I got this book literally two days ago for Christmas. I love it. I had it on my amazon wish list, and somebody bought it for me. I expected the book to be much smaller -I was happily suprised at the size and thickness! As a browser, it has spectacular large photos.
I am am in the wedding industry and I did recognize some of the more recent photographs from designers' advertising campaigns. I love some of the older photographs, and old sketches. I do think there was an excellent representation of gowns from each decade. Most of the photos seem to come from the fashion industry or pop culture archives. There are only a few more photos from real everyday brides' weddings.
I plan to read the text cover to cover this weekend. So far the captions and the layout I notice are straightforward, organized chronologically. It should be a short read like any coffee table book. The book covers the decades of the 20th century. Each decade shows representations from popular culture, from everyday weddings, from marketing campagins, as well as some designers' over-the-top "visions." I did not expect it to read like "history" book like some of the other feedback. What I expected to get out of it was an inspiring visual browse, and overview of wedding fashions of the 20th century, and I was very satisfied in that respect.