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The Perfect Wedding Reception : Stylish
Ideas For Every Season (Hardcover)
Book Description
Once couples decide to say "I do" there
are dozens and dozens of decisions to be made. It's hard to know
where to begin and even more difficult to fit all the dozens of
details together into one wonderful event. Thankfully Maria McBride-Mellinger,
author of acclaimed bridal books, stylishly illustrates just how
to create a dreamy reception that will be forever memorable.
The Perfect Wedding Reception features exquisite
wedding celebrations designed by Maria McBride-Mellinger that
capture the magic of each season in refreshing, contemporary style.
The nuptial adventure begins in a formal spring garden but soon
its off to a beach front for a fanciful summer wedding, to a revolutionary
era stone barn for a rustic fall wedding and finally to a gracious
country home for a candle lit winter wedding feast.
Glorious photos of each location, flowers, menu
selections, table details, centerpieces, bouquets, invitations,
wedding cakes and favors tell the story of each wedding with helpful
tips and most importantly McBride-Mellinger's favorite resources
from around the country that will actually help bring your wedding
reception to life.
Whatever season you choose to marry Maria McBride-Mellinger
offers delightful flourishes to tempt every couple as they plan
the party of their lives and create memories meant to last a lifetime.
Review: Perfection!
As a second-time bride, this was the book that "did it"
for me. My October wedding reception, while not the exact replica
of Ms. McBride-Mellinger's, incorporated as many of her ideas
as I could. This is an absolutely beautiful book which will be
an inspiration to any bride to be that wants a classy, memorable
wedding befitting her chosen season. The settings, invitations,
floral designs, cakes, and small touches are unique and certainly
can be "scaled down" for those on a smaller budget.
Not the end-all, be-all catalogue of a bridal book...but a digestable
and exquisite source of inspiration.
Review: Beautiful pictures, but not enough
different weddings
This book has wonderful pictures of four weddings, one in each
season.
The pictures are truly extraordinary, but they are almost exclusively
of these four weddings, so there aren't tons of different ideas
for each season, rather one "theme" idea for each season.
One thing that disappointed me was that her summer wedding was
a casual one on the beach, so if you want more formal ideas for
a summer wedding you are out of luck. Like other reviewers have
said, most of these perfect presentations would be completely
out of a lot of people's price range, but you could definitely
pull a few ideas that you loved from her spreads and make it work
on a smaller budget. By and large this is a good supplementary
book on reception ideas, with tons of photos and some good "idea"
text (as opposed to "how-to" text.)
Review: OSTENTATIOUS IDEAS FOR EVERY SEASON
BUT NOT EVERY BRIDE
If Kennedy or Vanderbilt is your last name and I mean The Kennedys
and The Vanderbilts, if Bill Gates is your wedding sponser or
if you are a member of the Royal Family then this book is for
you. If you live in the real world you may not want to bother
reading a book that would embarrass even Martha Stewart. Even
if your wedding budget isn't that of a small nation you can uncover
some ideas to use on a realistic day of bliss. But I would leave
out the "Honeymoon bed out in the open" next to a swamp
unless you are marrying Jeff Corwin or the Crocodile Hunter. Look
at page 116 and see if you would like to spend your wedding night
there but McBride-Mellinger says "far from sight of the area's
inhabitants". It's also far from sight of a bathroom,room
service and Walgreen's to get some mosquito spray and close to
sight for anything with four or six legs or even eight hairy ones
that hopefully would be four groomsmen rather than a spider. As
in all the weddings in the book, the cakes are works of art, the
prettiest I've ever seen (pgs 106&107, 214&215 "a
masterpiece" and the chapter on Confections) and the flowers
are magnificent. If you read this book make sure to have a dictionary
for all the $2.00 words as it must have been written with a word
processor in one hand an a Thesaurus in the other. Also, a really
good cook book will come in handy to try and figure out what everyone
was eating. McBride-Mellinger is even so helpful as to tell you
how to dress the "help" as if in this day and time the
guests even know what to wear, where the "help" should
go to the bathroom, and to prepare food incase they work more
then four hours. But do show respect because Maria McBride-Mellinger
has a very high opinion of herself and a much over inflated ego.
