"If you are planning or have ever planned to be a bride, this book will make you think and then make you cry."— Boston Globe In this modern age, why do we carry on that most traditional of all traditions: marriage? When Kate Cohen decided to marry her longtime boyfriend, it seemed like a natural choice. But why? In an age of widespread cohabitation and divorce—when marriage is no longer the master key to sex, a shared home, or security—what reasons did she have for marrying? With charm and honesty, A Walk Down the Aisle addresses our desires to wed traditionally, and also to break with tradition. Illuminating familiar wedding customs by showing us those from other cultures and eras, and enlisting the ideas of figures from John Milton to Lyle Lovett, Cohen looks at how we wed today, how we find a true love, or how we find a china pattern. We join her during the summer before she walked down the aisle, and with her we face the questions her restless mind encountered—including the most troubling and, finally, exhilarating ones: What does that walk mean? And why does it feel so right?