"This well written, fascinating book takes a common ritual and uses it to explain the social construction of gender, class, and marriage. No doubt, most readers will be surprised by how much bachelorette parties reveal about women's ambivalence in their transition from single and available to married and monogamous." --Pepper Schwartz, University of Washington

"With wonderful insight, Montemurro examines the wildly popular bachelorette party and the enduring bridal shower and in doing so, reveals the conflicting messages that surround contemporary womanhood." --Amy L. Best, author of Prom Night: Youth, Schools and Popular Culture and Fast Cars, Cool Rides: The Accelerating World of Youth and Their Cars

"This highly accessible study explains why bridal showers are considered dull and boring while bachelorette parties have become the fling of choice. Something Old, Something Bold shows how the sexual revolution has transformed the way contemporary brides approach marriage."-Elizabeth Pleck, author of Cinderella Dreams: The Allure of the Lavish Wedding

Weddings in the United States are often extravagant, highly ritualized, and costly affairs. In this book, Beth Montemurro takes a fresh look at the wedding process, offering a perspective not likely to be found in the many planning books and magazines readily available to the modern bride. Montemurro draws upon years of ethnographic research to explore what prenuptial events mean to women participants and what they tell us about the complexity and ambiguity of gender roles. Through the bachelorette party and the bridal shower, the bride-to-be is initiated into the role of wife by her friends and family, who present elaborate scenarios that demonstrate both what she is sacrificing and what she is gaining.

Montemurro argues that American society at the turn of the twenty-first century is still married to traditional conceptions of masculinity and femininity and that prenuptial rituals contribute to the stabilization of gender inequalities.

Beth Montemurro is an assistant professor of sociology at Pennsylvania State University, Abington.

Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Introduction: Joining the Party
Chapter 2: Origins of Bridal Showers and Bachelorette Parties
Chapter 3: Something Old: Etiquette, Tradition, and Femininity at Bridal Showers
Chapter 4: Something Borrowed and Blue: The Bachelorette Party
Chapter 5: Something New: Consumption, Materialism, and Excess in Pre-Wedding Rituals
Chapter 6: Something Different: Variations in Pre-Wedding Rituals
Chapter 7: Conclusion: Bashful Brides and Bold Bachelorettes
Notes
References
Index