Guidance - Coffee table (large format) book

Hi all,

In 35 years of PM/ID usage I've mostly designed b/w newsletters, books, and flyers. Now I'm helping my wife put together a memoir of both classic photos and longer-than-usual memories (probably 20,000 words of text), and I've realized I've got something the photobook sites can't handle. So here we go with ID.

I'm having trouble finding guidance on the usual help sites (Lynda, Adobe, etc.)

Does someone design big format books in this community? If so can you recommend some resources? I'm thinking

• templates for large formats
• how-to guides geared to ID + large format (including workflow — how do you do proofs when all you own is a b/w laser?)
• printing and material specs (most common sizes, paper stocks, etc.)

Our book was originally designed for friends and family, but I've come up with a marketing plan to crowdfund it. The thing will be 160-200 pages with interiors in color. I have the images in Lightroom. 

Thanks!