Jeffrey Zaslow goes bridal in 'Magic Room'

Best-selling author Jeffrey Zaslow is back, this time in a bridal salon. The father of three daughters, Zaslow investigates what happens to women of the marrying age in The Magic Room: A Story About the Love We Wish for Our Daughters (Gotham, 336 pp., $27). He took dozens of trips to Becker's Bridal, a salon that has operated in Fowler, Mich., since 1934. Zaslow, who zeroed in on eight brides-to-be, even formed an opinion on strapless wedding dresses in the process.

Q: So, tell me how you became interested in this bridalsalon in rural Michigan?

A: I have three daughters and I wanted to talk about our love of daughters. I thought of maternity wards and daddy/daughter dances, but my wife suggested a bridal salon. There's something about a wedding dress, she said. And then I found Becker's, only 100 miles from my house.


Q: You talk about the bond between parents and their daughters, using the bridal shop as the venue. What did you find that surprised you about brides and their parents?

A: I would have thought there was a lot of commerce going on, which there was, but it's also so heavy with emotions that I didn't expect. It's the culmination for the bride to be on that pedestal in "the magic room" (where floor-to-ceiling mirrors on every wall carry the bride's image to infinity). I saw bickering and unhappiness, but I also saw love.

"We’re a culture that doesn’t have a lot of pageantry, so we’re clinging to this wedding thing," says author Jeffrey Zaslow..

Q: Do you see your three still unmarried daughters (ages 22, 20 and 16) shopping theresomeday?

A: That's the only place I'll take them! I saw everything, including the feelings I'll have. I can also see them arguing with my wife over the dress. You don't want to push them into getting married, but if my daughters get married, I learned a lot that will be helpful.

Q:Don't you think a lot of the weddings today are way over the top?

A: Until the '50s, it was not the bride's reality show. It was a family event. That changed, and it suddenly became about the bride. We're a culture that doesn't have a lot of pageantry, so we're clinging to this wedding thing.

Q:Bridezillas get worse every year, according to the saleswomen at the shop. The sense of entitlement. What's going on?

A: Families are smaller today. If there's only one daughter, the focus, of course, is on her. There's a sense of entitlement. Now it's 10 or 15 visits to the shop. It's like a campaign to get the right dress. It would be nice if the parents didn't buy into it the way they do.

Q:Doesn't it sadden you that half of the brides you saw will eventually be divorced?

A: I was very aware of that, but I hope the brides I chose will be less likely to divorce. But I saw so many very young brides. It was rural Michigan. It was very disconcerting.

Q:After all your visits and research, do you have a preference in wedding dresses? I mean, not for you but …

A: Very few brides look good in a strapless gown, but they all wanted strapless. I'm a man. I described the cheap wedding dresses but I couldn't tell you anything about them. I have no preference, really.

Q: Brides aside, you've co-authored books with several inspirational Americans, most recently with Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was critically injured in an assassination attempt in January, and her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly (Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope). How is she doing?

A: Gabby is doing very well. She continues to improve. She still spends 40 hours a week in four kinds of therapy: physical, occupational, speech and music. She'd like to return to Congress, and as Mark says, "She knows that therapy is her only way back." She'll decide by May.