Altared: Bridezillas, Bewilderment, Big Love, Breakups, and What Women Really Think about Contemporary Weddings (Vintage)

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.

Heartwarming, unexpected, and often deeply funny, this collection of essays offers what no other bridal book does--real stories from top writers on what weddings mean to them.

Colleen Curran was engaged for three years before she planned her own wedding. Fearful of the process and confused by what it meant to plan a wedding, she set out to find out how other women view weddings today. Her stories have been published in places like Jane and The Dictionary of Failed Relationships. Whores on the Hill was her debut novel and is available from Vintage Books. She married her fiancé this past summer, after beginning work on this anthology, and is now happily married in Richmond, Virginia where she lives and works.

Introduction | Colleen Curran

Taking the Vow

The Child Bride (and Groom) | Julianna Baggott

The Wedding Vow | Curtis Sittenfeld

Diana, Martha, and Me | Catherine Ingrassia

The Dress

One Day | Elizabeth Crane

The Girl, the Dress, and the Leap | Lara Vapnyar

Back in Black | Lisa Carver

Plans & Preparations

There Went the Bride | Carina Chocano

My Bridal Meltdown | Rory Evans

The Best-Laid Wedding Plans | Jennifer Armstrong

Etiquette & Registry

Manners and the Marrying Girl | Elise Mac Adam

The Registry Strikes Back | Janelle Brown

Weddings & the Single Girl

It All Started with Princess Di | Daisy de Villeneuve

The Honor of My Presence | Meghan Daum

Family & Budget

Parental Control | Amy Sohn

My Perfect Wedding | Samina Ali

Going Bridal | Farah L. Miller

My Mothers Wedding, Myself | Gina Zucker

Father of the Bride | Kathleen Hughes

Getting Hitched

First, Reader, I Made Him Up, and Then I Married Him | Jacquelyn Mitchard

The Second Trimester | Ruth Davis Konigsberg

My So-Called Indie Wedding | Lori Leibovich

Weddings Arent Just for Straight People Anymore | Anne Carle

Rubber Chicken | Julie Powell

To Have or Have Not: Sex on the Wedding Night | Jill Eisenstadt

For Better or for Worse?

Survivor Honeymoon | Amanda Eyre Ward

Weddings for Everyone | Amy Bloom

Happily Ever After | Dani Shapiro

Contributors

Acknowledgments