Bridal Title 1: 'Bridal Bargains: Secrets to Throwing A Fantastic Wedding On A Realistic Budget' by Denise and Alan Fields

A few days before Christmas I went from girlfriend to fiance and like every other bride-to-be once my head stopped swimming reality set in. I now had a party to plan. A big, expensive, 130 people on the guest list party.

Right.

I'm not going to try and kid myself here. While I've planned corporate parties for 300, I've never planned this kind of party and never, ever when my own credit card was involved. I wanted... no needed some info to help prepare me for the battles ahead. Enter 'Bridal Bargains' as my first choice read.

The author's summary promises money saving hints and tips in addition to guidance on navigating the rocky, pariah ridden landscape that is wedding planning. Good stuff if they deliver even better when it's laid out in a fun, functional way.

So let's say this is good stuff that falls just short of great. As my first, and so far only, bridal title, I really appreciated the conversational, honest tone that the author's have. It just oozes confident experience. And the cost saving hints are actually things that seem both reasonable and executable. No previous experience necessary - this one is perfect for us novices.

Where this title falls short is that while the cost saving hints are great, they get repeated over and over again. With the repetition I feel as though the book could have been about a third shorter. The repetition also makes it an interesting adventure to find the tip you're looking for. Nothing bothers me more about a book designed to be used as an informative handbook that you need to dig through. I'm not a fan of playing detective and if it weren't for the search function gained through my Kindle, well, after the first read this book would have been pretty useless. That said, with bookmarks and keyword searches, this reference title is absolutely awesome.

Bottom line: If you don't have a clue where to start your planning and you'd like to build a good, cost saving baseline this one is for you. If you're independently wealthy and don't care about surprise fees, flower costs, or are thinking about picking this one up in print, walk on by.