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heroineinabook's review against another edition
4.0
My hatred for the wedding industry has become legendary around my circle of friends and Mead's book only fuels the fire. It got to the point where I could only read a few pages at time before my low blood pressure went into giving me a flush against my cheek. The amount of money, time and energy turned into an event that will more than likely end in divorce, irritates me (and this is coming from a woman who has planned to weddings and has never gotten married).
Reading One Perfect Day gave me justification for what I was feeling but it also killed, what has become essentially, an american dream. And I am totally okay with that.
Reading One Perfect Day gave me justification for what I was feeling but it also killed, what has become essentially, an american dream. And I am totally okay with that.
sparrowlight's review against another edition
5.0
Rebecca Mead does not step delicately around issues surrounding modern American weddings in One Perfect Day -- rather, she tackles them head-on with class and wit. Her examination of the extravagance and opulence expected from modern-day weddings makes for a exhilarating ride. Going beyond just the statistics, she talks with photographers, planners, and vendors to get their inside view to the world of weddings.
My own perspective on the world of weddings is highly colored by my own experiences planning my wedding (which took place last May). Did we have a great, elegant, classy celebration? Yes (or at least, I hope so). Was it pricey? Yes. Did we do everything that people expect these days or make it an astonishingly unique display of our interests and passions? No.
I don't take any issues with Mead's lack of discussion of the actual point of a wedding, the marriage itself -- I have www.apracticalwedding.com for that -- but I would love to see a longer examination from her about a more reasonable wedding approach, like the one she took.
This is a great book for anyone planning a wedding, to provide a dose of sanity, or for anyone who is astonished at the current state of affairs for weddings.
My own perspective on the world of weddings is highly colored by my own experiences planning my wedding (which took place last May). Did we have a great, elegant, classy celebration? Yes (or at least, I hope so). Was it pricey? Yes. Did we do everything that people expect these days or make it an astonishingly unique display of our interests and passions? No.
I don't take any issues with Mead's lack of discussion of the actual point of a wedding, the marriage itself -- I have www.apracticalwedding.com for that -- but I would love to see a longer examination from her about a more reasonable wedding approach, like the one she took.
This is a great book for anyone planning a wedding, to provide a dose of sanity, or for anyone who is astonished at the current state of affairs for weddings.
sunshine608's review against another edition
2.0
I wasn't sure what I was expecting when I read this. I love weddings and have been in wedding withdrawal since my own wedding last year. I also frequent the nest/knot boards daily ( that's even how I found goodreads).
That being said, I'm not sure that I got much that I didn't already know about the wedding industry. Nothing was really shocking, eye-opening or interesting. If you are a knottie, than I say skip this. You'll get way more and better info hanging out on the message boards. For the uninitiated, you might enjoy this foray into another world much better.
That being said, I'm not sure that I got much that I didn't already know about the wedding industry. Nothing was really shocking, eye-opening or interesting. If you are a knottie, than I say skip this. You'll get way more and better info hanging out on the message boards. For the uninitiated, you might enjoy this foray into another world much better.
onesonicbite's review against another edition
4.0
This is a great view of the wedding industry. I think it gives a clear view on how the industry wants you to spend lots of money, and what they have done to lure you in. Yes, I am sure anyone who picked up this book had a somewhat decent view of how everyone around you is ripping you off for your wedding, but Mead's book points out how much planning is actually being done.
That being said, the tone of the book is a little sympathetic. Mead, doesn't always try and make you feel bad for wanting a white dress, or a color theme for your wedding. But the way the book unfolds, it seems the "middle ground" view isn't shared until the very end of book. Because of that, sometimes the author can come off as out right putting down certain things about the wedding industry.
This is a great book to read before planning your big day, as the message is very nice at the end. Sure she goes on about same-sex marriages, but the overall point being made is that we are taking weddings for granted. Everyone should sit down and think, why am I having this wedding? What does it mean to me, and my family?
That being said, the tone of the book is a little sympathetic. Mead, doesn't always try and make you feel bad for wanting a white dress, or a color theme for your wedding. But the way the book unfolds, it seems the "middle ground" view isn't shared until the very end of book. Because of that, sometimes the author can come off as out right putting down certain things about the wedding industry.
This is a great book to read before planning your big day, as the message is very nice at the end. Sure she goes on about same-sex marriages, but the overall point being made is that we are taking weddings for granted. Everyone should sit down and think, why am I having this wedding? What does it mean to me, and my family?
ltoddlibrarian8's review against another edition
4.0
Makes you think about where wedding "traditions" really come from. I understand people have to eat, but the wedding industry is a bloodsucker.
niharikaaaaaa9's review against another edition
4.0
"When Vows magazine featured an article on catering to the "non-traditional bride"....it warned retailers that the non-traditional bride was dangerously apt to "forget the wedding and prepare for marriage.""
