cover image Wedding Etiquette Hell

Wedding Etiquette Hell

Jeanne Hamilton. St. Martin's Griffin, $16.99 (240pp) ISBN 978-0-312-33023-1

Rather than lecture couples about what they should do before, during and after the Big Day, consultant Hamilton (Bridezilla: True Stories from Etiquette Hell) warns them what not to do in this quick, easy guide to modern-day manners. Hamiliton runs through a list of nuptial no-nos, from invitations and bridal showers to receptions and the like. She provides pages of horror stories culled from www.etiquettehell.com, the Web site she started in 1997. Hamilton scoffs, for example, at the bride and groom who tried to solicit sponsors for their wedding in exchange for ""signage at the reception venue."" She shakes her head at the pair who took their registry ""to a new low in greed"" when they offered guests chances to pay for specific parts of their honeymoon in Hawaii-the airfare, the housing, the meals and activities. And she reprimands the couple audacious enough to send announcements a full year after the event, telling friends and relatives not invited to the wedding that they can ""honor the union"" with ""contributions to the home purchasing fund."" Tacky and rude, these instances of extreme faux pas make for amusing reading. Hamilton's discussion is slightly hampered, however, by occasional fictional asides. Meant to give further insight on the planning process, the fictional conversations between a generic ""Brideweena"" and etiquette expert ""Miss Jeanne"" are distracting instead. They add little to the overall project, a book some people-particularly those who revel in others' social blunders-will find infinitely fascinating.