Martha on Weddings - The Ultimate Expert Considers Your "Big Day"

This is always fun to look through even if I cannot come close to accomplishing this airbrushed perfection in my own wedding. This is the ultimate tasteful, beautiful guide to weddings that look deceptively simple. The magazine is much easier to read and better organized than most of the bridal magazine monstrosities [which could substitute for free weights - most are so ad heavy].

Before even reaching the table of contents, several pages are devoted to neatly laid out checklists of everything you can think of to consider before a wedding (from the decorations on the napkin rings to the flowers in the bridal bouquet). Martha and her staff also include a nifty budget planner which lists just about all possible contingencies for a budget. In the middle of the mag, an extensive registry with blanks for your own notes is included - also handy for those of who are not really sure of all the possibilities in our registries.

Martha Stewart Weddings is a firm, tasteful guide that shows young `uns like me what the vast possibilities in a wedding are…though she does not cover eloping. Articles on wedding cakes [including in-depth directions for making your own], tulle, engraving your silver, china patterns and other things often only of interest when you are getting married are interspersed with Martha's look at several weddings in places from St. Croix to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It's fun to page through and see the results of how other couples planned their weddings [probably with the help of the wedding planner pictured midway through the mag, walkie-talkie in hand].

For a few dollars, it's fun to fantasize about how to Marthaize your wedding. Most people probably will not try to emulate much of what's in here but the checklists and the many suggestions are helpful and provide some fun things to consider as you plan your big day.

To get a closer look at the table of contents, order the mag, or use Martha's active message boards (and ask her a question yourself ), go www.marthastewart.com.