Always a Bridesmaid (for Hire): Stories on Growing Up, Looking for Love, and Walking Down the Aisle for Complete Strangers

How does a woman who doesn’t love weddings wind up with nine bridesmaid dresses and her own business, Bridesmaid for Hire? With wit and honesty, Glantz breezily shares tales of her awful online first dates and her transformation from beleaguered bridesmaid into a highly skilled and prized bridesmaid machine who is happily single. Glantz was a recent college graduate with a low-paying PR job in New York and a loving yenta for a mother who tried (long-distance from Florida) to find her daughter a husband. Meanwhile, she was deluged with calls from girlfriends asking her to be a bridesmaid. She realized after a few jaunts down the aisle that she had become her circle’s wedding expert, armed with tips for the stressed-out members of the wedding parties, and that her troubles and time could be turned into a money-making enterprise. Following two bridesmaid requests on the same Friday from former friends she hadn’t talked to in years, Glantz boozily created a Craigslist ad offering her expertise, which was quickly picked up by Buzzfeed and the Knot. Within a week, she was on television and her new business was legitimate, though not without a steep learning curve. Though Glantz sometimes overshares and tries too hard to get laughs, she writes in a charming and funny fashion that makes her easy to root for. (Feb.)