My fiance and I received this book as a gift from family among a number of other wedding planning publications. This book was by far the most helpful providing honest, straightforward tips for planning a great wedding and saving a lot of money while doing it. We still have about 8 months until we get married, but we estimate that we've already saved hundreds of dollars by following the tips in this book!

This book is by far the best resource I found while planning my wedding. It is so awesome I have recommended it to countless people and bought it for 3 friends who are planning weddings. This isn't a cheesey book that wants you to make everything yourself. It gives you insight on the best places to invest your money and where you can skimp a little and where to find the best deals. Basically this book is like having an older sister who just planned her own wedding. Tons of great advice, I can't recommend it enough!

This book has so many great ideas to save money on your wedding. I HIGHLY recommend any new bride to read this book!!!!!!

I got this book from the local library once I got engaged. It's full of great information--not only how to plan a wedding on a particular budget, but also how to avoid some of the scams and pitfalls that riddle the wedding industry. I read it all at once before I actually started planning and wished I had bought it so I could refer to it throughout our 18-month engagement. A good friend recently got engaged, and her birthday was just about 2 months later, and I knew exactly what to get her: this book! If you don't have the first clue about planning a wedding (or even if you do), this book tells you everything you need to know and helps you get organized, too. Highly recommended.

this book was not at all helpful for planning a wedding in southern california, UNLESS i wanted a super CHEAP looking wedding.

don't read this book if you want a NICE wedding at a bargain (such as a high-end designer gown at a huge discount, NOT pay full price for low-end designer gown).

months after going through the nightmare of trying on 100+ dresses and finally finding one, i read the gown section last night for "fun." i realized then that the reason why i felt so lost in my initial gown search was because i was holding on to this book like a Bible and the information (such as designer's styles, price range, etc) it provided was misleading and outdated.

the authors hate david's bridal (i don't blame them) and vera wang and are more forgiving of other designers such as monique lhuillier, reem acra, priscilla of boston (in which case, they don't even review melissa sweet, vineyard, and plantinum line), etc.

i can go on and on about why i don't think this book was good, but i'll save my time and return the book since we did not even save $50 after reading this book.

When my daughter was planning her wedding, she and I each had a copy as we were doing long distance planning. I highly recommend it and recently purchased the latest edition to give as an engagement gift.

I really enjoyed reading this book...yes it has a lot of advice that you do see in most other books, but it also gives great resources and links for brides on a budget. I was able to utilize many of the recommended vendors and companies to save some money while still having a stylish affair!!

A friend recommended this book to me right after I got engaged. I found it to be helpful in certain areas, but there are also a lot of annoying things about this book. First, the negatives:
1) I found the authors' tone throughout the book to be extremely irritating and depressing. It's clear that they have a vendetta against the entire wedding industry. Yes, I get it, wedding-related services are appallingly overpriced. But these authors take the doom-and-gloom, everyone-is-out-to-get-you thing way too far. It makes you want to jump off a cliff, not jump into wedding planning. Also, they take issue with bridal magazines being vehicles for advertisements, but then they repeatedly advertise their own other books and their website throughout this book. Hypocritical, much?
2) TYPOS. I have literally never read any publication with this many typos before. It seemed like practically every page had a major error on it. Clearly these authors need to get a better editor.
3) I found it frustrating that many of the average prices they quote are inaccurate depending on where you live. I live in the NY area, and while the authors do acknowledge that major metro areas will usually have higher prices, I wish they would have done a little more research into exactly how much higher. Often they quote the "high end" for a vendor as being a certain price, when in NY really it might be hundreds of dollars more.

Now, for the good stuff: if you can get past the angry tone and all the typos, the book actually does have some good advice on planning in general and on saving money. What I found most helpful were the lists of websites, online discount sources, and stores in various cities. If you're newly engaged, there's a lot of information that will help you figure out where to start with planning and which sources will best fit your budget. Also, the authors do offer a money-back guarantee on the book, so if you hate it you don't really have anything to lose!

This book is great and really teaches you the "ins and outs" of the wedding business so that you can navigate through it easier. The bridal gown section was very helpful! I wish I had started reading this earlier before I booked anything.

This book was wonderful and I will recommend it to friends who get married after me. It was very helpful in keeping expectations realistic. My favorite part was the time clock at the beginning. When you start planning you are clueless and it helped me not to get overwhelmed by doing things that did not need to happen till later.

