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Babylon Confessions #6
Wedding Babylon
It is a truth universally acknowledged that everyone loves a good wedding. Except, possibly, the bride and groom, who spend the day in such an overexcited frenzy that they can't remember it. And the bridesmaids, who are forced to wear ill-fitting peach taffeta so as not to outshine the bride. And the best man, who has to make a terrifying speech in front of a room of drunken people he's never met before, then fight off the attentions of the chief bridesmaid. Oh, and the father of the bride, who has to pay through the nose for the whole thing...
Now, in the bestselling Babylon tradition, Imogen Edwards-Jones lifts the lid on the excesses of the wedding industry. The scams which inflate the prices of everything from flowers to cakes to marquee hire. And the wedding disaster stories of high jinks at the altar and disastrous low comedy in the speeches. The potential for things to go horribly, horribly wrong is never higher than at a wedding.
Hilarious, shocking and thoroughly entertaining, Wedding Babylon is proof positive that the dream day is never far from becoming a nightmare...
Now, in the bestselling Babylon tradition, Imogen Edwards-Jones lifts the lid on the excesses of the wedding industry. The scams which inflate the prices of everything from flowers to cakes to marquee hire. And the wedding disaster stories of high jinks at the altar and disastrous low comedy in the speeches. The potential for things to go horribly, horribly wrong is never higher than at a wedding.
Hilarious, shocking and thoroughly entertaining, Wedding Babylon is proof positive that the dream day is never far from becoming a nightmare...
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
February 3, 2024
I read the book because it is part of the Babylon series. I give it 5 stars, but not all the moments were funny. Sometimes I was bored, but the book was easy and light to read.
September 21, 2015
It doesn't really suit my sense of humour, but I must admit, that it is an easy read - very entertaining. The Author's writing style itself is very readable - it reminds me of Eoin Colfer's in "Plugged". The transitions from American comedy moments to statistics are quite natural too (even though I prefer Dana Thomas's style - much more even).
Also, I find this topic especially interesting this year - the year two of my best friends got married. Being the maid of honour really changes the way one looks at weddings...
Anyway, what I really want to know now is whether some British weddings really have such crazy moments (e.g. and so on), or is it all just terribly exaggerated. I mean, weddings in Poland are pretty serious - many situations from the book would be completely against social norms here (even if there are almost no Polish weddings without lots of vodka and some drama). Is it really that different in the UK? Any British people out there to answer this question? And if it is not exaggerated - do some of the Polish immigrants conduct themselves at weddings like this too, without our societal pressure?
Also, I find this topic especially interesting this year - the year two of my best friends got married. Being the maid of honour really changes the way one looks at weddings...
Anyway, what I really want to know now is whether some British weddings really have such crazy moments (e.g. and so on), or is it all just terribly exaggerated. I mean, weddings in Poland are pretty serious - many situations from the book would be completely against social norms here (even if there are almost no Polish weddings without lots of vodka and some drama). Is it really that different in the UK? Any British people out there to answer this question? And if it is not exaggerated - do some of the Polish immigrants conduct themselves at weddings like this too, without our societal pressure?
October 9, 2018
Yes, this was a bit of a guilty pleasure, as are all the 'Babylon' books by this author. Easy to read, and funny or appalling in equal measure. The amount of money an stress people go through for a wedding is mind boggling. I have never been married, so I am probably even more astounded than most. Wedding planners, endless meetings about colour of table cloths, etc. Do people really do this? Apparently they do! Narcissism knows no bounds.
The last few chapters were especially enjoyable in a rather schadenfreude way.
The last few chapters were especially enjoyable in a rather schadenfreude way.
December 5, 2022
And I think that completes the Babylon series of book for me. Although it’s a fictional week in the life of a wedding planner, the stories and revelations are taken from interviews and chats the author has had from people working in this industry. Some of them surprising and of the not so much. I was particularly interested in the section talking about the awards in the bridal magazines. Working in publishing for a different industry, we also tried awards with a very similar affect. As always a light entertaining read.
October 14, 2018
Als je eens wil lezen over de voorbereidingen van een chique trouw, dan moet je dit lezen.