Rebecca Mead is hilariously snarky in this book about the ever-expanding wedding industry. In the book, she does a deep dive into various aspects of an "American wedding", from the buying of the dress (and the making of said dress), to the day-of photography and videography, to prove her hypothesis that it's the (greedy) wedding industry that's to blame for the rise of the "Bridezilla" culture.
She proves this claim well - my one knock for her book is that at times she tries to tie the changes of what's happening in American weddings to what's happening in American society at large, and she doesn't do a good job of proving the latter claim. She states these lofty claims, with little evidence to prove them.
That being said, this was still a hilarious book, and I highly recommend it. As someone who knew very little about the wedding industry before this book, my eyes were opened to their greed and their ability to emotionally manipulate brides into spending more, more, more.
Rebecca Mead is hilariously snarky in this book about the ever-expanding wedding industry. In the book, she does a deep dive into various aspects of an "American wedding", from the buying of the dress (and the making of said dress), to the day-of photography and videography, to prove her hypothesis that it's the (greedy) wedding industry that's to blame for the rise of the "Bridezilla" culture.
She proves this claim well - my one knock for her book is that at times she tries to tie the changes of what's happening in American weddings to what's happening in American society at large, and she doesn't do a good job of proving the latter claim. She states these lofty claims, with little evidence to prove them.
That being said, this was still a hilarious book, and I highly recommend it. As someone who knew very little about the wedding industry before this book, my eyes were opened to their greed and their ability to emotionally manipulate brides into spending more, more, more.
nssutton's review against another edition
3.0
Weddings are expensive, but why? This is a question that my fiancée and I have asked each other time and time again throughout the process. All we want to do is get married, we'll say, in between my sniffles as the pressure of trying to find something in our means reduces me to tears.
(To be fair, our planning just one component in a Perfect Storm of Crazy that is happening right now, and the tears are really a release from all the pressure and uncertainty and fears that stem from Trying To Handle All The Things At Once. And also maybe a little because that caterer screwed us big time.)
But the expense of weddings, that is what Mead is out to examine. I read this book with a sinking pit in my stomach the whole time. I hate being marketed to, but I did do and will continue to do a lot of what Mead discussed. I don't buy in the Disney myth and dont't drop cash like some of these gals, but damn it, I will register for kitchen goods. Mead's tone is never judgemental, but the judgement is there in between the lines none the less. This is where your dress comes from. This is what those editors of those magazines think of you, how they talk about you behind your back.
I thought the book's copyright date was fairly current, but as I went through it, I found some components to be outdated. Yes, David's Bridal and Sandals and Martha Stewart, all the ilk are still popular. But there was very little examination of how the budget bride is now being marketed to via the Internet - being told to DIY and purchase on Craigslist and eBay and Etsy - through blogs and boards and tweets. And the fight for same-sex marriage is rendered a few (powerful) paragraphs at the end of the book, when the content therein and it's relationship to other themes deserved a better look.
So why do we buy dresses made in another country, with hand-sewn beads by laborers who cannot afford the goods they make? And why do we buy those magazines, hire those videographers, agree that photographers an investment worth making? Why are we busting our humps to make one perfect day?
Mead says it's the marketing, the assessment that brides are the best consumers and without the free will to remove themselves from the clutches of devious businesses. Based on her own wedding, discussed in the epilogue, it seems like the only true way to not conform to the notion that you are a unique, individual couple who deserves a unique, individual experience myth is to stop playing the game.
But in my heart of hearts I don't believe this. We are planning our wedding in the wake of Something Possibly Very Bad happening to a member of my family. When that happens, everything you think you know sort of gets shook around. It is a strange time to try and plan something so extravagant, you feel a little crazy for considering this.
But I will be forever glad that my mother was beside me when I had my "Oh, Mommy" moment. I know she needed that as much as I did. Some girls really want that and can't have it. And I will hire a (reasonably priced) videographer and a photographer to capture this day, because I will want to remember it and share it and revisit it. Why?
Because we are so lucky. We are so fortunate to have found each other and have this right to wed. Because we are so lucky our family and friends are with us to. I want to stand in the library before the people I love most and make a promise to the person I chose to share my life with. And I want us to eat a (reasonably priced) meal and have a drink and dance to hours of Pitbull songs.
