I would definitely encourage the bride (and groom, if he's interested) to hit the garage sales & flea markets for some valuable, inexepensive, wedding ideas--from some good old fashioned wedding & style guidebooks. Simply looking at the beautiful plethora of examples helped me hone in on my own likes and dislikes. One of the books that I personally relied on above the rest was, The Best of Martha Stewart Living Weddings (1999). It is full of elegant and classic examples of wedding decor, floral design, cake designs, as well as DIY wedding projects; it's a wedding planners handbook for ideas.
Personally, I chose Martha because I was 100% comfortable with her. She has be updating and mastering the art of weddings through her idea books for over 25 years. Trust me, it's the good stuff. Truthfully, every bride has to find the style that she is comfortable with and we all need a launch pad, mine was Martha. ;) With the right tools and visual examples a bride can relax and enjoy the entire experience of wedding planning, from designing the cake to picking out the dress. It is fun and very exciting; every detail matters. ;)
-Angela Clark
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Northwest Arkansas Wedding Planner