Though this book is designed to help you save money, I actually found it most useful for just getting ideas about what questions to ask photographers, reception sites, etc.

However, one thing that disappointed me about the book was its vast number of typos. Maybe I'm just being picky, but when I see a lot of errors in a document (and I mean A LOT), it makes me wonder how much thought and effort they actually put into their work. My favorite typo was: "a local historic society rented her their rose garden, covered gazebo, reception hall for four fours for a grand total of $180. Nope, that wasn't a typo" (p. 254). Umm ... yes, that was a typo, maybe just not the one that they were referring to.

This is a really great resource. It's definitely worth the money, but you still need to do your homework and do your own online research. It offers links and hints for many good deals, but in a number of cases, I was able to find better deals myself.
It can be especially helpful with wedding dresses. You can find tons of pictures online and also in dress shops, but try finding real information. This book at least gives you a fighting chance.
If you're just starting wedding planning and you need a good primer on everything and about how this unique industry works, this is the book for you.

I highly recommend this guide to everyone planning a wedding. The book is stuffed full of great ideas and tips on how to find bargains for EVERY aspect of your wedding, from attire to reception sites to limousine companies and on and on. There are also a huge number of helpful tips, such as suggested questions to ask every vendor.
This book is aimed towards those who are planning to hire vendors for most (or all) of their wedding, rather than someone looking for do-it-yourself tips. Do-it-yourself ideas are occassionally touched on, but this is not a book for someone planning a rock-bottom budget wedding. Rather it is geared towards those looking to maximize the money they do spend on vendors and in bridal shops.

This book is exactly what brides need to combat the evil forces of the wedding industry who are determined to take our money. I was lucky to find this book early in the process, and I will never waste my money on any other books or wedding magazines as a result. This book will promote your sanity, and will not make you feel inadequate for wanting to have a reasonably priced wedding (as almost every other wedding-related publication/vendor will). The book even guarantees to save you at least $500 or your money back.

A wonderful book, period. I originally bought five other wedding planning books first and then bought this book later. Combined, this single book had everything and more that the other five books had collectively. Not only that, it was in a realistic tone that is understandable and relatable. For example, the cost of wedding photography is at first, a bit astonishing. In the book, they add the humor to initially addressing details on topics, like photography (and it was stressful for me, as who wants to spend more money than necessary) by prefacing the discussion with saying things like, "ok, you may want to set down for this one", etc.

While I was reading this book, I actually felt like I was not reading a book, but getting advice from a friend. I can't say that for the rest of the wedding planning books and I appreciated the realistic view as planning my own wedding (with the help of my wonderful husband) was stressful. I also did get the accompanying planner as well later on. The information is also in the planner; however, there are more details in the book itself.

In the end, I would completely recommend this book. However, also add that your wedding is yours and to go your own path. Honestly, I think the authors of this book would completely encourage that. I was impressed that the authors provided their contact information in the book and encourage their readers to contact them. I did not contact them, but intend to later with feedback as to what we did or did not use. Go to a bookstore and flip through this book. It's worth a look!

I bought this book because the reviews were overwhelmingly positive, and on a tight budget, I really could use some help. I can honestly say that there was literally nothing in this book that I hadn't a) read in my other wedding planning guides, or b) figured out for myself, based on common sense.

If you really aren't a creative thinker, and need some really common sense ideas for saving (i.e. cutting your guest list down?), it might be helpful, but I was really disappointed. At least they offer a refund if you don't like it. Which I didn't.

Carly Roney's "The Knot Complete Guide to Weddings in the Real World" isn't specifically for budget weddings, but it's way better than this book, because it makes great points for etiquette, creativity, saving money, and everything you could possibly want to know about weddings. My bride-on-a-budget advice is save your money, and don't buy Bridal Bargains.

I'm not one to normally write reviews, but this book is so awful that here I am. My biggest problems:

1. By the 8th edition, you would expect a book to be relatively (if not completely) free of typos. This book is riddled with misspellings, grammatical errors, and misused punctuation. To me, this is unacceptable.

2. This book is basically useless you live in a rural area, and the numbers the authors throw around are basically meaningless.

3. The authors have some bizarre biases. They rail against David's Bridal, anorexic models (mentioned at least three times) and most forms of basic wedding etiquette (they're especially ornery about this one, usually referencing such things in ALL CAPS).

