German Wedding Book
It's wedding season, think spring! Maybe if we all wish for it hard enough it will appear because today we got more snow!? So I decided to pull out this wedding book for a little inspiration and to practice my German as I try to make sense of it all. I am in total wedding mode recently, especially with the release of a new magazine I just discovered (more about that in the next post) and now, this super girly German wedding book, Einfach heiraten! just published here in Germany and it is as pretty as it is practical and full of DIY ideas and advice. Here is a peek below!
I have several beautiful wedding books by other great bloggers on my desk, but I never cover wedding books on decor8 (especially in a foreign language) but because Steffi is my friend, I made an exception because I found it so thoughtfully done and I remember all of the work Steffi put into it while she was writing, writing, writing! On one occasion, I was with my friend Charlotte in Hamburg having a meeting and decided to introduce her to Steffi so we met up and she came looking like her mind was in the clouds. She had that typical author's glaze, like you just knew the poor lady was up until the wee hours perfecting her recipe - this book! It's a hard job to write but even more, to get your publishers to get on board with your vision and to respect your viewpoint.
I haven't asked Steffi about that process but from the looks of this book, it really looks like the work I remember her doing during her days at Brigitte magazine, one of Germany's top lifestyle magazines for women. I think the book really reflects her love for magazines because it feels very magazine-like. Whenever I meet with my publishers, they always tell me that I have a very magazine approach to books and I often felt really bad about that because I want to have a "book" approach but I always go back to a magazine approach. Steffi's book goes beyond wedding tips and ideas (I am already married after all) so I don't need a wedding how-t0, but as I flipped through it my point became clear to me all over again that bringing a magazine approach to books does really work. My first book, Decorate, was written with the idea of making it feel more like a magazine with lively layouts and bites of info and all of the quotes that we used, and the same with my second book, which was also part workbook. Steffi and I are on the same page with this - books that feel more interactive and fresh work!
More and more, I really believe that when it comes to how readers interact with printed publications is how they interact online - they want more bite-sized chunks of text around images, everything should be laid out really beautifully with main points highlighted and feature in-depth expert advice combined with a more personal feeling... Not like some big shot author sitting there telling you what to do in 50 million words, but a chatty knowledgable friend, guiding you as to what steps to take next. It's so important to stick to your vision and plow forward and I'm glad to see that Steffi did this.
I really like the outcome of Steffi's ideas - but I must say that photo directly above melted my heart. I really loved it so I had to show you. I found it to be so relaxed and inviting.
Seeing the finished product, this book, was a joy for me. I pre-ordered it on Amazon last year the second that it was available! When it arrived, I felt proud because it's packed with lots of great things that I know brides, especially in Germany, really need to know. While there are tons of wedding books in America loaded with beautiful visuals and amazing ideas, we just don't have German authors writing incredible wedding books that feel current. For this market, this book REALLY stands out.
SO readers, let me ask you, what do you look for in books these days? What makes you buy them?
(images: Holly Becker for decor8)