August 2003

Cinderella Dreams
Everything You Wanted to Know About Weddings

Now available is a new book by Associate Professor of Business Administration Cele Otnes entitled Cinderella Dreams: The Allure of the Lavish Wedding. Along with co-author Elizabeth Pleck, Otnes has documented and interpreted the event that "marries two of the most sacred tenets of American culture -- romantic love and excessive consumption."

The 400-page book weaves together the historical, social, and psychological threads that form the the tapestry of the modern, North American wedding. Chapters address all the major components of the wedding: the engagement ring, wedding dress, and honeymoon. They also cover the history and allure of the lavish wedding.

The book was recently reviewed in The Economist, which said the authors were "armed with an anthropologist's vocabulary and a brand manager's marketing zeal." (The review is only available online to subscribers.)

The University of California Press is the publisher (October 2003). A sample chapter on "the engagement complex" is available on the Press' website.