4. They seem to have a penchant for promoting animal cruelty, as evidenced by their suggestions for having a live butterfly release (which is expensive and unnecessary, something that they're supposedly against) and using live goldfish as centerpieces. Not good.

5. REPETITION. This book could probably half as long as it is, if the authors didn't feel compelled to repeat themselves over and over and over.

Bottom line: don't waste your time and money with this book. All of the information in it can be found online, for free (and what's a better bargain than free?).

This is the book I was waiting for. I was given a few other budget wedding books (such as "1001 Ways to Save Money and Still Have a Dazzling Wedding")and they were horrific. Some writers don't know the difference between "budget" and "tacky", but Denise and Alan Fields do. This book is PACKED with realistic money-saving tips and tricks, and the behind-the-scenes looks at the wedding-gown and invitation industries is worth the price of the book.

I got ideas for things I never would've thought about on my own, such as ordering Crane invitations from other stationers for 40% off of retail, or even buying bridal gowns direct from China (where do you think those expensive dresses hanging in the stores came from anyways?)

Between "Bridal Bargains" and "Wedding Planning for Dummies", I finally feel like I have a handle on my wedding planning.

I felt the stress of planning a wedding almost immediately after we were engaged. After reading the positive reviews on Amazon, I bought this book. While I'm not done planning yet, I couldn't imagine doing it without many of the tips in this book. The ideas here helped me feel prepared when meeting with vendors, and helped me feel like I was an educated consumer. Because the wedding industry doesn't have a ton of repeat business, I worried that I would be taken for a ride by some less-than-reputable vendors. This book helped me know what questions to ask, and how to save money. Some parts made me feel a little scared about what lay ahead, but overall, this book was DEFINITELY worth the price. I also bought the Bridal Bargains Wedding Planner, which was unnecessary. It's an excellent resource as well, but if you have one, you don't need the other. Bridal Bargains didn't give me tools for a completely do-it-yourself wedding (which I wasn't looking for anyway), but it did give me lots of ways to keep the cost from skyrocketing. Definitely recommended!

I bought this book to help me with planning my wedding. It is so helpful!! Not only does it give you great money saving tips, it helps explain the entire wedding planning process. My recently married friends tell me they wish they would have found this book while planning. It's a great engagement gift. The sooner you can get it into your hands the better. This book gives you the low down on dress companies, bridal shops, flowers, photographers, you name it, its in there.

Did you know that most weddings cost over 10,000? When in your life would you ever spend this much money and NOT want a guide of some sort to help you research all your options? My friend recommended this book to me, and it was well worth the 14.95 price (now for 10.95!). I wish I had purchased the book before I went to buy my dress! I had no idea how sneaky some people can be. Bridal stores may only pay 1.50 for a plastic garment bag and yet they charge you 25.00 for it. I can buy my own bag or use on old one, thank you! Plus the Fields' give great advice on where to buy a very nice dress (even designer) at a huge discount.

People in the wedding industry must hate this book, because it has exposed so many of the ugly truths that help make them a profit during a very vulnerable and emotional time.

Also this book gives GREAT tips for other more affordable options than a local Bridal Hall. There are great reviews on the dresses for the Bride and her Bridesmaids, the designers, veils, wedding site and reception ideas, bands, photography and favors among other things.

I also like that Brides write in, and give their tips and feedback about their own experiences.

While it can be overwhelming to get this much information in one book...there are LOADS of websites and resources to make planning each category a breeze. Add to that the handy little tear out checklists wtih questions to ask each vendor...it's a no brainer... you should buy this book.

When you are planning one of the biggest social events of your life and spending thousands of dollars... you are going to want to have "Bridal Bargains" at your bedside.

This book is very helpful. It gives a lot of tips and tricks to saving money on the your wedding. I am creating a budget right now and this book has been more than helpful. I didn't read this book until after I had gone to a bridal expo but listen to the authors do not register. I am getting tons of junk mail now and telephone calls. I would totally recommend this book. Its a great place to start.

There are a million wedding books out there but this is one is very to the point and direct. It has advice and tips without telling you exactly how to plan your wedding. It was reccommended to me by another bride and my purchase was to pass it along to someone else.

after looking through this book i realized it was an utter waste of money and quickly returned it. if you are planning a small non traditional wedding this is not for you. if you are planning a traditional large wedding i am sure you will find some great info.

