Bridal Guide: One of the Better Wedding Periodicals
Written: Nov 18 '07 (Updated Nov 19 '07)
Product Rating:
Pros: Great ideas, tons of pictures of decor for inspiration, excellent planning and etiquette advice
Cons: Tons of Ads (not always helpful), a little expensive
The Bottom Line: This is one of the more valuable wedding magazines. You'll find great ideas and advice. It is especially useful in the beginning stages of planning.
Bridal magazines are a strange form of media. It is inevitable that you will wind up with quite a number of them, as a newly-engaged bride-to-be. You find yourself inexplicably drawn to them in the check-out line at the supermarket. Family and friends send them to you with congratulatory notes, which will promptly be followed with phone conversations, inquiring if you have chosen your colors and where the wedding will be. These magazines do a great job of capitalizing on your excitement and the excitement of others around you, but are they worth it? Bridal Guide has been my favorite of these magazines.
Content
Ads are a prominent feature of this magazine, as is the case with every other bridal magazine. You will find ads for wedding gowns, bridesmaid dresses, engagement rings (which is already not very useful to many engaged brides at this point), wedding rings, and home/registry products. Weddings can be quite commercialized these days and it seems anything can have your initials or monogram on it. You’ll find ads for monogrammed ribbon, personalized favor tags, napkins with wedding dates on them, and even personalized totes for the bride and all of her bridesmaids. Some may appeal to the readers, but be careful not to fall into the trap of thinking you need every little item at your wedding or on your person to be personalized. Those "Soon 2 Be Mrs.Smith" hoodies don’t get much use after your wedding.
This magazine contains articles, questions, and answers about etiquette. An example in one of the issues I own is an article about the origin of the white wedding gown and the appropriateness of wearing one for brides who have been married previously or who live with their fiances. General wedding information is also abundant in similar features. You will find answers to questions about different types of receptions (dessert and hors d’ oeuvres receptions to name a couple), how to make wedding timelines, and what different vendor options mean, like “What is the difference between plated, Russian, and French service?” Pictures and ideas are abundant for planning your flowers, food, decor, and attire. Even the little details like favors and invitation are given attention to. You’ll find plenty of real wedding stories and pictures.
The pictures are very varied. You’ll see tons of different ideas to fit any style of wedding. There are pictures of more modern, casual decor, classic and romantic-themed wedding, and even seasonal inspired receptions. There was plenty that fit my taste, and plenty that was beautiful, but not my style. There’s definitely something for everyone.
You’ll also find advice for planning honeymoons and other wedding-related activities. One of the issues I own featured an article entitled, "Sexy Wedding-Night Secrets." There is also plenty advice for setting up registries; information about what items should be on it, what to ask about stores’ return policies, and how to make them convenient for your guests to use.
How It Differs From Other Magazines
This is my choice bridal magazine for a number of reasons. I feel like it is one of the more realistic magazines. Even the ads are more down-to-earth and useful to the average bride. In many other bridal magazines, you will see many gowns that look like table cloths or fanned-out-toilet paper made by expensive designers like Vera Wang. Most brides will not be dropping $15,000 on their gowns and most certainly will not do so on such an ugly, “high-fashion” gown. The gowns in the ads in this magazine were normal and beautiful. Even if they aren’t necessarily my style, I can’t say that any of them were hideous.
I found the articles and ideas to be more unique than other magazines. After a few months of being engaged and planning a wedding, you will have seen and heard everything. If you go on theknot.com and ask the brides if they have ever heard of the bridal magazine-proclaimed “unique ideas” of candy buffets, donation favors welcome baskets, and cocktail receptions, you will be laughed at by snarky internet-brides. The issues I have read of Bridal Guide have all had a few ideas that I hadn’t seen. It is one of the few magazines that isn’t solely dedicated to selling bad gowns and repeating information unknown to only a bride-to-be picking up her first bridal magazine. Many bridal magazines become useless after you have purchased your gown and known enough etiquette to know not to put “Cash gifts only, please” on your wedding invitations. This is not so with Bridal Guide. This magazine provides interesting articles with great advice even well-into the planning process and after the purchase of countless other wedding magazines.
Cost
One bi-monthly issue of this magazine will run you $5.99 on the newsstand, which is comparable with the price of other magazines. An average issue is relatively thick and runs about 300+ pages long. The price is okay, but keep in mind that they add up. 10 bridal magazines just ate up $60 of your wedding budget. That could easily account for your wedding shoes or postage for your invitations
Recommendation
If you’re itching to buy a wedding magazine, Bridal Guide should be it. It is one of the more helpful magazines. You’ll find unique ideas, great pictures, and excellent advice for planning your wedding. It will be even more helpful for the newly engaged who will benefit from all of the gown ads. It's value will decrease exponentially as you get further into planning, but even when you're almost finished this magazine will retain a modicum of usefulness. There is something to be said for a magazine that can achieve that when so many other bridal magazines can't.
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