Als je niets hebt met trouwen, blijf er dan maar best ver van weg :)
Het is een leuk boek om tussendoor te lezen en vooral het einde vond ik best leuk om te lezen, maar voor de rest is het toch een boekje over elitehuwelijken dat bijzonder ver van mijn bed staat.
Als je niets hebt met trouwen, blijf er dan maar best ver van weg :)
Het is een leuk boek om tussendoor te lezen en vooral het einde vond ik best leuk om te lezen, maar voor de rest is het toch een boekje over elitehuwelijken dat bijzonder ver van mijn bed staat.
December 16, 2018
as entertaining as i remembered and has some interesting stats about weddings in the uk. a light read in a fresh format. took forever as i have been mad busy and also reading two other books as i do.
June 14, 2018
Really easy read and very enjoyable ! Made me laugh out loud in places
January 18, 2019
Like the best of all those Mumsnet that end being featured in the Daily Mail
March 12, 2019
Candyfloss for the brain but o so funny and fascinating. Loved its gossipy style and sense of sneaking into a very private world. I highly recommended beach read.
September 23, 2019
This obviously isn’t Shakespeare but five stars because I got what I wanted out of it, which was a light read about wedding drama.
April 15, 2020
This was pretty funny. I like the authors style.
November 9, 2020
Fun and light, but didn't need to be any longer.
June 1, 2025
Jedna nedelja sa organizatorom (koji je budi rečeno, potpuno strejt) venčanja u Britaniji. Smešeno, luckasto, zabavno, kao i sve knjige iz serijala Babylon.
April 16, 2014
So I decided to read this book as my partner recently proposed and I wanted to get into the wedding planning spirit. The book is based around a wedding planner working for Penrose wedding planners and works through one of their busy working weeks with a variety of brides and some grooms. I especially liked it when they referred to celebrity weddings, especially Posh and Becks!
I enjoyed reading this book as it was in first-person which is my favorite type of writing as it makes me feel more involved in the story and helps to make it feel more real. My favorite character was Bernard, the owner and founder of Penrose as he seems very upper-class with his preferences of weddings and styles. Because of his ocd he likes things to be perfect and he sets a high standard which is how I would like my wedding to be! The story made me laugh and also made me feel a bit sad at times which is great as I love a book that you can relate to and feel as though you are there experiencing it all first hand. I just couldn't put it down!
Saying all that though, I did feel at times as though the story got a little boring at times and it would have been nice to have more descriptive text, especially about the church and the flowers! Also, I felt the ending was a bit of a boring as it ended with the planner cleaning up after a wedding! It would have been better to end with a nice summarise instead or with the planner meeting a new bride and groom.
This book is a Babylon book with other stories in the collection which I have not read, but they are on my to-read list! I would suggest that it is aimed at 18-30 year old women, especially those that are planning their wedding!
Overall I would give this book a rating of 4 out of 5 and I really enjoyed it!
I enjoyed reading this book as it was in first-person which is my favorite type of writing as it makes me feel more involved in the story and helps to make it feel more real. My favorite character was Bernard, the owner and founder of Penrose as he seems very upper-class with his preferences of weddings and styles. Because of his ocd he likes things to be perfect and he sets a high standard which is how I would like my wedding to be! The story made me laugh and also made me feel a bit sad at times which is great as I love a book that you can relate to and feel as though you are there experiencing it all first hand. I just couldn't put it down!
Saying all that though, I did feel at times as though the story got a little boring at times and it would have been nice to have more descriptive text, especially about the church and the flowers! Also, I felt the ending was a bit of a boring as it ended with the planner cleaning up after a wedding! It would have been better to end with a nice summarise instead or with the planner meeting a new bride and groom.
This book is a Babylon book with other stories in the collection which I have not read, but they are on my to-read list! I would suggest that it is aimed at 18-30 year old women, especially those that are planning their wedding!
Overall I would give this book a rating of 4 out of 5 and I really enjoyed it!
