Brides Behaving Badly: Wild Wedding Photos You Were Never Meant to See

by Beverly West, Jason Bergund

Pure, kind, and gracious are some of the qualities one associates with the bride at any wedding--but not here! More than four million Americans get married each year, and not all of the brides are well behaved. This hilarious collection of candid wedding photographs proves that not every bride is delicate or demure. These hysterical and sometimes shocking photos include brides doing keg stands, bawdy bridesmaids and grooms gone wild, crazy cakes and favors, and out-of-this-world wedding themes, including Star Trek and vampire brides. This is not the stuff that fairy tales are made of. These photos of real brides, complete with dead-pan captions, show the Bridezilla peeking out from under the veil.

Genres: Humor, Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2007

About the author

Beverly West is a bestselling developmental editor, ghostwriter and publishing brand strategist. Bev specializes in big think books by thought leaders in the areas of entrepreneurialism, sales, marketing and memoir.

Bev’s recent projects include Flip the Script by the incomparable sales guru Oren Klaff (Portfolio) Luck Comes to Visit It Doesn’t Come to Stay (Forbes) by iconic impresario Charles Koppelman (Forbes), Innovation in Translationk How Big Ideas Really Happen by visionary innovator Dave Ferrera, and Youth Nation by Matt Britton.
Bev’s work regularly appears in Forbesand Fortune. Her work has also appeared in Wired,US Weekly, Redbook, Vogue, Body and Soul, Nylon, Real Simple, Paper, Self, Marie Claire, Metrosource, and People Magazine.
Bev’s books have been featured in the New York Times, the New York Daily News, the Boston Herald, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun Times, the Miami Herald, the Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and the Daily Oklahoman. Additionally, Bev was a national spokesperson for Netflix, and the lead writer for Monster.com’s Work/Life Balance area.

Bev lives with her husband Jason, 2 pugs, 1 rescue mutt named Olive, and one very confident cat on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 1 out of 5]

There a few mildly amusing Bridezilla photos like the one that graces the cover, several drunk Brides, and even a couple of Brides on the toilet. Then there are the obviously posed photos of Brides and their bridesmaids being silly with kinda cute captions. But the majority of the pictures are of non-traditional weddings where the Bride is not even remotely behaving badly--these seem to be included for the purpose of ridiculing. Star Trek, Star Wars, and Elvis themed weddings pics aren't what I would consider "wild wedding photos". Many of the "witty" captions are mean spirited, especially in the case of redneck weddings or when the Bride is simply dressed differently than a traditional Bride. A wedding party dressed in plaid isn't funny, it's just different.
Most of the pictures have no business in a book titled "Brides Behaving Badly". For example, there is a picture of a pretty Bride with pink hair, the caption reads "Yes, but do the drapes match the carpet?" Not terribly funny, and it certainly doesn't match the theme of the book. It is like the authors just printed up some pictures off the internet; in fact, I know I have seen some of these before with way funnier comments.

I wasn't sure if I should give this one or two stars. I have to really dislike a book to give it one star. This one is a read (and thank God I got if for free) and give away. Didn't hate it, didn't like it.

[Ariel · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was excited for this book, as one of my wedding photos is in it and I very much believe the world needs more bridal comedy -- but wow, what a disappointment.

The humor is mean-spirited -- and as a proponent of non-traditional weddings, it concerns me to see how many of the brides in the book are derided for deviating from tradition. I'm certainly not offended (I refer to my wedding as a "freakfest" in my own book), but it's disconcerting to see how much of the humor in this book takes aim at nontraditional brides. The message to brides seems to be "stay demure and traditional, or else be mocked."

That subjective issue aside, there's no denying the quality issues of the images. Many of the photos in the book are of distractingly low print quality -- the images have lots of digital crunchiness and blur, which can happen when low resolution photos are taken from the web. For a photo book, this image-quality issue is a serious one.

I realize this is a light book intended for a gifts market, and it's definitely a fun idea -- but the execution is poor and mean-spirited, ultimately making this a disappointing gift.

[Delanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

SOME OF THE PHOTOS IN THIS BOOK WERE TAKEN FROM COSPLAYERS POSTS WITHOUT THEIR PERMISSION AND NOT ALL OF THEM ARE EVEN WEDDING PHOTOS.

[Eli · Rating 1 out of 5]

Most of these pictures are ones you've seen online already, and many of those aren't even wedding pictures, but prom ones. Poorly researched for even a silly and funny little book.

[ChaCha Ala Mode · Rating 4 out of 5]

And if you have ever known a bridezilla or the bride of whatever your worst nightmare is, you understand. If not, well you can see the strangest, scariest and tackiest brides ever. The captions make them even better. This rates up there with "Awkward Family Photos" website. Or maybe even "People of Walmart" website. Either way, I hope that I am never in a book like this EVER!

[E · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is amazingly bad. The production value is nil, and even worse, the whole book reeks of NOT BEING FUNNY.

[Catrina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Something to look at while laying around my mom's house with a broken ankle. Mean-spirited and generally unfunny.

[Ellison · Rating 4 out of 5]

collection of photos of brides. some may be staged and/or not even before a wedding. Just odd moments. A bit of bare skin.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beware the guest with camera