wedding booksWant to get your fiance more involved in the wedding planning? I’ve got the book for you! It’s called Groomology: What Every (Smart) Groom Needs to Know Before the Wedding by Michael Essany.

And if you’re feeling overwhelmed with the whole wedding planning thang, you’ll find comfort in Altared: Bridezillas, Bewilderment, Big Love, Breakups, and What Women Really Think About Contemporary Weddings

I’m offering these two books to one lucky winner. Just fan IW on Facebook and leave a comment on here telling us about one thing that stresses you out about planning your wedding. The contest will end June 18, 2011, 11:59 Eastern. The winner will be selected by the Random Number Generator. Open to Canadian and US residents only.

Here’s more info on Groomology: What Every (Smart) Groom Needs to Know Before the Wedding:

The ring’s on her finger, her to-do list is growing, and her mood is frantic. What’s a groom to do? Let Groomology show him how becoming a partner in the wedding process can make the whole event more enjoyable, meaningful, and memorable. Time and time again, soon-to-be husbands only tackle what the bride-to-be has told them to do. Groomology outlines these traditional groom’s duties but goes a step further to instruct grooms in the art of getting involved.

Grooms Will Learn The Best Strategies For A Happy Bride, Including:

  • Being Sensitive To the Bride’s Needs and Worries
  • Taking Over Tasks the Bride Doesn’t Want
  • Understanding How Much Work Goes Into It All
  • Reducing Her Stress
  • Giving an Opinion
  • Letting Go of an Opinion
  • Being Creative
  • The One Thing He Needs to Do
  • The Benefit of Venting
  • When Doing More Is Less

Complete with helpful resources, a guide to bridal party responsibilities and etiquette, tips on hiring vendors, wedding statistics, and more, Groomology is sure to keep couples happy throughout the tricky planning process.

Here is what Publisher’s Weekly has to say about Colleen Curran’s Altared: Bridezillas, Bewilderment, Big Love, Breakups, and What Women Really Think About Contemporary Weddings:

Curran solicits tart tales from 27 writers, normally willful and independent women, who, for the most part, have taken reluctant swan dives into the consumerist culture of the bridal industry. Contributors including Curtis Sittenfeld, Lisa Carver and Amy Sohn never thought they’d catch the bridal bug. Still, they each get lost in the fantasy but come out the other end with a meaningful realization. The essays delve into the fraught conversations, negotiations and neuroses around wedding vows, dress shopping, etiquette, registries and budgeting. Sticker shock is a common theme, among women who subvert the wedding industry with a DIY approach (Rory Evans topped cupcakes with handmade clothespin bride-and-groom figures), and others who pay a price despite saving money. Julie Powell’s entertaining experience trying “to make a meal for hundreds into an expression of who you are” illuminated an incontrovertible equation: “hundreds of guests + unreasonable expectations + catering – billions of dollars = rubber chicken.” Some of the more heartfelt pieces include Jennifer Armstrong’s story of how she called off her wedding, and Lara Vapnyar’s poignant recollection of a $16 gown and the leap of faith that marriage entails. Brides-to-be or women who’ve been there will easily see themselves in these true stories.