It’s the month of June and officially wedding season. Don’t believe me, just look and see how many of your Facebook friends start posting their wedding (or anniversary) photos, informing people how many years they’ve been married. In fact, my anniversary was on the 3rd (celebrated 17!). So I thought it would be fun to talk about the wedding process and books that fit each step. This was so hard for me to narrow down because I read hundreds of books every year. But I got some help from some friends and came up with some great recommendations.
*Sorry if any of my explanations are a little spoilerly (yep, made the word up).
The Proposal:
It’s no surprise that a proposal is kind of a big deal. In Teresa Tysinger’s Someplace Familiar, her heroine, Livy, is an artist. One day in town with her boyfriend, she sees an old easel but doesn’t buy it. Towards the end of the book, our great hero buys that easel. He sets it up in the field where they go for a picnic at the top of the mountain. On a canvas on it is written “be my adventure…marry me?” If that doesn’t make you swoon, I don’t know what will.
The Preparations:
In the novella collection Always a Wedding Planner, we get four stories that take you through some interesting stories centered around wedding planning. These wedding planners are “always the wedding planner, never the bride” until when the books start and they meet their heroes. You get a cake baker, wedding coordinator, seamstress, and chef in one fell swoop. I also might cheer this one extra hard since my story is about the cake baker. :)
The Justice of the Peace Wedding:
In my novel, An Unlikely Proposal, the hero proposes that he and his best friend marry to help one another out. She needs health insurance, he needs childcare. After prayer, they decided to tie the knot in front of a JP. I’m kind of partial to this one, because that’s how I married by husband.
The Traditional Wedding:
In A Heart Redirected (book 4) by Elizabeth Maddrey, not only is the hero a male wedding planner, but we get to see a wedding from previous Peacock Hill Romance characters. I loved this whole series for the wedding destination setting itself. You’ll definitely want to read the entire series.
The Honeymoon:
A lot of CCR books seem to skip the honeymoon portion of the show (understandably) and gives us an epilogue with actual wedding or pregnancy announcements. However, in Jaycee Weaver’s Whatever Happens Next, we find the couple honeymooning in Dover, Delaware. I love this book for a few reasons: Dyson, military, epilogue. You’ll have to read it to see how it all ties together!
What Christian contemporary romance books do you love that fit the different parts of the wedding? I’m always looking for new reads or enjoy talking about favorites. :)
eBook sale:
I don’t have a giveaway this time, but In Search of a Prince is on sale for ebooks. It’s $1.99 and has a traditional African wedding with a royal wedding as well. If you haven’t read it, now’s the time!
Toni Shiloh is a wife, mom, and Christian fiction writer. Once she understood the powerful saving grace thanks to the love of Christ, she was moved to honor her Savior. She writes to bring Him glory and to learn more about His goodness. She spends her days hanging out with her husband and their two boys. She is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW). Find out more on her website at http://tonishiloh.com.
I love weddings but haven’t been to one in years so I’ll read about them instead.
I went to one recently but before that same.
I prefer an elopement with a celebration later, so much less stressful, it sometimes happens in stories, but not much.
That’s true. I totally agree with less stressful.
I honestly don’t care if the wedding is in the book or not! There have been some really good ones in Jo Grafford’s Hometown Heroes Series, and in Mandi Blake’s Blackwater Ranch series, and her new one, Wolf Creek Ranch.
I love the Blackwater Ranch series. Haven’t read the others mentioned though.
I”m afraid I dont read a lot of contemporary books. thank you for the wonderful post today
No worries. Thanks for reading!
I love weddings I just went to my cousin’s on Friday night he was older I think 32 and the bride I think was 30 so it was a big wedding.
Hi Toni, I love talking about weddings/proposals in books! I’ve read beach setting weddings (or proposals), small intimate weddings with only immediate family members followed by a bigger reception with friends & other family members, weddings/proposals that fit the book title, marriage of convenience (my favorite, though occur more in historicals). In fact, I just read a Love Inspired book by Lisa Carter where the hero was in the Coast Guard and at the end, renamed his personal boat Seas the Day after his lady love…it fit with the theme of the story (Coast Guard Courtship). I thought that was very sweet!
Not all books end with a wedding and/or proposal, so most of the time there is an epilogue at the end. I personally love to read about the wedding because I love them so much! There’s so many ways to have one & I love the more unique ones :-)
My husband and I also got married by the Justice of the Peace, but he was able to come to the location we chose for our wedding. It was just our closest friends (both our families live too far away) who we invited to be part of it. Since I live on the Oregon coast, our wedding took place at the resort hotel my husband was working at…overlooking the beautiful ocean! What a fun day it was too, everyone made it so special for us :-)
I love reading books that have weddings in them. Our daughter got married in June and they will be married for 18 yrs in a couple of weeks. My husband and I got married by a JP also , we just had a small wedding which was all we wanted , we were surrounded by family and a few friends.
That’s awesome!
I love weddings too! And three cheers for JP weddings. Sounds like yours was beautiful. Thanks for sharing with me!
Weddings are such a great thing to celebrate. Congrats to your daughter!
weddings are fun
Weddings tend to feature at the ends of many books. The lead up is fun.
Thank you so much for sharing. We were married in October. I believe it is the second favorite month of weddings. The leaves were changing and the temperature was cooler. God bless you.
So agree!
Yes! It’s fun watching it all unfold.
Fall makes a pretty backdrop!
I’ll be married for 15 years this summer. I love the book called, “Baby,Baby,Baby” by Holly Kerr. I love wedding book & reading one now too.
I enjoy wedding books. My last wedding was when my cousin got married but no long together but it was fun & over 10 years ago
Happy anniversary!
Sometimes it seems weddings happen all at once and then sometimes they are dry spells.
I think Sealed with a Kiss by Liwen Ho fits the proposal part. It was a fun one. :)
Oh I need to read that one. I’m not sure if I have but rereads are always fun.