Showing posts with label Bride. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bride. Show all posts

Friday, January 09, 2009

My new book on Amazon's Hot New Wedding Books list!



Seems like every bride wants to find out how to avoid some of the biggest mistakes possible! Amazon.com has included my newest book The Bride's Survival Guide in their list of the best new wedding books!

Monday, December 08, 2008

Have some FUN with your groom!



My new book is out! I thought the release date was next week, but here it is, ready for you now.

“Winner gets a neck massage.” “Loser gives winner a candlelit striptease.” “If you win, I’ll wash your car. Shirtless.”
This book brings a sense of play and friendly competition to any relationship - and the wager is the best part. The prizes range from the innocent (as in a first date’s friendly wager for a second date) to the gourmet (chocolate-covered strawberries brought to you at work) to the sexy (full body massage) to the racy (a striptease). This book suggests more than 300 romantic couples’ bets in a range of categories, focusing on different activities, such as: which team will win the football game; what family member will be the first to embarrass himself at Thanksgiving; who will come up with the most complex word during a game of Scrabble; and more! This book also includes expert tips for executing the prizes. Plus, each entry has space for recording the bet, wager, and outcome, making this book the perfect keepsake for any relationship!

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Monday, August 18, 2008

Congratulations Ellen and Portia!

The morning news is filled with stories about Ellen DeGeneres and Portia DeRossi getting married this weekend, and my InBox is filled with questions from reporters on the best advice for gay and lesbian weddings, what the new trends will be, and how weddings can be personalized. My answer: every one of my wedding books is appropriate for ALL weddings. There's no different information, since weddings are all about two people in love, uniting their lives in a very special and personal display of commitment, shared by closest loved ones, and designed to reflect the couple's idea of beauty and sentiment. All the best weddings include elements of the couple's love story, so there's my book 1000 BEST SECRETS FOR YOUR PERFECT WEDDING. On a budget? Pick up 1000 BEST WEDDING BARGAINS. Want to give a smashing toast? Read YOUR SPECIAL WEDDING TOASTS. Want your vows to have extra meaning? YOUR SPECIAL WEDDING VOWS. Want to be organized? THE BUSY BRIDE'S ESSENTIAL WEDDING CHECKLISTS. Moms need answers? THE MOTHER OF THE BRIDE BOOK, MOTHER OF THE GROOM and my podcast "Here Come the Moms."
Right now, I'm marveling over Portia's beautiful gown -- she has gorgeous shoulders and that gown couldn't be more perfect.
I just read an article in Special Events Magazine saying that the term 'gay weddings' will very soon not need the qualifier, since every wedding is an opportunity to gather friends and family for a happy celebration. I'm thrilled to be in this business, helping couples in love plan their Dream Days. That's what makes each step to my computer in the morning (my 20-step commute!) a joy.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Summer book club time!


Several years ago, I founded the first-ever bridal book club featuring wedding-themed novels. With summer beach-reads on everyone's minds, I thought I'd provide you with the discussion points for my own wedding-themed novel "It's My Wedding Too," in which a mother of the bride battles with the mother of the groom, and all of the happy endings are happy...but might just not be what you expect!


SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't read the novel yet, stop right here and print these questions out for when you and your book club finish reading. I'd hate to spoil my own big plot twists ;)


Discussion Questions
For your own Bridal Book Club Meetings

Book Club Questions for:

“It’s My Wedding Too” A Novel

Visit the ongoing book club discussion at
http://www.pashweddings.com/weddingforums/forumdisplay.php?f=146
5 Visitors win a copy of my novel each month, so please do join us
in talking about my comedic
Mother of the Bride vs. Mother of the Groom battle…
And the bride who has to stay sane through it all!



Question 1:
Why do you think that Emilie and Anthony were able to keep their relationship so strong during all of this stressful interference by the mothers? Emilie called Anthony a 'reformed mama's boy,' so how much of their relationship strength comes from the fact that he loves his mom, but he has an adult level of separation from her and a great loyalty to Emilie? [In most chick lit novels, the conflict is that the couple splits and reconsiders marrying. I wanted to stay away from the usual plot point and keep the couple strong so that it's all about the relationships with their moms.]
Question 2:
What would have happened if he was still too close with his clingy mother?

Question 3:
What was the most outrageous thing the mothers did, and were you ever mad at them for Emilie's sake? We know that both mothers had issues from their past, but what do you think they were really trying to accomplish?

Question 4:
Emilie diagnosed Leah as practicing feng shui and magical thinking for something she wasn't yet ready to get (a new love). Why do you think Leah was simultaneously wishing for a man -- and throwing oranges in a superstition that would attract him -- and also pushing real men away? If she knew she wasn't ready, why was she still throwing oranges? Was it more about a wish for herself to be ready, to find something within herself that would allow her to be open? Discuss Leah's character and influence in the book.

Question 5:
Do you agree that eloping was the right thing for Emilie and Anthony to do? And how would you feel if your groom 'surprised' you with a private, secret elopement when you thought you were going on vacation?

Question 6:
What was the funniest scene in the novel? Did it remind you of something that happened to you, or something you WISH you could say to someone?

Question 7:
Share your stories of how your mom or FMIL are like Delilah or Carmela, or how they are even worse...

Question 8:
Did you expect Vic to come back to Carmela? [This was the hardest scene for me to write, and I actually had to walk away from it a few times. It was a complete surprise to me that my character had had enough, that he was done, and that was it. I never expected to have subplots that include NOT getting the guy, or that a happy ending could mean the END of a relationship. What do you think about their decision to split? How is it better for Carmela? For Vic?

Question 9:
What did you think about Leah’s ‘love story’ ending? Were you satisfied or dissatisfied in the form her True Love took?

Question 10:
If this novel were turned into a movie, who would you want to see playing these characters?