENT GIFT!
Review: After receiving this book as part of an engagement gift,
I skimmed it with an open ear, only to find it highly negative
and rather insulting that someone would be so aloof as to give this to a bride-to-be that they hardly know! This is the type of self-help related book that only a bride, her mother or sister should purchase. I didn't ask for anyone to tell me about my true feelings, so please don't offer.
I don't recommend it to anyone looking for a gift!
Rating: 
Summary: A review by a lesbian bride-to-be
Review: As a lesbian planning a commitment ceremony, there aren't a lot of books out there for me and my partner. Sure, there are books about gay and lesbian love and books about gays and lesbians who live in long term committed relationships, but nothing quite like The Conscious Bride. What impressed me about this book was the fact that Sheryl Nissinen, though clearly having heterosexuals in mind for her target audience, acknowledged the existence of same sex love and marriage and invited readers to interpret the book in a way that was right for them. Nissinen deals with the underbelly of marriage: the often unspoken anxiety and fear that many people feel when planning a wedding. She talks about marriage as a rite of passage and encourages women (and every other participant, for that matter) to embrace the emotions that come their way, whether they are sadness and grief or happiness and joy. In fact, she tells brides to expect both and to not freak out if every feeling they have isn't considered positive. I found this kind of advice to be invaluable and important and highly recommend that women getting married take it to heart. I will admit that the "maiden-esque" language of the book got a little tiring after awhile and at times seemed repetitive. The emphasis on mythology also didn't do it for me (which is why I gave the book only three stars). However, as a reader I found combing through these things relatively easy and the crux of the book to be worthwhile whether you are a lesbian bride or a heterosexual one. We are all human and these emotions are universal. Brides who take this into consideration are sure to have a much richer wedding experience.
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Summary: Saved my Sanity - Very helpful
Review: I LOVE THIS BOOK! I got married in October 2003. I recommend this book to any bride with self-awareness/insight and an interest in going through the insane wedding planning process with integrity and as much wholeness as one can muster. The BEST things I got out of The Conscious Bride were these: 1)Validation and guidence for my often not so pretty/complicated feelings that were coming up before the wedding about myself/my finacee/my parents -- all of it! 2) a model for how to have a meaningful rather than just a materialistic bridal shower (In the end, I chose both!) 3) a guide for how to conduct myself on the day itself.
Because I studied the chapters "Has everyone gone Mad?" and "The Wedding Day" I was clear that -- of course --things go wrong. So when they did, I laughed! I was totally serene on my wedding day and I attribute a lot of it to the inner work I did before hand that The Conscious Bride encouraged, unlike any other book I found (Except: On the Way to the Wedding by Linda S. Leonard). This book helped shatter the illusion of perfection that sets up paralysis and inevitable dissapointment. It encourages brides to embrace their own humanity and the humanity of everyone around them and thereby create the space for truely having a great, whole day. I drank up every chapter and was deeply grateful The Conscious Bride was given to me because I found it hard to find that psychologically aware, sane, realistic, humane message in many other places.
P.S. One confusing thing is that the Book is By Sheryl Nissinen but the Amazon page calls her Sheryl Paul.
Rating:
Summary: This book saved my honeymoon!
Review: I read this book 5 months before my honeymoon. It was very helpful--- I read it in a day, absorbed it, and then put it on the back burner. (Then my husband read it out of curiosity.)
For some reason, as I was packing and getting ready to leave for my wedding weekend, I threw the book in my honeymoon suitcase.
I carried that book with me everywhere in Italy! It saved me! I was a mess-- crying everyday after the wedding. Just a release of tension and emotions from the day. I was so glad I had the book to comfort me. It made me AND my husband feel better about this natural rite of passage. By the middle of the honeymoon, we were enjoying each other and our vacation again.
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Summary: A Negative Read, areeves
Review: I was hesitant to buy this book because I thought it would be mainly for those over-30 brides that have that whole single life that they would be giving up. As someone with just 20 years of single-hood, I am still grateful for The Conscious Bride because it says all the things I've been wishing my friends would say. There's something so validating in reading what other women have experienced. Of course, it's a little too new-age for me, but I can ignore the references to mythology and transformation to hear what's at the heart of this book--an acknowledgement that it's okay to feel crappy.
I just ordered my dress today, with that 'all sales final' rule, and I came home and cried. I was supposed to be happy, my maid of honor told me--I had the dress and I was getting married. But the truth is, it's the end to a childhood fantasy. And when fantasy meets your $400 budget there's a mis-match that hurts. And when you finally place the order you realize that it's the end to dress shopping. The end to ripping out pages in brides' magazines. And there's sadness in that. Silly sadness, but still sadness. And this book is like a cup of tea to that sadness. It will sit there with you while you mourn.
Rating:
Summary: great book to read before walking down the aisle
Review: I wish I would of read this book before planning my wedding. My wedding ended up getting postponed due to my fiance and I having issues and problems. This book had great insight into what all happens once you are married, and gives you useful advice. Through this book, is shows that you have normal feelings even if you aren't that "happy bride." I would recommend this book to anyone who is feeling like they have cold feet, or just wanting to read about the real aspects of getting married.
Rating: 
Summary: The good, the bad, etc
Review: Nissinen's book was a friend indeed in the midst of the overwhelming rite of passage we go through when we are about to be married. I found her book fascinating from the point of view of both an anthropologist as well as a bride-to-be. The absence of acknowledgement of rites of passage as well as the glaring lack of ritual in our society are problematic indeed, and I agree that this may be a part of the cause of the high divorce rate in the western world. By knowing what it is we're really doing when we say "I do", we can preform a necessary rite of passage and transition into the next phase of our lives. I recommend this book to anyone who is engaged OR married, as well as anyone interested in ritual in modern cultures.
Rating:
Summary: Essential for all brides
Review: This book is essential for every bride to be and for anyone who has been a bride. I found this book 3 years after I was married...I only wish it was available around the time of my wedding! It would have helped me so much! Reading it now, it helped me to realize that the crazy feelings I was having were ok and even normal. Some of the things I could do without in the book: the frequent references to mythology and the way the author seemed to imply that in some ways you would become different after the wedding...(I am almost tempted to encourage brides to read this book well after their wedding for that reason). A great self-help bridal book to help deal with the roller coaster of feelings, emotions, and changing states of mind of the bride.
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