The Wedding People: The hilarious and moving million-copy bestseller

By Alison Espach

The runaway New York Times bestseller with over one million copies sold
A Today Show #ReadwithJenna Book Club Pick, New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, and a #1 Indie Next Pick
Named a Best Book of the Year by The Guardian, Time, Chicago Tribune Biblioracle, HuffPost, US Magazine, Elle, Real Simple, and Glamour

A propulsive and uncommonly wise novel about one unexpected wedding guest and the surprising people who help her start anew.

It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She’s immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years—she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe's plan—which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other.

In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined—and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.

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Published Jul 3, 2025

367 pages

Average rating: 7.63

6,623 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

MamaShootman
Jun 01, 2026
7/10 stars
It took a long time to get into this book and its characters.
BigDreamsInMomJeans
Apr 14, 2026
7/10 stars
A great beach-read; unexpectedly deep and lighthearted af the same time. Loved it!
President
Apr 11, 2026
Jude Tina
Club Pilates Amity
Apr 05, 2026
This book is not what I was expecting. It is engaging and goes in-depth with character development. I could not put it down.
President
Mar 13, 2026
Jude Tina

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