Earlier this week I was excited to learn that one of my favorite co-workers is getting married.  However, this news came as quite a shock considering that this person also swore that she would never have a “formal” wedding.  As a result, our friend is now a bride-to-be who has no idea where to begin and she is wondering how to figure out all the details of a perfect wedding having never dreamed about this day.

Well, the truth is that whether you expected it or not wedding planning can be overwhelming for anyone.  So, relax! There is an abundance of bridal books and planning guides to walk you through the entire process. After all, none of us really knew where to begin either.

To get you started, below are recommendations of some great wedding resources:

Books

• The Best of Martha Stewart Weddings compiles the best ideas from the magazine to provide you with the perfect inspiration.
• Bridal Bargains offers practical tips for planning your wedding on a budget.
• The Wedding Ceremony Planner offers helpful suggestions for both religious and non-religious ceremonies.
• The Best Wedding Reception Ever offers helpful advice that concentrates specifically on the wedding reception.
• The Anti-Bride Etiquette Guide is the perfect guide for a non-traditional bride-to-be.

Planning Guides

• Martha’s  Stewart’s Keepsake Wedding Planner is overflowing with useful features and beautiful pictures to help you plan your big day.  This is the planner that I used for my wedding, which I’ve saved as a keepsake.
• The Knot Ultimate Wedding Planner is another great planner full of checklists and worksheets to walk you through every step of the process.

Wedding Blogs

• Check out Bride Tide’s  recommendation for the best wedding blogs of 2009

Tools

• FREE wedding planning tools are also available at About.com

I hope these resources help you get on the right track. Happy planning!

Whether your favorite children’s book is about princesses falling in love or little girls finding the true meaning of home, children’s literature is full of romantic stories, enchanting scenery and beautiful imagery that can help create the perfect wedding theme for your special celebration.

Here are a few ideas to help you find wedding invitations inspiration in the classic books of your childhood:

The Wizard of Oz

Follow the yellow brick road to your own happily ever after!

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Alice in Wonderland

Invite your guests to get lost in an enchanted wonderland.

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The Giving Tree

Celebrate your marriage with a little inspiration from the book that taught us all the true meaning of selfless giving.

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Cinderella

For the ultimate in dreamy romance, serve as your own fairy godmother with these whimsical invitations.

If you are looking for a clever way to share your love story with your wedding guests, Courtship Stories offers to professionally write, design and publish your own personal fairy tale. If you browse through the site’s reading room, you can flip through the pages of sample books to see what types of books are available. I personally like the sample titled “Contemporary” because the story features excerpts from the groom’s letters to his bride while he was traveling abroad in Africa. How sweet!

The only problem is, I don’t know how well most courtship stories would translate to paper. If you have love letters or other little expressive notes to each other, I think a book is a fantastic idea. Otherwise, you still have the elegant option of an all-photo book.

If you feel a little shy about sharing your love story with everyone at your ceremony, you can create your own beautiful guest book on Blurb. Just arrange your photos to leave plenty of white space for guests to sign. One of the savvy staffers here at Wedding Paper Divas made a Blurb guest book for her wedding, and she raves about how beautifully it turned out.