The Wedding People

Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is a sharp, witty, and tender novel about grief, love, and the strange ways strangers can change our lives. Set against the backdrop of a grand seaside hotel, the story follows Phoebe Stone, a woman caught between devastating loss and the possibility of renewal. Recently divorced and still reeling from tragedy, Phoebe agrees to attend her cousin’s wedding at the opulent Saybrook Hotel. She has no intention of celebrating, but the event becomes a turning point she could never have imagined. Phoebe arrives as a reluctant guest, hoping to keep to herself, but she quickly discovers that weddings are not simply about joy—they are pressure cookers of family expectations, secrets, and unresolved tensions. The Saybrook itself, with its sweeping views and timeless elegance, provides a stage for both comedy and heartbreak. While the wedding festivities swirl around her—overly ambitious toasts, drunken arguments, lavish displays of wealth—Phoebe finds herself observing, sometimes with cynicism and sometimes with longing, how other people strive for love, permanence, and connection. What begins as a single weekend gradually transforms into something much larger. Phoebe becomes entangled in the stories of other hotel guests: lonely parents, estranged siblings, couples at breaking points, and fellow outsiders trying to make sense of their own choices. Her interactions reveal a kaleidoscope of human desires and disappointments, showing that weddings are as much about survival as they are about romance. Through sharp humor and keen insight, Espach explores how people use rituals like weddings to mask insecurities, cling to hope, or rewrite their personal narratives. As Phoebe navigates awkward encounters with relatives, half-hearted attempts at small talk, and her own haunting memories, she begins to reconsider what she wants from life. At the heart of the novel is her growing connection with a fellow guest—someone equally out of place, equally searching. Their tentative bond sparks questions about whether Phoebe is capable of moving forward, whether intimacy can be rediscovered after devastation, and whether love can take unexpected forms when we least expect it. Espach’s writing captures the absurdity of wedding culture—the forced smiles, the staged photos, the endless champagne—while never losing sight of the deeper emotional undercurrents. Phoebe’s voice is wry, self-deprecating, and honest, offering readers both laughter and poignant moments of recognition. The novel balances biting satire with genuine compassion, making it as much about healing as it is about romance. By the time the wedding weekend ends, Phoebe is no longer the same woman who arrived. She has glimpsed the possibility of a new chapter, one that does not erase her past but integrates it into a fuller understanding of herself. The Wedding People ultimately becomes a story about resilience—the ways we can find hope and connection even when surrounded by other people’s celebrations, and how the act of witnessing others’ messy, imperfect lives can help us imagine a different future for our own. With its blend of humor, heartache, and sharp social observation, Alison Espach delivers a novel that is both entertaining and deeply moving, reminding us that sometimes the most important transformations happen not at the altar, but in the quiet spaces between vows.