"The Perfect Wedding Reception" is that: perfectly ostentatious,pretentious,over
the top and prefectly not for middle class America. The book is
a "perfect" waste of a good tree. For over 30 years
I have been a floral artist and wedding planner with the experience
of over 500 weddings in all parts of the US and Europe.
Review: creative suggestions
This book suggests many creative ways to make your wedding reception
fun and unique. The author describes 4 weddings (one for each
season) thoroughly and with an artist's eye for detail and color.
She also provides an extensive index for all aspects of reception
preparation and planning. The pictures vividly display the character
of each wedding, bringing them to life. I would have prefered
some extra examples with illustrations of decorationg ideas for
each season that were not part of the featured wedding. It would
have been nice to have some more practical examples of possibilities.
The featured weddings are gorgeous but, for people like myself,
a bit out of reach financially. Surely, one can put a creative,
unique twist on some less eccentric styles to make them equally
as special, beautiful and perfect for any wedding.
Review: Very helpful
There are some wonderful suggestions here to make your day special.
You will read this and remember the little things to do. One recommendation
would be to direct readers to Katherine's Song, the wedding song
in Defenders of the Holy Grail (Ken Agori)...this is THE song
for this millenium. Of course, this may belong more at the service,
but at the reception for the first dance, WOW!! THis book is worth
the money...
Review: One of the Best
In preparation for our wedding, I ordered just about every book
that I thought looked appealing and got great reviews, literally
HUNDREDS of dollars' worth of books! This and its companion, The
Perfect Wedding, stood out among the rest.
I liked it for the following reasons:
1. Beautiful pictures of original ideas. There were lots of pictures
and lots of ideas. Obviously you aren't going to find a book that
has absolutely every idea for flowers or cakes (it would be HUGE!),
but the ones that this book included were very nice.
2. Good mix of pictures and text. About 3/5 of the book was pictures
and ideas. It was divided up into 4 sections representing the
4 seasons, so you could get ideas for your specific season (getting
inspiration from the best of your season is a great idea!). The
other 2/5 of the book was resources with phone number, addresses,
websites, etc., so you could actually get ahold of the people
who put together the beautiful things in this book or go to the
places that would give you more of a similar idea.
3. Not just for the wealthy. Granted that I personally am not
too concerned with books geared for my budget, this book gave
ideas for all ranges of budgets. Of course, some of the cakes,
flowers, etc., must have been expensive, but she also gives ideas
that are more budget-conscious.
I would recommend this book, no question. It's better
than Colin Cowie's, on par with Martha's, and definitely much
better than Vera Wang's.
Wedding invitation ideas to help you
plan the perfect wedding!
Wedding Invitations (Hardcover)
by Jennifer Cegielski
Editorial Reviews
Book Description
A wedding invitation heralds the good news of two people making
a commitment and also reveals the style and tone of that highly
anticipated day. Gone are the days when a couple's major decision
about their invitations was choosing between white or ecru paper-today's
invitations come in an incredible array of materials, colors,
textures, sizes, and shapes. And the often complex structure of
modern families makes wording invitations a challenge. The first
book to fully address these topics, Wedding Invitations takes
couples from original idea to finished product, no matter how
simple or extravagant their vision.
The book presents both traditional and modern designs,
details the many different types of inks, papers, and printing
methods available, and discusses how to deal with ceremony cards,
response cards, maps, and other enclosures. The text covers all
aspects of invitation etiquette, from acknowledging various family
members in the most appropriate way, to properly wording inner
and outer envelopes. Wedding Invitations offers advice on desktop
publishing, working with a designer or calligrapher, papermaking,
and doing your own letterpress printing. Since many guests cherish
the invitation as a memento long after the ceremony has passed,
this is a must-have for the newly engaged. AUTHOR BIO: JENNIFER
CEGIELSKI is a writer and editor and the former content director
of The Knot. She has covered all aspects of weddings, from gowns
to flowers to cakes. She lives in New York City with her husband
and daughter.
DANA GALLAGHER is a New York City-based photographer
specializing in food, still life, and interiors for clients such
as Martha Stewart Living, House & Garden, and Food & Wine.
About the Author
JENNIFER CEGIELSKI is a writer and editor and the former content
director of The Knot. She has covered all aspects of weddings,
from gowns to flowers to cakes. She lives in New York City with
her husband and daughter.
