Really, what harm could a fake wedding blog do?
In a desperate move to nail a job at I Do magazine—-the only interview she’s landed in months—-aspiring journalist Hayley, who doesn’t even have a boyfriend, claims to be engaged. She gets the job, along with the task of blogging about her upcoming wedding. If you doubt that something as benign as a bridal blog could destroy your life, this first novel by C.J. Moss (the pseudonym of a former wedding magazine writer in New York) will set you straight. Destination: W sat down with C.J. and asked her about The Wedding Blogger, available as an e-book at amazon.com.
DW: Hayley wants to be a sportswriter but becomes a wedding blogger. Some people say weddings are to women what pro sports are to men. Agree?
CJ: I think they can be, in the sense that, sometimes guys (women, too!) sign up for fantasy sports, and it seems more like a stressor than something they enjoy. If you’re up late at night trading players or adding bouquet images to your wedding Pinterest board, and it’s making you anxious, it’s no longer fun or healthy. There’s also this sense of competitiveness in our culture that carries over to weddings-women feel pressure to out-detail each other, and so they spend all this time and money on unique favors or a dessert table with 10 different kinds of macaroons. I think a lot of women feel like they have to a gazillion unique touches so that their wedding feels different or better, even though they’re smart and know deep down that’s not what the day is about. I’ve never left a wedding and thought, “Well those centerpieces just made that party, don’t you think?” It’s really about the special moments, the dancing, the celebration. That’s why I love destination weddings—-you really get to hang out and spend time with people. It extends the important parts of the day and eliminates a lot of the little details nobody remembers.
DW: I Do‘s editor in chief, Linda, is a nut case—who takes weddings that seriously? Did you draw inspiration from a former editor?
CJ: Yes, there’s an editor I know who just lived and breathed weddings, and it was hard sometimes to keep a straight face while she seriously debated whether or not it was still cool to register for china. I remember thinking, Who f-ing cares? Why are we making readers stress about this? If you want china, register for it. If you don’t want china, don’t register for it. There’s no crisis. We’re all going to be okay.
DW: If Hayley and Kevin (spoiler alert: Hayley does end up with a boyfriend) decide to ditch the big city wedding and have a destination wedding, where would it be?
CJ: A destination wedding would be their speed, for sure. In the book, Hayley lies about being engaged and has to blog about her (fake) wedding for months, and I think by the time it actually happened for her, she wouldn’t want to spend a year planning some grand event at the Waldorf Astoria. I could see her and Kevin going to Newport, Rhode Island, and having a casual wedding on the lawn. Kevin’s parents have a house there—which you get to experience in the book—but even if they didn’t, there are a few just really gorgeous hotels in Newport that would be perfect. I love New England beach towns because they can be both classy and casual at the same time. I can see Hayley in a really simple white dress, Kevin in a linen suit, a clambake, lobster rolls, lots of booze, and a band wearing sandals. Done and done.
DW: Have you ever worked at a magazine where people really drank the Koolaid as they did at I Do? That’s one crazy bunch of dames.
CJ: Um…yes. It’s what inspired the book, actually. I worked at a wedding magazine in New York when I was in my mid-twenties, and there were some people who didn’t just drink the bridal Koolaid—they gulped it down on a daily basis. There were racks of wedding gowns along the walls, bakers would send in cakes—full-sized wedding cakes, and you couldn’t walk to the coffee machine without passing tables of veils and accessories. There were certainly people who worked there who were planning their weddings, even if they weren’t engaged. But, at the same time, there were a lot of people like me who thought it was all a bit crazy. And crazy can be a bonding experience. I have quite a few friends from that job, and they’re smart and lovely people. Even years later, we support each other in our careers. I’ve actually been to two of their weddings! We relied on each other to keep our days fun. We also protected each other from having to wear any of the wedding dresses. Two senior-level editors there made it their mission to get everyone on TV or online somehow wearing a wedding dress. I was 25 and single, and I just remember thinking, Over my dead body will I put on a gown and be photographed in it. Can you imagine? Some guy you meet Googles you after your first date, and sees you in a big fluffy dress and a veil? I can’t even think about it.
DW: Best wedding you’ve ever been to: Describe.
CJ: Aside from my sister’s wedding—obviously special because she’s my sister—my boyfriend and I went to our friends’ wedding in Detroit last year. The bride is Indian, so it was a whole weekend of celebration. The groom rode to the ceremony on a white horse—really!—-and we all danced around him. When we arrived at the ceremony location, the bride’s family came out and greeted him and everyone hugged and danced. By the time the bride walked down the aisle, everyone was so pumped up, it was like the room was going to burst. Most people had to fly there and get hotels and all that—-and so we all got to spend the entire weekend together. Sure, Detroit isn’t like going to a wedding in the Bahamas, but it still had that special feeling where you spend all weekend together and really get quality time rather than squeezing it into four hours.