And it's not because I was sold that dream. It's because we all deserve one day where everything is great, where you have all the people you love most together to celebrate something joyful. That is worth the cost to me.
(To be fair, our planning just one component in a Perfect Storm of Crazy that is happening right now, and the tears are really a release from all the pressure and uncertainty and fears that stem from Trying To Handle All The Things At Once. And also maybe a little because that caterer screwed us big time.)
But the expense of weddings, that is what Mead is out to examine. I read this book with a sinking pit in my stomach the whole time. I hate being marketed to, but I did do and will continue to do a lot of what Mead discussed. I don't buy in the Disney myth and dont't drop cash like some of these gals, but damn it, I will register for kitchen goods. Mead's tone is never judgemental, but the judgement is there in between the lines none the less. This is where your dress comes from. This is what those editors of those magazines think of you, how they talk about you behind your back.
I thought the book's copyright date was fairly current, but as I went through it, I found some components to be outdated. Yes, David's Bridal and Sandals and Martha Stewart, all the ilk are still popular. But there was very little examination of how the budget bride is now being marketed to via the Internet - being told to DIY and purchase on Craigslist and eBay and Etsy - through blogs and boards and tweets. And the fight for same-sex marriage is rendered a few (powerful) paragraphs at the end of the book, when the content therein and it's relationship to other themes deserved a better look.
So why do we buy dresses made in another country, with hand-sewn beads by laborers who cannot afford the goods they make? And why do we buy those magazines, hire those videographers, agree that photographers an investment worth making? Why are we busting our humps to make one perfect day?
Mead says it's the marketing, the assessment that brides are the best consumers and without the free will to remove themselves from the clutches of devious businesses. Based on her own wedding, discussed in the epilogue, it seems like the only true way to not conform to the notion that you are a unique, individual couple who deserves a unique, individual experience myth is to stop playing the game.
But in my heart of hearts I don't believe this. We are planning our wedding in the wake of Something Possibly Very Bad happening to a member of my family. When that happens, everything you think you know sort of gets shook around. It is a strange time to try and plan something so extravagant, you feel a little crazy for considering this.
But I will be forever glad that my mother was beside me when I had my "Oh, Mommy" moment. I know she needed that as much as I did. Some girls really want that and can't have it. And I will hire a (reasonably priced) videographer and a photographer to capture this day, because I will want to remember it and share it and revisit it. Why?
Because we are so lucky. We are so fortunate to have found each other and have this right to wed. Because we are so lucky our family and friends are with us to. I want to stand in the library before the people I love most and make a promise to the person I chose to share my life with. And I want us to eat a (reasonably priced) meal and have a drink and dance to hours of Pitbull songs.
And it's not because I was sold that dream. It's because we all deserve one day where everything is great, where you have all the people you love most together to celebrate something joyful. That is worth the cost to me.
arielml's review against another edition
3.0
This was an interesting behind-the-scenes look at the wedding industry. It was accessible and readable, but also comprehensive and thorough. The author gives glimpses inside a wedding dress factory in China, conferences for wedding planners and videographers, the management of a bridal magazine, and a few wedding officiators. She intersperses these snapshots with factual research that fleshes out the anecdotes. I think the most valuable thing the book accomplishes is making you rethink your perception of the wedding industry - I personally didn't think about it nearly as critically or carefully before reading the book. I've become much more conscious of how the American ideal of a wedding was artificially constructed by the people who sell the goods and services that comprise it. One thing I would have liked to see, though, was more guidance to people who would like to create more meaningful, less consumer-driven weddings. The author briefly describes her own wedding, but spends the vast majority of the book describing the problem, and skimps on suggesting a solution.
If possible, I would have liked to give this book 3 1/2 stars.
If possible, I would have liked to give this book 3 1/2 stars.
katy82's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book and would recomind it to any and everyone who finds themselves kidnapped by the wedding industry. The auther does a great job looking many different angles of getting married in modern America. From Madison Ave. to Gatlinburg, TN she looks at how the industry is steping into the void that has been left in our society. Without any strong routes in tradition and community, the industry tells us that it is the stuff that makes our weddings special. Be yourself as long as it means buying more things. I think the author has done a great job of using the wedding industry and the way we marry as a way to make us stop and think about our society as a whole and the way we are living our lives in this materialistic society.
jennifermreads's review against another edition
5.0
I picked this up, not because I'm getting married, but because I coordinate weddings for my church. The book was an extremely depressing look at how much marketing goes into weddings and how much the industry pushes the wedding "must haves" to the point of excess -- and breaking budgets.