My most recent foray into research on weddings is Cinderella Dreams: The Allure of the Lavish Wedding. The occasionally inaccurate references to the Disney version of the fairy tale made me wonder if the authors had ever actually seen it, and the book itself is very dry and academic, but overall not a bad read. On the other hand, the authors offer some excellent insights on the difficulties of the lavish wedding.

The lavish wedding has far more significant consequences when it comes to ideals of female beauty. ... [I]t now permits -- and practically requires -- a woman to make her face and body a "project" in order to be beautiful on her wedding day. ... The question remains whether today's woman is able to realize the ideal of being beautiful on her wedding day without subjecting herself to impossible demands for perfection.

Posted by Hilary at August 23, 2004 09:33 AM