This book is great for people planning a wedding that aren't afraid to do things their way. If you want to buy into everything the wedding business tells you you need--this book isn't for you. The book has tons of tips that will save you money, and at the same time, will result in a memorable wedding.

Great book. Buy it! You won't be disappointed. I loved it, and have bought copies for 2 of my friends.

From my fiance: This book is excellent! It offers really practical advice and has great resources... I found the sections on wedding dresses, cake, and catering very helpful. I know that I am going to save hundreds from the wedding bill thanks to this book!

My hubby and I wanted a fabulous and creative wedding on a realistic budget. This book was GREAT for several things:
1) Gives you the info you need for dress shopping. You get a look into the mindset of dress sellers and manufacturers. You are given trusted alternative options to boutiques (online!). You end the chapter informed and no longer afraid :)
2) Gives you great resources -- My husband is a designer, so we did our own flowers and decorations. The resources in throughout the book, as well as the website, I found very helpful.
3) Puts you in the right frame of mind-- it cuts out all the flowery lies that lots of brides end up paying lots of $$ for. It helps you to understand the BUSINESS of weddings, so you don't get taken, which I found invaluable. It gives the pros and cons of wedding planners, bands vs DJs... all sorts of fabulous things.

I read it well over a year ago (been married over a year) and I'm still singing it's praises. I'm going to buy one right now for my newly engaged friend!

I'm a groom and this book is awesome. I have already saved over $2000 using the tips and strategies in the book. This book is great even if you don't need to save money. It is a great way to make sure you have done everything. And yes, it does have a lot of wedding disaster stories. I thought that was great, I can make sure none of those things happen at my wedding. Enjoy your relationship and don't get too stressed out.

This book wasn't the greatest. I guess because I was hoping for more ways to save such as DIY items for my wedding. However, it did help a lot when wondering about my wedding dress and the best stores to shop. Though it wasn't ideal, it did have a few helpful hints.

I love this book and bought the planner that accompanies it, still spending less than $30 which is less than many of the other wedding planners out there. The information in the book is really worthwhile to know. I definitely am saving money planning my wedding by using this book. I recommend it to any bride out there who wants a beautiful wedding without going into debt for it.

I LOVE this book. I just borrowed the 6th Ed from my local library and because I want to hi-light, scribble on and tag so many pages I am now going to buy it. (Plus I don't want to have to part with it after just 30 days.) This book has truly given me my sanity back. I cannot recommend it enough!! The first 3 days of being engaged were amazing, but then when I started thinking about tackling the daunting task of planning my wedding I started to panic. This book breaks everything down in to when to start each task (such as reserving a ceremony and a reception site, booking a photographer, etc.) step-by-step shopping strategies, questions to ask, lists of top money-saving secrets, helpful hints, biggest myths, pitfalls to avoid...pretty much everything you need to know. Now I feel like I can really plan my wedding and *enjoy* the process and being engaged.

I got engaged back in October and all the wedding planning started to overhwhelm me...until I read this book! I've spent the last two months reading all sorts of bridal books and wedding planning books and THIS BOOK is by far THE BEST ONE OUT THERE!!! I'm calling this my "Bridal Bible," and because of it, I feel that I now have a handle on how to plan my wedding, not only for less money, but also more efficiently and with more intelligence. Because of this books and its many tips and hints and lists of questions to ask, I feel that I can plan my wedding in a smart, effecient way without being robbed of $1,000's for no apparent reason. (I'm not saying weddings are cheap, but as it turns out, with enough time and thoughtful planning, they're not as expensive as I thought, either!)

This book is not only good for saving money, it's the ultime go-to book for wedding planning period!

This book is well-written, well organized and thought out, but yet really quick n' easy to read! While there is A LOT of information in here, it's really easy to find the information you need because it's broken up accordingly.

The best parts of this books are: the LIST OF QUESTIONS TO ASK EVERYONE from the caterer, the band, the ceremony site (which I haven't even thought of questions to ask them!) and most of all, how to get a great dress for a lot less (or at least hopefully)!!!

The second best aspect of this book: it doesn't have to do with the emotional aspects of getting married for which there are plenty of other books out there for that!

It's a straightfoward, plain-english, honest wedding planning guide!