May 9, 2011
The book is based around the wedding planners of penrose and all the humanly horrid things they have to put up with just to make the bride happy. Imogen Edwards-Jones – author of Hotel Babylon, Pop Babylon and Fashion Babylon which has been made into a TV series is at it again. She has released a book that spills the beans about the UK wedding industry. She takes us behind the scenes of the excesses of the industry and focuses on the real life bridezillas.
Its all based on the rich and famous and the horrid decisions they make when it comes to their weddings. I know that we tend to think that most weddings in this country costs an arm and leg, but wait till you see the prices that these so called families are throwing out for ridiculous things that doesnt even last for over an hour sometimes.
They pay attention to detail and make sure they do whatever it takes to destress the bride on her wedding. The book lifts the veil on the excesses of the wedding industry – the scams which inflate the prices of everything from flowers to cakes to marquee hire and the wedding disaster stories of high jinxing at the altar and disastrous low comedy in the speeches. It highlights how the potential for things to go horribly wrong is never higher than at a wedding and how the dream day is never far from becoming a nightmare. It shows you how catty mother in laws can get and worst of all your own mother. It shows you how some mothers seems to think that it is their big day and they make it a point to make a statement. A great book to read and laugh about specially for the brides who have already gone through it, and even better for the brides to be as you can get some great pointers.
Its all based on the rich and famous and the horrid decisions they make when it comes to their weddings. I know that we tend to think that most weddings in this country costs an arm and leg, but wait till you see the prices that these so called families are throwing out for ridiculous things that doesnt even last for over an hour sometimes.
They pay attention to detail and make sure they do whatever it takes to destress the bride on her wedding. The book lifts the veil on the excesses of the wedding industry – the scams which inflate the prices of everything from flowers to cakes to marquee hire and the wedding disaster stories of high jinxing at the altar and disastrous low comedy in the speeches. It highlights how the potential for things to go horribly wrong is never higher than at a wedding and how the dream day is never far from becoming a nightmare. It shows you how catty mother in laws can get and worst of all your own mother. It shows you how some mothers seems to think that it is their big day and they make it a point to make a statement. A great book to read and laugh about specially for the brides who have already gone through it, and even better for the brides to be as you can get some great pointers.
September 10, 2012
I love all the Babylon series. There aren't many authors or series that I routinely pre-order in hardback, but this is one of them.
It's the deluge of detail that's so fascinating. Imogen Edwards-Jones has picked one luxury service industry after another and obviously spent weeks or months getting ALL the most scurrilous gossip from those in the know, just so you don't have to. Then she deftly weaves all the horror stories into a very enjoyable, readable and semi-plausible narrative featuring someone (curiously, usually a man) who works in the business. If you're the protagonist of an IEJ Babylon book, you're about to have the worst day/week/year in the office of your life.
This time, we enter the bizarre world of high-end wedding planning. If you hired your local village church and had sandwiches on the lawn outside the church hall when you got married, then this book will be a revelation. The sums of money routinely spent on lavish weddings are jaw-dropping, according to this book. The story takes place over the course of a week and, although there are lots of little diversions such as meetings with ongoing, old and new clients, we are following one wedding in detail. This is clearly meant to be fairly middling and run of the mill, an upper middle class family without unlimited financial resources, and yet they spend £30,000 on the flowers alone! It's astonishing and a little bit gruesome.
The climactic wedding itself is hilarious, if cringeworthy. A hugely fun read, as always.
It's the deluge of detail that's so fascinating. Imogen Edwards-Jones has picked one luxury service industry after another and obviously spent weeks or months getting ALL the most scurrilous gossip from those in the know, just so you don't have to. Then she deftly weaves all the horror stories into a very enjoyable, readable and semi-plausible narrative featuring someone (curiously, usually a man) who works in the business. If you're the protagonist of an IEJ Babylon book, you're about to have the worst day/week/year in the office of your life.
This time, we enter the bizarre world of high-end wedding planning. If you hired your local village church and had sandwiches on the lawn outside the church hall when you got married, then this book will be a revelation. The sums of money routinely spent on lavish weddings are jaw-dropping, according to this book. The story takes place over the course of a week and, although there are lots of little diversions such as meetings with ongoing, old and new clients, we are following one wedding in detail. This is clearly meant to be fairly middling and run of the mill, an upper middle class family without unlimited financial resources, and yet they spend £30,000 on the flowers alone! It's astonishing and a little bit gruesome.
