[.uk] Whose Wedding Is It Anyway? (Red Dress Ink) (ISBN 0373250770)

Way out of the ordinary:
Pros: Before I even start reviewing this book, I have to admit that I'm about as anti-commitment as anti-commitment can get. I don't want kids. I don't want to get married. I have the worst time staying in relationships. But halfway through this book, I started daydreaming about my OWN wedding and took a "Dream Wedding" quiz to put on my MySpace page. I felt like I sold out to Proudly Single Sistas everywhere, but hell, when a book is good, it's good and GREAT books make you think about things you usually don't pay attention to. Now on to the book...Melissa Senate uses her dry sense of humor, sarcastic jokes, and great dialogue sense to weave a hilarious story about two people who are being paid to have "free" weddings, although these weddings are planned beforehand and the exact opposite of what the two brides want. There's everything from feathers on a dress to copper rings to hired family members to replace those "less fortunate." "Acid" was entertaining with her strict stylistic view, but Devlin cracked me up. The "Modern Bride's" honeymoon location made me cringe, especially since I'm FROM this city and frozen in December! The story went smoothly throughout and I enjoyed the twists and turns of cold feet, pregnancy, marriage, family, and the identity crisis. Cons: What is up with Red Dress Ink books? Are the authors required to only make blonde people with blue eyes as the good-looking ones? Hitler would be proud, but what about everybody else? That is getting old. In mid-conversation, there were sections on someone having blonde hair. For no reason at all, the author said one of the ladies flipped her "blonde hair" and put it in a ponytail. Why does the color of hair need to be constantly remembered? Maybe it seems so insane to me because I come from a different culture where the color of hair does not make a woman pretty. I also got tired of Emmett's constant fits, but it's not like it wasn't realistic; just annoying. Regardless of the few cons I could think of, I really love this author's writing style. I thought Lynn Messina was going to be my favorite author from this publishing company, but she may have a run for her money.

Feathers, Leather, and the Chicken Dance?:
I couldn't quite give this a higher rating because I knew the plot too early. It was very predictable, but it was enjoyable and fast paced. Eloise is a graphic designer for WOW Weddings Magazine, one day her and a co-worker were discussing their engagements, when the editor, Acid, ooops I mean Astrid over hears them and gets THE IDEA! to do a spread of a modern bride and a classic bride. Eloise is chosen as the modern bride because of her artsy background and non traditional haircut. What is she supposed to do when Astrid doesn't allow her to choose what she wants for her own wedding? Purple rubber dresses? Feathers? Leather? It's a debacle from beginning to end, will Eloise find her dream along the way? Also, Eloise goes on a journey of self discovery while looking for the father who left her and her brother when she was 5. This story has a little heart, a lot of OH MY GOD, and predictability, but also was a lot of fun to read.

Not bad, but certainly not great.....:
"Whose Wedding is it Anyway?" has a promising premise, but poor writing and generic plots and characters fail to take the book anywhere special. It's an enjoyable enough airplane read, but disappointing because Senate's last two books were far better. The action centers on Eloise Manfred, who was a character in Senate's earlier book "See Jane Date." Eloise, who works at a wedding magazine, gets engaged to a great guy the same day her beautiful co-worker, Phillipa, gets engaged. Her boss (usually mean and nasty) decides to do a feature that will allow Eloise and Phillipa to get married for free. The catch? They have to be the magazine's "classic" bride and "modern" bride. Eloise hates everything that goes with being the modern bride- rubber bridesmaid dresses, a yellow feathered gown and yearns for classic elegance, while Phillipa hates her generic wedding and wants something more fresh and funky. If you can't see where this is going- brush up on your chick-lit! Either way, there are many side plots, which never get full attention. I agree with the other reader who says this books tries to be two things and doesn't manage to do either very well. The writing is like a 12-year old wrote it, and the book is so predictable, generic and poorly written. The corny "flirt night" scenes made me cringe. All in all, not bad, but there are much better books out there!

How Star Jones's Wedding Should Have been.:
When you sign up for a free wedding, it doesn't matter if it's what you want or not. It matters what the people who are paying for it want. Though the two characters who sign up for the free weddings are judged solely on what they wear to work by their boss, they don't like what has been picked out for them. How will one survive wearing a "Big Bird" dress when she much prefers Elmo and how will one wear a traditional dress when she really loves the "Big Bird" dress. Can these two girls really say no to a free wedding? No matter what it costs. (Even if it's their dignity?)

Funny but predictable:
Eloise learns the hard way that there's no such thing as a free wedding. When her boss discovers that she and a colleague are engaged, she proposes that the magazine pay for both the weddings to be featured in a story on modern verses classic brides. Having little money, she jumps at the chance not realizing that the Boss from Hell's idea of modern is something out of a comic book. Rather than a tasteful Vera Wang gown, she gets dress only Big Bird could love. And the cute pink bridesmaids gowns? Nope - she gets purple rubber. Everything from the venue to the menu to the lack of guests she can invite causes her to want to rethink marriage just to cancel the travesty. When her estranged brother shows up, he alleviates the need to hire a fake brother for the photos, but he comes with lots of baggage himself. Will the bride to be get a backbone and declare her nuptials off limits to the travesty? Senate always pens angst ridden novels with interesting heroines. I loved the concept for the story, and thought that it was humorous, but it was a bit predictable. Some of the characters may seem familiar as they first appeared in Senate's "See Jane Date," which was adapted into a movie on the Family Channel. Despite its flaws, it was a nice way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon.