Naylor, Sharon

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Naylor, Sharon

PERSONAL: Female.

ADDRESSES: Home—Madison, NJ. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Sourcebooks, Inc., 1935 Brookdale Rd., Ste. 139, Naperville, IL 60563. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Wedding consultant and writer.

MEMBER: International Special Events Society, Association of Bridal Consultants, American Society of Journalists and Authors.

WRITINGS:

1,001 Ways to Save Money—and Still Have a Dazzling Wedding, Contemporary Books (Chicago, IL), 1994, revised edition, 2001.

100 Reasons to Keep Him, 100 Reasons to Dump Him, Three Rivers Press (New York, NY), 1997.

Learning the Ropes, Ferguson (Chicago, IL), 1998, revised edition, 2004.

The Unofficial Guide to Divorce, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1998.

How to Plan an Elegant Wedding in Six Months or Less: Achieving Your Dream Wedding When Time Is of the Essence, Prima Home (Roseville, CA), 2000.

1,001 Ways to Have a Dazzling Second Wedding, New Page Books (Franklin Lakes, NJ), 2001.

The Complete Outdoor Wedding Planner: From Rustic Settings to Elegant Garden Parties, Everything You Need to Know to Make Your Day Special, Prima (Roseville, CA), 2001.

The Mother-of-the-Bride Book: Giving Your Daughter a Wonderful Wedding, Citadel Press (Secaucus, NJ), 2001.

The New Honeymoon Planner: Selecting the Ideal Location and Planning the Trip of a Lifetime, Prima (Roseville, CA), 2002.

How to Have a Fabulous Wedding for $10,000 or Less: Creating Your Dream Day with Romance, Grace, and Style, Prima (Roseville, CA), 2002.

The Ultimate Bridal Shower Idea Book: How to Have a Fun, Fabulous, and Memorable Party, Prima (Roseville, CA), 2003.

(With Michelle Roth and Henry Roth) Your Day, Your Way: The Essential Handbook for the 21st-Century Bride, Three Rivers Press (New York, NY), 2003.

Your Special Wedding Vows, Sourcebooks (Naperville, IL), 2004.

Your Special Wedding Toasts, Sourcebooks (Naperville, IL), 2004.

The Groom's Guide: A Wedding Planner for Today's Marrying Man, Citadel Press (New York, NY), 2004.

1,000 Best Wedding Bargains, Sourcebooks (Naperville, IL), 2004.

1,000 Best Secrets for Your Perfect Wedding, Sourcebooks (Naperville, IL), 2004.

The Busy Bride's Essential Wedding Checklists, Sourcebooks (Naperville, IL), 2005.

The Bridesmaid Handbook, Sourcebooks (Naperville, IL), 2005.

Essential Guide to Wedding Etiquette, Sourcebooks (Naperville, IL), 2005.

Contributor to Web sites, and to periodicals, including Bridal Guide, Bride Again, Shape, Health, Woman's Day, and Cosmopolitan.

SIDELIGHTS: Sharon Naylor has written extensively on the subjects of marriage and weddings. She has served as a consultant and specialist to wedding-related Web sites NJWedding.com and SheKnows.com, and is a contributor to bridal magazines including Bridal Guide, Bride Again, and Bride's, as well as to women's magazines such as Women's Day, Shape, and Cosmopolitan. Naylor has spoken frequently on talk shows and news television programs, and is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors and the International Special Events Society.

The author of more than twenty-five books, Naylor has written about throwing an economical wedding in 1994's 1,001 Ways to Save Money—and Still Have a Dazzling Wedding; on planning outdoor weddings in 2001's The Complete Outdoor Wedding Planner: From Rustic Settings to Elegant Garden Parties, Everything You Need to Know to Make Your Day Special; and on organizing a wedding from the groom's perspective in 2004's The Groom's Guide: A Wedding Planner for Today's Marrying Man.

Naylor addresses couples looking to plan weddings under time constraints in her book How to Plan an Elegant Wedding in Six Months or Less: Achieving Your Dream Wedding When Time Is of the Essence. The author writes that most couples do much of the planning in a short time-period anyway, and spend much of the rest of their engagement worrying about the plans. So Naylor outlines a quick and efficient timeline for planning a wedding six months out, and includes helpful tips, shortcuts, and anecdotes. Readers found Naylor's book to be helpful and timely overall, and useful to a wide range of brides-and grooms-to-be. How to Plan an Elegant Wedding in Six Months or Less contains "practical, organized advice applicable to many couples," wrote Bonnie Poquette in a review for Library Journal.

Naylor addresses couples approaching their second marriage with her book 1,001 Ways to Have a Dazzling Second Wedding. With this work she offers practical tips regarding a wide variety of topics, including beauty, dress, family dynamics, and honeymoons. She also discusses the special challenges and etiquette issues that arise with second weddings. Again, critics praised Naylor for her work, with many acknowledging the author's considerable expertise as an asset to literature on this subject. "Naylor's experience with the wedding industry shines through," observed Poquette in another Library Journal review.

The Bridesmaid Handbook is a guide to all wedding-related events that a bridesmaid is involved in. Naylor focuses on the role and duties a bridesmaid is expected to perform, as well as the commitments—both time-wise and financial—that come along with the honor of being a bridesmaid. The book addresses specific topics such as picking bridal shower venues, addressing invitations, and arranging for catering. Naylor again was lauded for her work on this book; readers found this detailed guidebook to be useful for all sorts of bridesmaids and maids of honor. The Bridesmaid Handbook is "useful for the first timer or the old hand who needs a quick refresher course," commented Poquette in a Library Journal review.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Library Journal, April 1, 2001, Bonnie Poquette, reviews of How to Plan an Elegant Wedding in Six Months or Less: Achieving Your Dream Wedding When Time Is of the Essence and 1,001 Ways to Have a Dazzling Second Wedding, p. 127; May 15, 2005, Bonnie Poquette, review of The Bridesmaid Handbook, p. 140.

Newsweek International, May 12, 2003, John Sparks, "A Clean Getaway," p. 66.