The climactic wedding itself is hilarious, if cringeworthy. A hugely fun read, as always.
January 6, 2016
Really enjoyed this "expose" of the high end wedding culture in Britain. Written in the first person by a male wedding planner, it comes across more like entertaining fiction rather than the "true but anonymous" tag-line it has been promoted with. However that does not lessen the enjoyment I got from this book. As a wedding junkie it was great to read about high end demands and weddings, especially since the budget of even the cheapest blew my own right out of the water! The first person narrator is well aware of the outrageous scenarios he is put into but still seems very committed to being involved - he must be paid very well, how much he personally makes off these events seems to be glossed over (or only mentioned briefly).
August 1, 2011
Another good Babylon book - love reading about what people spend on their weddings.
Back Cover Blurb:
Packed with scandal, stories and intrigue, Wedding Babylon lifts the lid on the excesses of an industry where emotions run high, money flows like champagne and £3,000 cakes are made of polystyrene. Following a week in the life of a busy wedding planner, and based entirely on true but anonymous stories, Imogen Edwards-Jones takes you behind the scenes on what is supposed to be the happiest day of anyone's life.
Back Cover Blurb:
Packed with scandal, stories and intrigue, Wedding Babylon lifts the lid on the excesses of an industry where emotions run high, money flows like champagne and £3,000 cakes are made of polystyrene. Following a week in the life of a busy wedding planner, and based entirely on true but anonymous stories, Imogen Edwards-Jones takes you behind the scenes on what is supposed to be the happiest day of anyone's life.
June 18, 2009
Loved the behind the scenes look into the wedding industry from the view of a wedding planner...like the bride who keeps coming back for all her parties! It shows the bride from the outside world and how easy it is to become a bridezilla! Its an easy read and highly recommended...perfect as a gift for a bride to be as well as just an enjoyable beach read. It has everything from insider information with great idea's and a warning on how not to be a bridezzila. Prepare to laugh!
December 26, 2011
i read this book in Thai language. i don't know if it's because the translation or my lack of experience, i found this book a bit out of my league. i don't get its jokes. maybe i should read the original version.
March 31, 2012
I know they're cheap and trashy but so help me dog I cannot stop reading. So, Wedding: better than Pop and Fashion, not as good as Hotel or Air. Still entertaining, but I would've loved more of the morning after the wedding, because I hella ship Richard/Andrew.
December 25, 2012
This is a light, playful insight into the world of the wedding planner. It is a fun read which follows a week in the life of a wedding planner and the ups and downs which follow. While definitely not the best written work out there, it is a light, easy and fun read and should be taken as such.
July 14, 2013
Reading this book is a great way of spending your time, even though you're not even close to thinking about weddings. It's very entertaining, funny and it fits right in the wonderful Babylon series. I'd recommend it!
May 14, 2014
Mildly amusing, but that's about it. A poorly written insight into the excesses of the wedding industry, with unrelated anecdotes thrown haphazardly into a mediocre narrative.
This was my first foray into the "_ Babylon" books, and does not inspire me to seek out further works by the author.
This was my first foray into the "_ Babylon" books, and does not inspire me to seek out further works by the author.
April 7, 2016
Having loved Hotel Babylon and having jsut got married a month ago I was interested in this one!! A few (legal) differences between UK and NZ weddings but I'm sure not the scandal! Made me want to thank my mother, MIL, and all my bridesmaids for not being dragons.
Funny stories :)
Funny stories :)
August 11, 2009
Enjoyable but I wanted more. There wasn't enough behind the scenes gossip for me.
August 15, 2010
Not as good as Hotel Babylon but still an enjoyable read with some very amusing anecdotes from the wedding industry.
April 24, 2011
a must read for anyone in the wedding planning industry.
July 10, 2011
As usual a good laugh. Not the strongest of the Babylon books, but very enjoyable.
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August 7, 2011a funny read but not as good as i thought it would be.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews