Alphabet Challenge Round 18

I is for I Do But I Don't: Why the Way We Marry Matters by Kamy Wicoff.

I am so glad there is a book out there about how messed up the modern wedding industry is. Wicoff provides a feminist dissection of several different aspects of her wedding planning from the proposal, the dress, the bachelorette party, and the day itself.

Wicoff talks about things so many of us notice but never address. Why can’t women propose? Why is it expected a woman will change her name? Why do so many place price gouge the second you say wedding? Why are you sized up by your ring? She talks about bridal anxiety, pressure, identity crisis, and the rampant consumerism that has come to represent modern matrimony.

I appreciated all the external research Wicoff put into this. She backs up her opinions and observations and gives them more context. She also interviews several other women about their experiences with the wedding industry. My only complaint there was that I could have liked to have seen more details about some of the women interviewed. Wicoff gives us context for any woman she quotes but I would have liked her to have gone a bit deeper with a few of those women.

The book did drag on in several places and in some places it just started to sound very repetitive. Wicoff usually moved on to a different aspect of whatever topic she was addressing but not with great immediacy. That made the book feel longer than it was in places. Either way, I liked this book and I think more people need to think like this about the wedding world.

A - American Virgin by Steven Seagle

B

C

D - Divergent by Veronica Roth

E - Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

F - Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James

G - The Great Fables Crossover by Bill Willingham

H - How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming by Mike Brown

I - I Do But I Don't by Kamy Wicoff

J - Jane Austen Made Me Do It edited by Laurel Ann Nattress

K

L - A Little Night Magic by Lucy March

M - Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen

N - Naked City edited by Ellen Datlow

O - One of Our Thursdays Is Missing by Jasper Fforde

P

Q

R - Reality Bites Back by Jennifer L. Pozner

S

T - The Tao of Dating by Dr. Ali Binazir

U - Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman

V

W - White Girl Problems by Babe Walker

X - XVI by Julia Karr

Y - Yoga Bitch by Suzanne Morrison

Z - Zoo Story by Thomas French

Current Music: I Do by Better Than Ezra