I thought I was rejecting the wedding industrial complex...and then I read this book, One Perfect Day. The Selling of the American Wedding. The author, Rebecca Mead, explores the wedding industry from behind industry lines and provides an eye-opening perspective into the world of wedding vendors, pricing and fantasy. She reveals how women are bombarded by advertising even before engagement and how, as a result, wedding planning begins with a lot of pressure and in most cases a desire to create a perfect elaborate event (or series of events) that reflect all of the couple's personal tastes. Many of the stories are extreme but the multi-billion dollar industry that's aggressively targeting us is very real.
I thought it was a worthwhile read because it made me aware of the industry pitches and provoked some important questions like, why do I think a $400 dress is a good deal and what does this (fill-in-the-blank) tradition actually mean?
I found the book really interesting, but ended up getting to about ten pages from the end and feeling incredibly depressed. I still think it's a very worthwhile read - it helped me formulate some of the vague feelings I had about why I was uncomfortable with certain aspects of the wedding planning process.
ReplyDeleteI agree- it's definitely a downer. I raced through it to get it over with but found it useful. I also thought many of her stories were extreme examples.
ReplyDeleteA downer for sure, but it has help me think about the way I'm shaping my wedding. I also had to deal with the fact that I actually wanted some of the things that are part of the Complex. It took me a while to be ok with the fact that it was ok to like them anyway.
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