A Walk Down the Aisle: Notes on a Modern Wedding

A Walk Down the Aisle is a beautiful and powerful book--witty and wise, poignant and moving (but never maudlin), intimate and communal at the same time. Cohen's writing is lyrical and her messages are profound. Above all, her book is incredibly real and authentic in a way that no other book I've read about marriage has been. (Plus I cried all the way through the last chapter, and it was a good, cleansing cry.) I have been married to Jeff for twenty-two years, but Cohen's book led me back down that aisle, and my reflections on "my" day (it was definitely the bride's day for us), on dozens of weddings since, and on my marriage have been fruitful for me. If we were to marry again today, we would do almost everything completely differently. I don't think Kate and Adam will ever need to say that.When I got married, a well meaning Sunday school teacher from my church gave me a book of "devotional readings for the newly married." Reading it was a miserable experience for me. It created all sorts of guilt and anxiety; there was just no way Jeff and I were ever going to conform to the images of the perfect couples who filled those pages. After a while, I realized that I didn't want to be one of those cardboard cutouts. So Cohen's is the flesh and blood book I'm going to give to all my engaged friends. I encourage you also to read it, share it with your friends and loved ones, and return to it often.

I was absolutely thrilled when I found this book by chance one day and bought it (I almost never buy hardcovers, but...). I have read it twice and frequently pick it up to reread parts of it again. I love the combination of such deeply personal and thoughtful writing with tidbits about the history of the wedding traditions. I find it so inspiring in planning my own wedding and helpful in clarifying exactly what marriage means for people like my fiance and I in today's world. Thank you Kate Cohen for writing this!

To marry or not to marry. That is the question, and Kate Cohen answers it masterfully. For anyone who has lived with someone and is now contemplating marriage, (is there anyone else?), this book is a "must read"!Not only does Kate Cohen write like an angel, she offers an unusual blend of intense and scrupulously honest self-scrutiny with an extremely scholarly and comprehensive storehouse of knowledge about the customs of weddings. From Dante and Milton to Brides magazine, she presents information that is fascinating and often hilarious.This book should provide comfort for anyone wondering what love is, if they even are in love, and especially, why they should get married in the first place.Listen to Cohen describe her own love for Adam (the man she eventually marries):Love "is a slow process...we did not instantly see on one another's faces 'the one' that eternal love songs promise us. We didn't see blessed perfection, the moon and the stars and the sun all rolled up into one. We saw a possibility, one among many."I chose this quote because it is representative of Cohen's commitment to the truth, and of how well she writes.So, to all of you who may have cold feet, who are in a quandary of when, where, why, and how to marry, this is the book for you!

Like the best weddings, A Walk Down the Aisle is serious, joyful, and intimate. As the author examines modern marriage through the lens of her own wedding, she appreciates and questions the role of tradition. She deftly cuts her sensibility with laugh-out-loud humor. And in the books most memorable moments, she provides affectionate glimpses of her fiancé and family. I rarely read nonfiction without frequent skimming and a sense of duty, but with this book I enjoyed every word and was sorry when they ran out.

A friend wholeheartedly recommended this book to me, which I found odd because I'm neither close to getting married nor contemplating marriage. But it absolutely didn't matter. This book is incredible. Kate Cohen writes beautifully, her prose is gorgeous, but what really blew me away was the depth with which she thinks through her arguments. I've always been intimidated by the thought of "till death do us part" but Cohen gets at the meat of why a wedding is a melancholy thing. She examines overly simplified statistics about marriages ending in divorce. But this isn't drearily academic; Cohen weaves together statistics and autobiographical moments seamlessly and gracefully. She also dedicates hilarious chapters to the lighter sides of wedding: picking that song for your first dance; the insidious wedding industry; the commerce of wedding, i.e. your registry. I will buy this book for anyone who's tying the knot, yes, but I'll also buy it for anyone who has ever sought out thoughtful articulation on the topic of marriage.