Books for Creative Weddings

I Do: A Guide to Creating Your Own Unique Wedding Ceremony

Yes, the idea is to put the “I” in “I do.” In trying to balance different expectations, cultures, backgrounds, and beliefs in your wedding, ultimately you have to come back to what is important to you, and this book is a unique resource with good suggestions on adapting important traditions to your personalized wedding.

Price: $10.85

Offbeat Bride: Taffeta-Free Alternatives for Independent Brides

Yes, all bridal magazines start looking the same after a while. Like a nanosecond. It’s not surprising that many women look for a new direction! Ariel Meadow Stallings gives some solid advice for the alternative wedding process based on her own experiences with a non-traditional wedding.

Price: $10.85

How to Have the Wedding You Want (Not the One Everybody Else Wants You to Have)

Okay. I won’t lie. Weddings are about families, and everyone wants their finger in the pie. They’re all filled with great ideas...of what they want, not what you want. This book is a great read for brides or grooms who want something different, and need to stay in control to get it.

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Alternative Weddings: An Essential Guide for Creating Your Own Ceremony

This book can be a helpful resource for planning a unique wedding ceremony, including resources for ceremonies from many different faiths. The focus is on the ceremony itself, but Jane Ross-MacDonald also asks you to delve into the reasons for choosing an alternative ceremony.

Price: $13.95

Intimate Weddings: Planning a Small Wedding that Fits Your Budget and Style

Most wedding planners seem to “think big,” but most weddings are actually small. After all, a small wedding means that your guests are the people who matter most to you, and you’ll get to actually spend time with them and celebrate with them. This book is a good budget resource for planning a realistically-sized wedding.

Price: $10.19

Conscious Bride’s Wedding Planner

This workbook-oriented planner isn’t just an organizer. By taking into account the emotional charge that your wedding generates, this planner tackles the most difficult problem of wedding planning: feelings. A “conscious bride” pays as much attention to herself, her journey, and her emotions as to her caterer, dressmaker, and florist.

Price: $14.71

Instant Wedding Planner: Get from ‘Will You?’ to ‘I Do!’ in Record Time

There’s a lot to be said for a “speed wedding.” The faster it’s coming, the less time there is to spend in the planning process! But less time equals more stress...and often less creativity. The Instant Wedding Planner is a great resource for getting organized, reducing stress, and getting the wedding you want in a limited time.

Price: $10.17

White Weddings: Romancing Heterosexuality in Popular Culture

Let’s face it, weddings are cultural as much as (and sometimes more so!) than individual. If you’re looking for some insight into how the prevailing culture influences and shapes most people’s thinking about weddings and heterosexuality, this book is a thoughtful (and highly critical) look at the traditional wedding ceremony.

Price: $26.96

The Wedding Complex: Forms of Belonging in Modern American Culture

Hey, our policy is that you don’t have to get married to have a wedding. Elizabeth Freeman looks at the wedding as an event, a ritual, a celebration, exploring what a wedding achieves, aside from merely the commencement of a marriage.

Price: $20.66

Paint It Black: A Guide To Gothic Homemaking

It’s time for a new aesthetic. Frilly? Pink? Eggshell? Is that even a color? I don’t think so. If you’re serious about designing a Goth wedding (or the decor of your new Goth home), this book is a great project-based starting point to find the right look in a world of white lace gowns.

Price: $10.85

Goth: Undead Subculture

For those of you who want to share an intellectual missive on the history and trivia of the gothic subculture with questioning family and friends, we recommend this collection of essays dealing with various topics including music, literature, fashion and aesthetics, as well as gender ambivalence.

Price: $19.72

The Goth Bible: A Compendium for the Darkly Inclined

Great for the gothically inclined and people looking to better understand the subculture, we recommend this charming book. Filled with history and traditions, as well as quotes from those living the lifestyle, read this book and pass it on to celebrate that, in fact, goth is a state of mind, not a bunch of satanic spooky kids running around in clothes from Hot Topic.

Price: $13.57

Goth Chic: A Connoisseur’s Guide to Dark Culture

With beautiful photography and illustrations, this book is primarily for Goths that want to know more about their history and cultural beginnings. A primer on Goth in the arts, readers may find musical, literary and cinematic treasures that they might have not previously encountered.

Price: $13.57

The Romanti-Goth A-Z Coloring Book

Want a break from stressful wedding planning? We highly recommend this fun alphabet coloring book guaranteed to bring out the gothling in all of us. Complicated, no—fun, yes!

Price: $7.99

Passages Handfasting: A Pagan Guide to Commitment Rituals

Handfasting is a symbolic and elegant ritual of binding, and a joyful alternative to traditional weddings. For learning about the history, planning the right ceremony for you, and negotiating blended weddings, this book is a superb resource.

Price: $8.76

Handfasting and Wedding Rituals: Welcoming Hera’s Blessing

Everything you need to plan your pagan, interfaith or alternative wedding, including 16 different wedding rites. With a brief history of handfasting, planning steps, preparation and inclusion of non-pagan ideas for your ceremony, this book is a great resource for planning your wedding rites. Also includes ideas that non-pagans can understand and relate to.

Price: $11.53

Magickal Weddings: Pagan Handfasting Traditions for Your Sacred Union

A terrific handbook and wedding planner that includes worksheets, charts, and enough organizational methods to satisfy your inner Virgo. Also includes helpful astrological information on which day to plan your ceremony, as well as the symbolism of different elements which can be used to make your wedding more meaningful.

Price: $11.86

The Bride Wore Black Leather...And He Looked Fabulous!

Trying to sort out the etiquette of a gay wedding? Where do cultural norms end and subcultural norms begin? This book is a great resource for bringing diverse people together, by bringing everyday kindness in any cultural niche.

Price: $11.95

The Complete Guide to Gay and Lesbian Weddings

If you’re looking for a more traditional ceremony that still respects who you are as individuals and as a couple, this book is an excellent resource. Elegance and tradition aren’t only for straight people. This book serves as an organizer and adviser, expanded to cover the needs of same-sex couples.

Price: $11.53