Amazon Reviews
A wealth of information--even beyond
the wedding
I have to admit, while planning my wedding I was hesitant at first
to purchase a book that seemed to be on only one wedding topic.
But being into stationery and typography, I'm glad I took a chance
on this one. I wanted our wedding invitation to be really special
(we have been together a long time and already have a child),
and this book helped us achieve that goal. All the bases are covered,
so you really understand what all your options are in a simple,
non-overload way. This book is like a "master class",
and is great for anybody who is interested in printing, stationery
or invitations in general.
Review: A lot of useful information
I'm not sure what the reviewer below was reading because this
book contains everything you could ever hope to know about wedding
invitations. It's definitely visually attractive, but it's the
useful information (even gives you a timeline for you invites
to make sure you're on track which I am often not!) that make
this a must-have item for anyone about to get married.
Review: Very comprehensive and informative
Invitations book!
A must have for the "Bride-to-be" or anyone planning
an event. This creative Invitations book covers everything you'll
need to know when planning a wedding. It is layed out in an easy
to read format w/ stunning visuals of invitations, etc. in a compact
book that can be used for a referrence manual year after year.
I highly recommend it!
Review: Gorgeous, useful and a time saver!
This will help you through making all sort of invitation decisions
(believe me there are a lot to make, I had no idea before I started)
like paper and ink colors and also tell you all sorts of stuff
about how to word your own invite to suit your wedding formality
level. My invitations are going to be on blue paper letterpressed
with brown ink, very elegant yet modern. I never would have thought
of that combination had I not picked up this book! I can't wait
to get the invitations up from the printer.
Wedding Invitations, Announcements, Place Cards, and More
(Paperback)
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
Although engraved invitations have become standard for weddings,
cards printed by hand are always in good taste. Most people do
not have the handwriting skill for hand printing, so they fake
it with a computer script or hire a calligrapher. This book has
classic calligraphy instructions for those who would like to try
it themselves, with a little practice first. Several types of
alphabets are included, with detailed instructions on strokes
and layout. A section on wedding etiquette has useful information
on invitations, thank-you notes, and place cards, with photographs
of many examples. An excellent book for public libraries. Copyright
2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
About the Author
Bette Matthews is the author of The Wedding Workbook, Cakes (For
Your Wedding), Wedding Toasts and Vows, and the upcoming A Wedding
for All Seasons. She has worked as an event consultant and stylist
with a New York caterer, and is in the early stages of a start-up
venture designing and producing handmade wedding invitations.
Bette lives in New York City with her husband, photographer Antonio
M. Rosario, and their two cats.
Excerpted from Wedding Invitations, Announcements,
Placecards, and More : A Brides Guide to Simple Calligraphy
by Bette Matthews. Copyright © 2001. Reprinted by permission.
All rights reserved.
The Calligraphic Wedding
“You’ve dreamed about this day your entire life. And as you move
further and further into the planning process of your wedding,
each and every detail seems to grow in importance. Small elements
combine to create a full-bodied effect.
“The written word has great prominence in wedding
festivities. It may be in an obvious capacity, such as invitations,
place cards, or menus. Or it may be something less noticeable,
such as a favor tag, the name on a guest book, or a handwritten
note on a gift basket sent to a guest’s hotel room. The opportunities
for beautiful lettering are vast. Calligraphy can enhance your
writing at its core.
“This book provides a basic introduction to calligraphy
and some of the multitudes of lettering styles—some simple, others
more complex. The instructional opening chapter offers an overview
of tools, materials, and technique. The chapters that follow are
divided into overall styles: Classic, Elegant, Romantic, Modern,
and Artistic. These divisions are purely subjective, so don’t
feel as if you have to confine your imagination. With a little
thought or with minor changes, your alphabet of choice can be
translated to any project in the book. Calligraphy is versatile
and transcends any classifications we impose upon it.
“The projects in this book incorporate a full range
of wedding concerns, from engagement to post wedding activities.
Invitations, envelopes, and place cards are the most obvious items
with which calligraphy is typically used. There are also ideas
for gift tags, guest books to record good wishes, programs, and
more. The quality of your finished product will be affected by
the quality of your materials, so choose fine papers, ribbons,
and flowers for these projects, and you won’t be disappointed.
