Abigail and Alexa Save the Wedding Lian Dolan

Penny and Chase are planning the California wedding of their dreams with enough sparkle to make anyone want an invitation.

Everyone is excited.

Well…almost everyone.

Penny’s mother, Alexa Diamandis, is a sophisticated Greek-born businesswoman who has never understood why any woman would want to get married. Ever. She raised Penny as a single mother by choice in beautiful Montecito, surrounded by her wealthy friends, the Merry Widows, and Lord Simon Fox, an old college friend and English aristocrat.

Then there’s Abigail Blakeman, Chase’s mother, a proper Connecticut garden-club woman and devoted stay-at-home mom who thinks the whole wedding would be much easier if they simply held it at the club. There’s just one little problem—the Blakeman family fortune has taken a tumble, and Abigail is determined no one will notice.

I enjoyed the contrast between these two women - one who built a life and business of her own, and the other whose life centered around her family and community. Somehow, they both end up involved in the wedding plans.

Abigail's friend and social columnist Bernadette, or Aunt B, is a wedding etiquette expert who gets on the action too announcing wedding bliss in her column.

Penny finds her dress at the Kalliope Moon trunk show. I've got to tell you there's something about a beautifully described wedding dress that makes me swoon. I love those little details that let me picture the dress and the moment a bride realizes she may have found the one. Of course, even wedding bliss has its limits, and Penny has her own bridezilla moment when it all becomes a little too much.

On top of that, Chase shocks everyone by announcing that he plans to run for Congress. Because apparently a wedding wasn't quite enough excitement for this family. 

The touches of Greek mythology and the references to the Trojan War added a fun little layer to the story and draw in Penny's Greek heritage.

With Lord Simon, the Merry Widows, a mayor, family connections, old friendships, money troubles, political ambitions, and plenty of opinions, this wedding turns into much more than flowers and favors.

And when the wedding day finally arrives, there are a few breaks from tradition and some surprises along the way. I won't give those away, but they added to the fun.

I enjoyed this one. It has romance, family, humor, a little chaos, and characters who kept me smiling.

I received a copy of this book from Spohie Ziegler Wunderkind PR

About the Author

Lian Dolan is a USA Today Bestselling author of The Marriage Sabbatical, a People Magazine Best Book of the Week, published by  William Morrow in April 2024.  She wrote Abigail and Alexa Save the Wedding, published in 2025. Her other books are Lost and Found in Paris, The Sweeney Sisters, Helen of Pasadena and Elizabeth the First Wife- all LA Times bestsellers. She’s written regular columns for O, The Oprah Magazine, Pasadena Magazine and Working Mother Magazine. She’s also written for TV, radio and websites.  In 2024, she was inducted into the Vroman’s Walk of Fame for her contributions to the literary and philanthropic life of Pasadena.