Save the Date: The Occasional Mortifications of a Serial Wedding Guest

Description

Funny, honest, and affecting,Save the Dateis a fresh and spirited look at the many ways in which we connect to one another. Weddings. They're fun, festive, and joyful, and at a time when people marry later in life-and sometimes not at all-they offer endless opportunities to reexamine love and what we want for ourselves, regardless of whether or not our aim is a walk down the aisle. InSave the Date, Jen Doll charts the course of her own perennial wedding guesthood, from the ceremony of distant family members when she was eight to the recent nuptials of a new boyfriend's friends. Wedding experiences come in as varied an assortment as the gowns at any bridal shop, and Doll turns a keen eye to each, delivering a heartfelt exploration of contemporary relationships. Funny, honest, and affecting,Save the Dateis a fresh and spirited look at the many ways in which we connect to one another. 'An endearingly funny memoir of Doll's vast experience watching other people get married - and the lessons she's learned about love, friendship, and herself.' O, The Oprah Magazine 'Chronicled with the sharply wielded wit that presumably got Doll invited to so many weddings in the first place . . . Save the Date touches a cultural nerve, ultimately, because it summons, in unsparing detail, a cultural ritual as relentless as it is familiar.' Newsweek 'A meditation on the marriage ceremony and on how, by bearing witness, we shape our perspectives on love, friendship, and commitment . . . Advice anyone seated at the singles table can take to heart.' Entertainment Weekly

Jen Doll is a contributing editor for Mental Floss magazine and has written for The Atlantic, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, The Hairpin, New York magazine, The New York Times Book Review, Slate, Vice, The Village Voice, and other publications. She has attended dozens of weddings and had pretty much every possible feeling about them. She lives in Brooklyn.

"[A] wry Sex and the City-style memoir...Engaging and disarmingly honest." -People "Doll herself is a funny, bright, complicated leading lady...Contemporary heroines are not necessarily brides; they are also the friends, colleagues, classmates of brides, and their stories do not want for depth just because they're not the ones wearing white. Doll's own story - a good one - lays out a disruptive new path." -The New York Times Book Review "Chronicled with the sharply wielded wit that presumably got [Doll] invited to so many weddings in the first place... [Save the Date] touches a cultural nerve, ultimately, because it summons, in unsparing detail, a cultural ritual as relentless as it is familiar." -Newsweek "A smart examination of just how weird weddings can be when put under the microscope....The ultimate wedding party favor is a good story. Doll has several." -Time "A meditation on the marriage ceremony and on how, by bearing witness, we shape our perspectives on love, friendship, and commitment... Advice anyone seated at the singles table can take to heart." -Entertainment Weekly "Anyone who has ever witnessed a wedding will appreciate Jen Doll's wry pew-side musings." -Good Housekeeping "An endearingly funny memoir of the writer's vast experience watching other people get married-and the lessons she's learned about love, friendship, and herself." -O, The Oprah Magazine "To prepare yourself for the summer-wedding onslaught, grab Jen Doll's ingeniously subtitled new book." -GQ "Save the Date is the kind of amusing and inventive memoir that's almost impossible to put down and ripe for sharing amongst friends (bring this baby to your next girls' brunch and watch your lady friends clamor to be the first to borrow it). It's breezy and quick and dead funny, but it also aims straight for the heart with the kind of wit and honesty anyone would want to cherish for many years to come." -Bustle "Droll, charming...chock-full of hilarious observations...lively anecdotes...and lovely description." -Slate "Hilarious." -Flavorwire "Jen Doll knows all the ins and outs of attending and taking part in someone else's big day . . . for better or worse....[In Save the Date] she shares some thoughtful (and funny) insights into dating relationships, marriage, and friendship." -Pop Sugar "[Save the Date] offers witty and smart insights into modern wedding culture, while still having a good time with all the tomfoolery." -The Frisky "A witty, easily-devoured memoir, simultaneously personal and universal." -The Huffington Post "The insightful, soothing literary balm you need when you're stuck at the destination beach wedding you've paid too much to attend." -The Daily Beast "Save the Date is a hilarious, open-eyed account of one woman's life as a wedding guest. Doll chronicles the good, the bad, and the drunken with wit and insight into the state of modern marriage." - J. Courtney Sullivan, author of The Engagements and Maine "Reading Save the Date is like attending a wedding with the coolest plus-one ever. Jen Doll is witty, charming, and can see through all the BS of the wedding culture while still having a fun time with it." -Drew Magary, author of Someone Could Get Hurt and The Postmortal "Jen Doll's sharp, funny true tales of guesthood acknowledge-at last-that attending other people's weddings is a unique rite of passage in itself. Save the Date is a welcome companion." -Wendy McClure, author of The Wilder Life "Jen Doll address relationships, romance, weddings, and love with the sharp and intuitive eye of a psychotherapist, and the impeccable comic timing of, well, an impeccably good comedian. Not only that, she coins a phrase that is not only brilliant, but important: 'My unemployment jeans.' Save the Date is a self-examination of the single gal at its cleverest, funniest best." -Sara Barron, author of People Are Unappealing: Even Me "With humor and honesty...Doll offers a refreshing take on society's evolving ideas on marriage and the importance of knowing oneself." -Publishers Weekly "Doll is an engaging guide through the landscape of modern-day courtship and nuptials." -Booklist "A thoughtful meditation on the institution of marriage...A great book to pack for the plane ride to that friend's destination wedding... [a] fun rumination on love, marriage, and adult friendship." -Library Journal