“The last section of the book is the gallery. This
is a showcase of professional work from experienced calligraphers
offered to inspire you. Each of these pieces is created by an
artist who learned the craft one step at a time, just as you are
about to do.
“Practice, relax, and enjoy the learning process.
Above all, let your own character, your own vision, and your own
penmanship shine on the page. Don’t strive for perfection; strive
for personality.”
Review: With This Book, You Can Do It
With this book -- and a lot of practice -- I was able to do the
calligraphy for my daughter's wedding.
The book includes a number of romantic alphabets in styles from
Celtic to modern, forms for invitations, many examples of custom
woprk, and step-by-step instructions for projects ranging from
favors to menu cards to guest books. There are also suggestions
for working with a professional calligrapher.
This is a practical book for anyone planning a wedding.
Easy Invitations: Use Your Home Computer to Create Stylish
Stationery for Weddings, Birthdays and Other Occasions (Paperback)
Book Description
Easy Invitations, Announcements, and Personalized Stationery is
the ultimate guidebook to creating invitations and personalized
stationery using a home computer and printer.
This book provides design ideas and instruction for creating professional
quality, customized invitations and note cards using card stock,
envelopes, and other readily available stationery. Use it as a
standalone guide or in tandem with PrintingPress software by Mountaincow,
which offers easy stationery layout, photo tools, a built-in address
book, and hundreds of templates and graphics.
Easy Invitations, Announcements, and Personalized
Stationery features original ideas for major life events such
as birth announcements, traditional and modern wedding invitations,
save-the-date cards, milestone birthdays, anniversary parties,
and coming of age celebrations. It also includes ideas for thank-you
notes, personalized stationery, informal get-togethers such as
dinner and cocktail parties, a wine tasting, and even a romantic
picnic for two. This book offers tips for making any party distinctive
with creative and easy place cards, menus, gift tags, and favors.
Includes bonus CD-ROM with 3 fonts and 70 illustrations
About the Author
Patty Hoffman is the director of Communications at Mountaincow,
a software maker that specializes in customizing invitations and
stationery using a home computer. She has written about crafts,
lifestyle, and entertaining for numerous magazines, including
Seventeen, Family Circle, and Details.
Megan Eisen, CEO of Mountaincow, has written PrintingPress
and many other software applications. She is an expert in graphic
design and has created a wide variety of stationery and original
fonts and graphics for invitations. Her stationery is featured
in upscale stores such as New York’s Kate’s Paperie.
Josh Eisen, president of Mountaincow, has written
PrintingPress and many other software applications. He is an expert
in the use of computer technology for custom invitation printing
and has been quoted in Greetings, Etc magazine.
Review: Easy Wedding Invitations
This is an awesome book. I've been making cards on my computer
for years, and I found this book very helpful. After reading it,
I purchased the Mountaincow Printing Press Platinum CD. They are
both fantastic. The fonts are the best, and I also like the graphics.
I have learned some very helpful things about using my computer
to expand the possibilities for making cards that end up looking
extremely professional. I'm a perfectionist, and this book and
CD met all my expectations.
Sarah
Review: Design Invitations, Thank You Notes
and Stationery
Whether you want your wedding to be traditional or nontraditional,
you want it to be personal and one way to achieve this is to design
and print your own invitations, thank you notes and stationery
on your computer. This book written by Patty Hoffman, Megan Eisen
and Josh Eisen is just what you need to inspire and jump-start
your creativity. But this book is not only about weddings.
The book is sectioned by topics covering the most
important events in our lives including weddings, births and birthdays,
seasonal and celebrations. Each section begins with a case study
and personal story about the real people that are the inspiration
behind the sample projects. Each section has sample projects which
are discussed in depth explaining what type of papers, inks, images,
fonts and design layouts were used and why. Although the authors
are associates of Mountaincow, a software and stationery company;
the book is written so that you can use any software you might
already own. This book does not have step-by-step instructions
for using graphic and printing software. The purpose of this book
is to inspire your creativity for designing your own invitations
and stationery.
Throughout the book the authors show you how to
decide on a theme for your special occasion and how to apply that
theme to everything including invitations, place cards, party
favors and thank you notes. They place special emphasis on designing
your own monogram with or without their company's PrintingPress
software and choosing the perfect graphics and fonts to include
in your designs.
