Cinderella Dreams: The Allure Of The Lavish Wedding (Life Passages) (Volume 2)

The fabulous gown, the multitiered cake, abundant flowers, attendants and guests in their finery. The white wedding does more than mark a life passage. It marries two of the most sacred tenets of American culture—romantic love and excessive consumption. For anyone who has ever wondered about the meanings behind a white dress, a diamond ring, rice, and traditions such as cake cutting, bouquet tossing, and honeymooning, this book offers an entertaining and enlightening look at the historical, social, and psychological strains that come together to make the lavish wedding the most important cultural ritual in contemporary consumer culture. With an emphasis on North American society, Cele C. Otnes and Elizabeth H. Pleck show how the elaborate wedding means far more than a mere triumph for the bridal industry. Through interviews, media accounts, and wide-ranging research and analysis, they expose the wedding's reflection—or reproduction—of fundamental aspects of popular consumer culture: its link with romantic love, its promise of magical transformation, its engendering of memories, and its legitimization of consumption as an expression of perfection. As meaningful as any prospective bride might wish, the lavish wedding emerges here as a lens that at once reveals, magnifies, and reveres some of the dearest wishes and darkest impulses at the heart of our culture. The fabulous gown, the multitiered cake, abundant flowers, attendants and guests in their finery. The white wedding does more than mark a life passage. It marries two of the most sacred tenets of American culture#x97;romantic love and excessive consumption. For anyone who has ever wondered about the meanings behind a white dress, a diamond ring, rice, and traditions such as cake cutting, bouquet tossing, and honeymooning, this book offers an entertaining and enlightening look at the historical, social, and psychological strains that come together to make the lavish wedding the most important cultural ritual in contemporary consumer culture. With an emphasis on North American society, Cele C. Otnes and Elizabeth H. Pleck show how the elaborate wedding means far more than a mere triumph for the bridal industry. Through interviews, media accounts, and wide-ranging research and analysis, they expose the wedding's reflection#x97;or reproduction#x97;of fundamental aspects of popular consumer culture: its link with romantic love, its promise of magical transformation, its engendering of memories, and its legitimization of consumption as an expression of perfection. As meaningful as any prospective bride might wish, the lavish wedding emerges here as a lens that at once reveals, magnifies, and reveres some of the dearest wishes and darkest impulses at the heart of our culture. / Produktinformation A Lavish Wedding Marries Two Of The Most Sacred Tenets Of American Culture - Romantic Love And Excessive Consumption. This Work Offers A Look At The Historical, Social And Psychological Strains That Come Together To Make It The Most Important Cultural Ritual In Contemporary Consumer Culture. Romance, Magic, Memory, And Perfection -- The Rise Of The Lavish Wedding -- The Engagement Complex -- The Rituals Of Wedding Shopping -- The Wedding Weekend -- From The Cabin To Cancun -- Hollywood Hosts A Wedding -- The Lavish Wedding Goes Global -- Variations On A Theme -- Luxury, Lavishness, And Love. Cele C. Otnes, Elizabeth H. Pleck. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 333-363) And Index. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS......Page 12 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 14 1. ROMANCE, MAGIC, MEMORY, AND PERFECTION......Page 18 2. THE RISE OF THE LAVISH WEDDING......Page 42 3. THE ENGAGEMENT COMPLEX......Page 72 4. THE RITUALS OF WEDDING SHOPPING......Page 98 5. THE WEDDING WEEKEND......Page 122 6. FROM THE CABIN TO CANCÚN......Page 151 7. HOLLYWOOD HOSTS A WEDDING......Page 181 8. THE LAVISH WEDDING GOES GLOBAL......Page 214 9. VARIATIONS ON A THEME......Page 245 10. LUXURY, LAVISHNESS, AND LOVE......Page 281 Notes......Page 298 BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 350 INDEX......Page 382 On June 22, 2001, millions of viewers watched Good Morning America as retired firefighter and cancer survivor Lorenzo Abundiz married Peggy Beeuwsaert in the middle of New York City's Times Square.