Book Review: The Wedding People by Alison Espach

June 5, 2026

I had heard over and over that this was a funny little summer read. I guess I need to stop listening to people who say stuff like that. This was deeply impactful but fluffy it was not.

We follow the story of Phoebe, a recently divorced professor from St. Louis, who has just arrived for her night stay at The Cornwall Inn. Much to her dismay, she is the one and only person there not attending the wedding of Lila and Gary (whoever they are).  But by tomorrow it won’t matter because she won’t be seeing tomorrow. Tonight, Phoebe will end her life. And she mentions this to the bride as they’re going up the elevator to which the bride tells her she needs to wait until the end of her wedding week to do so and she will pay for the room in the meantime. It shocks Phoebe how honest she’s able to be with this random young bride and how entitled the bride feels for asking her to wait. Obviously, Phoebe doesn’t go through with it, or we wouldn’t have a story here. And she is suddenly very very involved in this strangers wedding and finding ways to start over and reimagine her life. Because life really is worth living, isn’t it?

This book was not fluffy or light but it was beautiful and thought provoking. It was just the right amount of scenic and beautiful as well as deep and wonderful. I suggest it!