February 21, 2013

Happier Bride: A Guide to Happiness and Planning Your Wedding by Minna Sithep

Happiness is one of the fundamental components for a truly memorable wedding. But, it is often overlooked because people assume happiness is a given. The truth is, happiness is an action. You must allow yourself to be happy and you must actively pursue happiness. 


Before I send friends and family into a tailspin of questions focused on why I'm reading a wedding planning book, let me say: I am not engaged. The engagement phase of my life doesn't seem too terribly far down the road, but I am contentedly not there yet, so don't freak out! However, I don't think any girl can be too prepared for their wedding and Mina Sithep's guide, Happier Bride, only proved that to me.

Happier Bride: A Guide to Happiness and Planning Your Wedding is truly what it says it is: a guide to happiness, a very basic idea in conjunction with weddings that sadly is often forgotten about during the frenzy of wedding planning. I'm sure there aren't many brides who start their trip to the altar by deciding, "This is NOT going to be a happy experience," but too often than not, it becomes the reality. What Sithep offers is more than just a wedding planning guide; she's more of a wedding coach who infuses you with positive energy throughout the entire process. Just when a task is completed and the bride is on to the next daunting wedding challenge, Sithep inserts some positive tips for persevering through the stress (like eating right and exercising) and offers pep talks that help the bride recenter on the important things. This constant thread of positive energy throughout her book sets Mina Sithep's guide apart from all the other books on the market. 

My favorite parts of the book included the idea of setting a personal mission statement to "help motivate you and keep you centered" (7) and also the emphasis to "make it work" rather than keep completely balanced throughout the wedding process. Utilizing these ideas alongside Sithep's cheerleading and direction in the book help a bride to maintain her focus. 

While this book contributes a great amount of encouragement throughout the process, I can't forget to mention that this is still a wedding planning guide and it delivers above and beyond in this department as well. Each chapter counts down to your wedding day so that you can focus on a certain chapter depending on how many months or weeks away you are from your wedding day. In these chapters Sithep breaks down the big things and the minute details you'll need to remember to make your day a dream come true. For example, Sithep gives a list of important questions to ask each vendor and tips for negotiating, even if you're not the negotiating type. She offers lists of websites for everything, from calligraphy to new wedding technology and everything in between. She also gives tips for things you might not think about, like to consider postage when choosing invitations or what should be in your thank-you card kit. Without this book it would be impossible to remember everything, especially for the bride trying to stay on budget; but with this book, Sithep makes it manageable to assemble a wedding of any shape and size. I especially liked the ideas on how to assemble the guest list and learning about Evernote

I'm really glad that I had the opportunity to read the Happier Bride wedding planning book before I entered into wedding planning, but if you're already on your way to the altar it's not too late to utilize everything this book has to offer. The concepts about staying positive throughout the book are great motivators even if you don't intend to plan a wedding in the future at all. You could also use the tips for planning pretty much anything! Rather than overwhelm, this book has excited me to enter into wedding planning some time in the future!

Bottom Line: If you plan on planning a wedding in the next 5 years, I highly recommend reading this book! The cost far outweighs the return you will get for making your wedding, or any event, easier to manage. This would also make a great gift! 5/5 stars!

I was given a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

1 comment:

  1. Well here you are my dear.... I had been checking your other blog for news of you! This review caught my eye! As my daughter nears engagement age... and think back on my own wedding... this is certainly a topic worth pursuing! I remember losing sight of the main point... love... and wince in my memories of getting caught up in the unimportant details ... at the expense of really and truly savoring the moment. I just went to my favorite wedding ever... and bing on this side of age.... i could truly experience God in the room joining two souls. i am glad to hear you my dear are already on such a positive wedding track!

    So happy to have found you again!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for reading my blog! If you leave a comment I will try my best to email you back directly and visit your blog, too! If I can't find a way to get back to you, check back for a reply to your comment. Thanks again and happy reading!!