7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
WHY NOT A PONY?, January 1, 2006
This review is from: The New American Wedding: Ritual and Style in a Changing Culture (Hardcover)
Why Not a Pony Ride?
Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments, but I must say when I opened up a copy of THE NEW AMERICAN WEDDING: RITUAL AND STYLE IN A CHANGING CULTURE, my first reaction was that it would take one helluva purse to foot the bill for the first-class weddings that New York City style and marketing maven Diane Meier Delaney presents. That is, however, neither the truth (as the LIBRARY JOURNAL would have us believe) nor reason to miss this lush, lively, funny, and wise book. There's no denying, this is opulence all right, but believe it or not, it embraces the affordable.
Just read it. Amidst wedding registry gifts that include the classic vase from Tiffany's, there are tools from Sears and a request for hundreds of sets of new underwear--to be donated to the needy in San Francisco because there's a shortage of underwear in Salvation Armies and Goodwills. (Makes sense, doesn't it? Meier-Delaney points out. We donate that out-of-fashion sweater, but who would want our underpants with the failing elastic?)
On one page of NEW AMERICAN WEDDING: an out-of-this-world flaming-red-wedding gown fashioned of enormous poppies and with a train longer than not just my living room but probably my whole house (yard included). A few pages away: the simplest, white linen sundress. As for the cake: will you choose one of chocolate and orange mousse with landyfingers, fashioned by a world-class patisserie or a marshmallow and Rice Krispies creation from your own kitchen?
Ladies and gentlemen, there's an enormous range here. From the engagement to the honeymoon, Meier Delaney presents an array of choices for the bride and groom to choose from-from the most extravagant to the most simple--and I'll bet that about 99% of them you never thought of!
What if you're not a bride or groom to-be or wannabe, is there any reason to read this book? Absolutely! THE NEW AMERICAN WEDDING is an astute commentary on changing American culture and traditions, and it's also a sparkling example of out-of-the box thinking. Whether a mousetrap or a wedding, the design challenge is the same: to maintain the tradition and functionality (the trap must catch the mouse; the wedding must marry the people, the families, the values, the things) while breathing innovation into the creation. The plans and designs of many so-called out-of-the-box thinkers fail because they either stay too close to the box, like a mime in the shadows, or they venture so far outside the box that they forget all about it. The box is left out in the alley in the rain, the garbage truck is rounding the corner, and the designers are down the street doing the hokey-pokey. What Meier Delaney does is take that old traditional wedding box apart very carefully, piece by piece, then put those pieces back together into a shape that has all the qualities of a wedding but is so unique and unboxy that it appears to be something entirely different. Something more like a crystal or a Buckminster Fuller geodesic dome.
Told in a charming, sophisticated, writerly voice and with a narrative thread that reads like the kind of good book you like to curl up with, what amazes me is that Meier Delaney actually wrote this herself. It's not one of those "as told to" ghost-written deals. This woman not only has class and superb taste, confidence, and moxie, she's one heck of a writer. (Not to mention designer.) Chapter by chapter, as she chronicles the wedding decisions of a dozen recently hitched nontraditional couples, Meier Delaney weaves the story of her own mid-life engagement and marriage in 2002 to man-of-letters Frank Delaney, who many would call the BBC's answer to Dick Cavett and Charlie Rose.
Packaged as a high-end coffee-table-size book with glossy pages full of gorgeous photographs, THE NEW AMERICAN WEDDING is really a wild foray into creative thinking. Why not, as Meier Delaney suggests, have pony rides at your wedding reception? Why not a group lesson in car repair, water ballet, or tightrope walking instead of the cliché girl-in-a-cake or Chippendale pre-wedding bash? Why can't your dog be the maid-of-honor? Why not, instead of a traditional wedding dress, which Meier Delaney describes with her signature frankness as making her look like a float in a Mummer's Day Parade, wear cashmere pajamas? And is she kidding? No! According to her own story, the Meier Delaneys did have pony rides at their reception, she wore a curtain instead of a gown, and her German Short-Haired Pointer was the maid-of-honor. See what I mean when I said moxie?
The New American Wedding is a kind of wish book, a book for dreaming and finding inspiration, a book to help you identify and nurture your own style--for whatever purpose--take pride in it, and carry out your plans with abandon and aplomb. And as Meier-Delaney says, "Budgets aren`t really the deciding factor here. It's creativity and fresh thinking . . . . The thing to remember is that New American celebrations and receptions should never be done by the book."
Will Diane Meier Delaney take on the New American Divorce or maybe the New American Funeral next? I can't wait to find out.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I was there, November 15, 2005
This review is from: The New American Wedding: Ritual and Style in a Changing Culture (Hardcover)
I've known Diane since elementary school, and I attended her wedding with Frank Delaney that started her on the path that led to this book. The wedding was a really fun blend of tradition and originality, and was anything but "yes, we've got to attend the wedding because..." There was style and personality, but it all reflected their personalities, not some stuff they'd read in magazines. It was also warm and friendly, and enabled the people they knew to get to know each other. I'm sure many of the people who attended learned a whole new way of getting married that respects tradition, but goes beyond it in ways that are good for everyone involved. I've had no part in the creation of the book at all, but if she's conveyed even some of her own wedding experience in the book, it's a good one. And I can tell you that this is NOT someone who tells you what you should do but can't do it herself. She DID it. I was there. It was great.
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