Also, I like that this book had a tidbit on David's Bridal, turns out, most everyone around me shares my opinion of them and I like that I wasn't the only one who wasn't that impressed with DB!!! And speaking of which, once again, this book tells you exactly how to avoid being scammed into buying a wedding dress for which you don't know the designer, the shop owner, etc, etc....if you buy this book to read the "buying a dress" chapter alone, it is WELL WORTH the money! Even if I end up paying a substantial amount for my dress now, I will have done in a smart way--without falling prey to bridal shop loopholes and the snoody salespeople in them!!! (Although I personally wouldn't reccomend buying my dress straight from China as the book suggests at one point, but that's up to you!)

This book made me EXCITED about PLANNING MY WEDDING and most of all, it made me feel EMPOWERED....like I now have a hand up on everyone around me while planning my wedding!!! This BOOK IS INVALUABLE, and in my opinion, some of the best money I've ever spent--a great gift for any newly engaged couple...or anyone planning a wedding...truly, a MUST READ!!!

There are only a few things keeping this book from having five stars:

1) Poor copy editing. I know it's a small, nit-picky detail, but it bothers me that there are typos and other technical snafus in such a late edition of such a book.
2) Some of the sections, such as that on the dress, are very thorough. However, some of them were a bit more lacking, such as the invitations section. Also, only a few pages on tuxes?!
3) I would've liked to see more alternative ideas, vs. getting-the-same-thing-everybody-does-for-less. I don't think my wedding plans are that wildly "out there," but I had a hard time relating to a lot of the advice presented in this book.

Other than these few qualms, I feel this book is a great resource for those of us currently in the wedding planning process (or those who are helping!). It certainly makes you aware of common scams and pitfalls during the planning and purchasing that goes on. It has been nearly indispensable!

Planning a wedding for the first time is intimidating to say the least. I'm thankful to have some friends who have shared their ideas and experiences. I think of this book as "a friend" too, coming to the rescue with strategies for saving money. The Boy Scout motto of being prepared certainly applies to parents planning their daughter's wedding, and Bridal Bargains has helped us tremendously to know what is necessary and what is not.

WARNING TO ALL THOSE SUPPORTING THESE IGNORANT HICK AUTHORS BY BUYING THEIR BOOK:
I recently ordered Bridal Bargains through Amazon because I'm in the midst of planning a wedding while buying a home, so I thought it would suggest good ways to cut corners spending-wise. In many ways, it does, but not any more than some online sources out there.

BUT HERE'S THE TROUBLE WITH DENISE AND ALAN FIELDS: In the Floral section, one of their suggestions, called Goldfish Bowls, tells the bride to go out and buy tons of goldfish, put them in pretty little bowls over a mirrored tile, and then use them as table decor, especially if she's renting out a drab event hall. PEOPLE! THERE ARE TRUE MORONS OUT THERE THAT WOULD THINK THIS IS A GOOD IDEA, AND IN TURN, END UP KILLING A TON OF GOLDFISH! Think about all the ignorant people that would not know what to do once they've gone out and bought 100 goldfish!! Think about how many sob's would try this out, rush out and buy a ton of golfish, or even other fish, stick the golfish in little bowls where they have no room to move, starve them, not clean them, and come the end of their wedding party, they'd be too tired to properly take care of the fish! Fish are not decorations.
The authors, Denise and Alan Fields, are suggesting that live fish are just the same as silk flowers! They are completely undermining and disprespecting these animals' rights, and something has to be said to them about this, as well as to their publisher. Publishers Group West. If they insist on suggesting something so heinous in order for people to save a few bucks, then they should at the very least provide a disclaimer stating that people need to be aware that they are handling live animals and should be responsible with them after they've displayed them at their wedding party.
I am attempting to write the publisher and ask for the authors' contact info.
This is wrong and this is animal abuse!

We checked this book out from the library and it has been one of our best resources so far. Gave us great ideas for wording our questions properly to get the real scoop and also a few ideas for some tricks of our own so as not to be swindled by the Bridal (Markup) Industry. Actually read the 7th edition, which needed one more proofread before publishing, but as whole it is a great beginner's guide presented with humor and realism. Another plus is that while it broke down some processes into more manageable chunks for those unfamiliar with certain aspects of a wedding, it didn't feel condescending at all. Definitely worth your time.

I am so thankful I ordered this book. It is already full of posty notes and hi-lited areas by me!! It not only is full of fantastic ideas on budgeting, but also each chapter has 'questions to ask the vendors', 'pitfalls to avoid' and the "lingo" that is used by the vendors at each step all of which is just plain helpful. While the book is not meant to be a "planner" - it still gets part of that objective across in the way they lay it all out for you. For brides on budgets or those planning smaller ceremonies and receptions without the big bang on the pocketbook, this book is a must have!

