Rotten Review: One Perfect Day

by Kelly

oneperfectdayWho can resist a picture of a lovely bride, immaculately and expensively dressed in creamy white silks and a sheer veil modestly covering her face? The entire wedding industry spends more time than you can imagine cultivating this very image. They want you to believe that weddings are not just traditional and celebratory occasions, but confections concocted of luxury and fairy-tales endings. It’s no secret that, as a culture, we buy this image hook, line, and sinker.

Rebecca Mead’s One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding is a thoughtful expose on the inner-workings of the wedding industry. She interviews brides-to-be, wedding planners, and workers in a Chinese wedding dress factory. Though Mead takes a clear-headed and critical approach to the wedding industry, she is neither condescending nor disrespectful. Instead, she takes a rather objective look at each level of the wedding industry – from the people selling the perfect day to the couples consuming it.

weddingdressPersonally I found her writing engaging and informative. Her chapter on the extravagant costs of weddings was particularly eye-opening. According to wedding industry estimations, the average couple spends nearly $28,000 on their wedding (and that’s not including the honeymoon). Granted this figure is put out by the American Wedding Study, which is run by Conde Nast, a magazine company who wants to ensure that they attract enough advertisers within their bridal magazines. Yet, I just have to repeat this: $28,000. That’s some people’s annual salary, blown on one day.

One of the central themes of Mead’s book is, “What is a wedding for, and is it worth all this money, time, and effort?” To be sure, after reading about the excesses of other modern brides and grooms, my stomach turns at the thought of shelling out thousands of dollars for a wedding cake shaped like a purse, or a dress I’ll only wear once. However, I can’t deny the pull that the wedding industry has over even me. The advertising campaigns of this industry are highly effective: a bride is a princess for a day, gathering her dearest friends and family around her to celebrate the hopeful romance of two individuals destined for a happy life. For that is the crucial product that the wedding industry must sell to us: the idea of a happy marriage. As Mead argues, if the wedding goes without a hitch, the marriage will too. At least, that’s what we’re supposed to believe.

So what is worth to us? Can you justify to yourself spending all that money on one day? Does the wedding make the marriage? Share your wedding stories, your hopes for the future, or your disdain for weddings in general.

This book has given me a lot of ideas for posts, so look for several wedding-related posts in the near future. I plan to tackle Bridezilla culture, consumer culture, and the commodification of romance (with particular attention to gay marriage, which, although frustratingly illegal in many states and countries, has become a recent target of the wedding industry).

- Dollface

Check out other book reviews by clicking on “Rotten Reading List” at the top of our site.

Photo Credits

Advertisement