Altared: Bridezillas, Bewilderment, Big Love, Breakups, and What Women Really Think About Contemporary Weddings [Paperback]

Colleen Curran (Editor)

Book Description

Release date: May 8, 2007

Original essays by Top Women Writers
Julianna Baggott _ Curtis Sittenfeld _ Catherine Ingrassia _ Elizabeth Crane 
Lara Vapnyar _ Lisa Carver _ Carina Chocano _ Rory Evans _ Jennifer Armstrong _ Elise Mac Adam _ Janelle Brown _ Daisy de Villeneuve _ Meghan Daum _ Amy Sohn _ Samina Ali _ Farah L. Miller _ Gina Zucker _ Kathleen Hughes _ Jacquelyn Mitchard _ Ruth Davis Konigsberg _ Lori Leibovich _ Julie Powell _ Jill Eisenstadt _ Anne Carle _ Amanda Eyre Ward _ Amy Bloom _ Dani Shapiro

Anyone who is intimated by the prospect of planning a wedding will laugh out loud and take solace in Altared. In this unexpected, heartwarming, thought-provoking collection, more than two dozen of our most perceptive and entertaining writers offer a wide range of takes on the modern wedding.  It's all here. Fantasies. Realities. Fond memories. A few regrets. From planning it to doing it and everything in between.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Curran solicits tart tales from 27 writers, normally willful and independent women, who, for the most part, have taken reluctant swan dives into the consumerist culture of the bridal industry. Contributors including Curtis Sittenfeld, Lisa Carver and Amy Sohn never thought they'd catch the bridal bug. Still, they each get lost in the fantasy but come out the other end with a meaningful realization. The essays delve into the fraught conversations, negotiations and neuroses around wedding vows, dress shopping, etiquette, registries and budgeting. Sticker shock is a common theme, among women who subvert the wedding industry with a DIY approach (Rory Evans topped cupcakes with handmade clothespin bride-and-groom figures), and others who pay a price despite saving money. Julie Powell's entertaining experience trying "to make a meal for hundreds into an expression of who you are" illuminated an incontrovertible equation: "hundreds of guests + unreasonable expectations + catering – billions of dollars = rubber chicken." Some of the more heartfelt pieces include Jennifer Armstrong's story of how she called off her wedding, and Lara Vapnyar's poignant recollection of a $16 gown and the leap of faith that marriage entails. Brides-to-be or women who've been there will easily see themselves in these true stories. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“Darkly funny ruminations on getting hitched.” –People

“Refreshingly unsentimental.” –O, The Oprah Magazine

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (May 8, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307277631
• ISBN-13: 978-0307277633
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,151,756 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Are you hearing bells? May 10, 2007

By Armchair Interviews

Format:Paperback

Altared is a fanciful journey down the aisle of matrimony, ushered in with smiles, laughter and poignant moments. It is a compilation of wedding stories, edited by Colleen Curran, where each of the 27 authors artfully recalls a wedding experience from a personal perspective. This bouquet of witty, wedding tales is told in charming, eloquent writing.

We shop with Martha Stewart and recall Princess Diana's beautiful mega-wedding. Wedding cash outlay is debated and often shelled out in the thousands of dollars, for that dream that seems to be as much a part of our lives as other inevitable events. It is a glamour moment in fine satin, but also that real moment of sought-after harmony, a harmony often achieved, but also caught in the struggle of conflicting tastes, ideas and expectations.

The journey will not soon be forgotten and the reader may join in with fond memories or future inspiration. It is a reminder that although expensive elegance may be important, equally important is the handmade contribution and the kindness, love and adventure that touches each story.

Butter cream is blended with bitter chocolate and makes this a fun, fast read. It's about lives "altared," and in a good way.

Colleen Curran, who edited these stories, has just published a first novel, Whores on the Hill--an unabashedly sexual and mesmerizing read.

Armchair Interviews says this is bound to entertain anyone who has ever fallen in love or attended a wedding.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars So glad I found this. May 9, 2007

By D. Scott

Format:Paperback

I swear I have a hundred female friends who are getting married in the next year (or hoping to!), and now I've found the perfect gift to give to all of them for their bridal showers (real or imaginary).

Every experience a you could have as a past, present, or future bride is well documented here with wit and grace from an amazing collection of writers.

After reading a few essays, you begin to see quite clearly why the process of getting married makes us crazy. But more importantly, and this seems to be the overall message of the book, however insane your wedding may make you feel, you aren't alone! Countless brides before you have experienced the same trials and tribulations, joys, disappointments, and blessings you will.

For brides-to-be, Altared is like a reassuring best-friend, who happens to tell stories both hilarious and heart-wrenching.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect Balance! July 6, 2010

By Nervous Girl

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I titled this review "Perfect Balance" because I really think that most of the essays in this book strike a perfect balance between skepticism of the "Bridal Industry" and humility about the little Bridezilla that lurks somewhere within every bride.

The book was also wedding-positive without being naive. Many of the stories really changed my perspective on what my upcoming wedding will mean and made me think about different aspects in different ways, but never encouraged magical thinking or glorified spending or overstressing.

The bottom line of the majority of the stories was the beauty and meaning of love, which is what a wedding should be about. This book will make you think!