Besides the eighteen projects, the book also has
a Tools and Techniques section that covers everything from choosing
paper, inks, and a printer to how to compose the message for your
invitations. The authors also discuss their PrintingPress software.
Although this software was not included on the accompanying CD,
the CD does contain decorative borders, fonts, images and project
layouts in the PrintingPress software format.
Patty Hoffman is director of communications for
Mountaincow and author of several craft and lifestyle articles.
Megan and Josh Eisen are co-owners of Mountaincow and the authors
of the PrintingPress software.
Review: Great Gift
What a great book. Easy to follow, full of original ideas and
examples, and it makes a perfect gift for friends into scrape
booking, entertaining, and basic design. I've already bought four
extra copies - to my friend's delight!
Review: Wedding Stress
I found this book to be very useful. I am planning a low budget
wedding reception and this book gave me great ideas for low cost/creative
invitations. I also thought the software was very user friendly.
The Artful Bride: Wedding Invitations : A Stylish Bride's
Guide to Simple, Handmade Wedding Correspondence (Artful Bride)
(Paperback)
Book Description
Every couple wants to announce their wedding with style and aplomb.
Savvy, stylish brides are looking for ways to add their own style
and sophistication to their wedding without relying on tradition-heavy
standards. This beautiful guide contains everything a bride needs
to personalize her wedding correspondence elegantly-but also simply
and inexpensively. It includes more than 20 fashionable and fun-to-make
invitation and correspondence ideas.
About the Author
April L. Paffrath is a freelance editor and writer in Cambridge,
Massachusetts. In addition to book and magazine editing, she has
written architecture profiles, travel pieces, cooking articles,
and craft how-to's, for magazines such as Scientific American
Explorations and Martha Stewart Living. She is coauthor with Laura
McFadden of The Artful Bride: Simple, Handmade Wedding Projects
(Rockport, 2003).
Laura McFadden is a freelance art director living in Somerville,
Massachusetts. She is a former design director for Inc. magazine.
She currently runs her own graphic design studio, called Laura
McFadden Design, Inc., and has contributed to various craft books
and magazines for publishers such as Rockport Publishers, Martingale
& Company, and Handcraft Illustrated. She is coauthor with
April Paffrath of The Artful Bride: Simple, Handmade Wedding Projects
(Rockport, 2003).
Review: Beautiful & Creative Ideas
I've never understood why folks will shell out the big bucks for
what they could more or less do on their home printer -- pretty,
but bland. This book has beautiful, personal invitations ranging
from the offbeat to the traditional (my favorite is the frog idea).
Making invitations yourself doesn't mean sacrificing style or
tradition, and this book is an excellent starting point.
Review: I have FINALLY found invitations
I love,
I have been looking at invitations, and haven't found anything
that is quite right. Not to mention everything is very pricey.
I would much rather cut the price of the invitations and spend
the money saved there on other wedding expenses. I have been looking
at kits. I never really found anything that suited us. They were
plain and not very origional. So I have been looking online for
ideas and I saw this book. I love it! It has wonderful ideas,
easy directions, and great pictures. We decided to take one of
the invitations and change it a little to better fit us and what
we are looking for. It really is wonderful because you don't have
to follow the directions exactly, you can change the color/pattern,
or just add your own special touch!
Review: Fun & Beautiful Invitations
The projects in this book range from fun and quirky (like my favorite
- The Bride in a Can) to beautiful and classy. There are ideas
here for weddings on the beach, old fashioned weddings, nuptials
that include travel, and for simple ceremonies too. A lot of the
ides in this book could be converted for use for other kinds of
invitations, I used one of the pretty ones to make invitations
to a party for my mother's birthday. Lots of color photos inside
(nicer than the photo on the cover would make you think!) There
are also illustrations & templates. I also gave this book
as an engagement gift to a friend and not only did she love the
gift, she made her invitations based on a project in the book.
Review: Innovating wedding invitation ideas
Innovating wedding invitation ideas to let the real you shine
through. Imaginative ways to help you decide if the non-traditional
route is more your style. Page after page of creative, artful
invitations, announcements, save-the-date cards, and shower invitations.
Directions and material list accompanies each design. Templates
are also supplied. People will remember an invitation created
by you from The Artful Bride: Wedding Invitations.
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