Weddings make for great stories. High-stakes drama! Tears! Love! Messy, complicated relationships (hopefully not too complicated, so the bride and groom get their happily ever after). A motley cast of characters featuring, but not limited to, the eccentric aunt, the drunk best man, and the fun single cousin. Beautiful settings, extravagant plots, and stunning fashion. Especially in a culture where the big fat Indian wedding is truly larger than life, you know there will be some seriously juicy bits. It’s pretty much an author’s dream and a reader’s binge.
It’s why my first novel, All The Right People, begins at a big fat Indian wedding. It was the perfect way to set the scene for a story of three young women in contemporary India coming into their own. It’s also why I find myself reaching for books that have weddings at the heart of their stories—after all, there’s no greater escape than curling up with drama that’s not your own.
For the destination wedding troll
I loved Crazy Rich Asians, which also had a wedding (two, actually) at its very core. So, it’s no surprise that I immediately gravitated towards Kevin Kwan’s latest read, Lies and Weddings. This time, the extravagant wedding is in Hawaii, interrupted by a volcanic eruption, where true feelings are spilt over a hot mic as the Gresham family comes undone.
For the one in search of their soulmate
Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell might be one of my favourite reads of 2024. Shiloh and Cary are best friends, and their entire town thought they would end up together. When they meet 14 years later, at a friend’s wedding, Shiloh is divorced with two kids, and Cary isn't the same boy he used to be. Funny but heart-breaking, this sweet story of soulmates is sure to tug at your heartstrings.
For the wedding-whodunnit (yes, it’s a thing) buff
If you thought weddings were the best settings for drama, well, they also serve as great expositions for murder. The Guest List by Lucy Foley is a wedding celebration, where everything that can go wrong does. Picture this—an island off the coast of Ireland, a storm, a blackout, and a dead body discovered by a waitress. The whodunnit mystery that follows will keep you hooked.
For the romantics (but make it literary)
The Wedding People by Alison Espach is one of the most highly recommended novels of 2024. A lonely professor ends up forming an unlikely friendship with the quintessential Bridezilla. The unexpected pairing takes readers on a journey filled with grace, humour, wisdom and courage.
For the serial wedding binger
If you binged the hit Netflix show starring Nicole Kidman and Ishaan Khatter’s abs, you can’t not read the source material. The Perfect Couple by Elin Hildebrand is even more thrilling on paper. Set in idyllic Nantucket at the Winbury family estate, the story takes a dark turn when the maid of honour turns up dead. The ensuing investigation unravels just how tangled their familial relationships truly are.
For the ones who love family wedding drama
A retelling of Georgette Heyer’s The Grand Sophy, Trisha Das’s The Grand Samara, follows nomadic wedding photographer Samara Mansingh, who finds herself moving in with family friends, and dealing with their surly son Sharav, his influencer fiancée, and playing cupid to his sister.