I gave this book to my son and daughter-in-law before their wedding. They told me it helped them save on many occasions. For example, my daughter-in-law learned from the book how to "listen between the lines" at bridal stores. As a consequence after finding a designer dress at a bridal store, she knew she wasn't getting correct information, so she found a store online and purchased the dress for less than half the cost that the store was charging, then had a local seamstress make the alterations.

I guess not so much what I expected. It has good advise but it keps saying the same thing over and over. So don't let the size fool you. Good info just stated too many times. Also I really wish there were some color in it.However it gives me a good head start on planing.

This is the single most helpful piece of literature about wedding planning I've read. I'm currently planning my own wedding and frankly don't know where I'd be if my cousin hadn't sent me a copy of this gem. Particularly the chapter on wedding gowns has been awesome... I am armed to make my wedding purchases without being swindled, as the entire wedding industry seems committed to taking every last cent!!! This book helps you keep it all in perspective. I couldn't recommend it more enthusiastically!

This book has tons of ideas on how to save money - some of them are more helpful than others. The only downside is that as time goes on the resources they list are outdated, but that's not a huge drawback. I used this book as a reference during my four month engagement and would highly recommend it for anyone wanting to save some money (who doesn't!).

A recently married friend lent me her copy of this book when I got engaged and it has been the most consistent, appreciated publication in all of the crazy wedding planning stuff that has piled up in my apartment. I loved it so much that I sent my parents a copy via Amazon. They are on-location of the wedding site and we have been planning with them long-distance. I intended for my mom to read it, but found out a few days later that my dad had been reading it all of the way through and not only learning a lot, but enjoying it! This book is not just about bargains, it is about navigating the planning of an event that is both completely foreign but incredibly personal. Highly recommended.

The service was excellent as was the condition of the book. Also, I received it in a timely fashion!

I got this book 6 yrs ago when I was planning my wedding- totally on a whim, and it saved. my. life. I knew nothing about weddings- hadn't even been to one in 12 years- when I started planning my own. I was totally overwhelemed and lost as soon as I started looking at things. I read this book cover to cover just about and was able to go into things with more information of what to do, look for, and handle myself.

Since then I have gotten this book as a gift for every girlfriend I have that's gotten engaged. I highly recommend it, as it's a great guide for how things actually are, as opposed to how companies will tell you it is. Weddings are a big business, and if you're not careful you'll get taken for every penny you have, and then some. So educate yourself, be paitent, and get this book.

I have checked out so many books from my library about wedding planning, and they all are pretty much the same thing. I currently have the 6th edition of this book, and It is amazing. This book offers tips, ideas, websites to check out. I would recommend this book over any that I've read so far.

I really recommend getting this book if you are wanting a great wedding but know you need to be within a certain limit. Even if money is not a huge issue, this book goes over things that might prepare the otherwise clueless (I know I was) consumer. I never thought much about weddings until now and I'm glad I read their advice on things to avoid! And with the money I'll be saving, I know my parents are very happy too! One thing I did notice, Edition 8 seems to have little errors here and there, like an "e" forgotten at the end of a word or too many spaces in the middle of a sentance, etc., but still a great buy. Also, a friend of mine got the 4th edition recently and said it loved it.

I've never been married before and had no idea what I was in store for when I started planning my wedding until I read this book! It's a must have for all new brides. It really sheds a bright light on every aspect of the wedding industry and most importantly helps give you the tools and information you need so you don't get ripped off. I highly recommend this to any new bride on a budget. This is saving me pain in my pocket book!

This book is very informative, I do not know much about planning a wedding or setting a budget. This book helps with both. The only thing I wish this book had more of is etiquette, if it did, I think it would be the perfect book. I would recommend it to anyone wanting helpful budgeting insight on buying gowns, cakes and everything else. They even review some of the large companies that offer services, which I find very helpful.

This book has great tips for saving money in every area of your wedding. It's very well researched and the websites it provides are great. You are guaranteed to save at least $500, but I saved MUCH MORE than that. Our budget for the entire wedding was originally $40,000 because of what we had seen on all those wedding shows, but we're so confident in my new money saving skills (thanks in great part to this book) that we're cutting our budget in half to $20,000 and will still have my fabulous, dream wedding.