As a data source, the etiquette book has long been viewed as a repository of information about social practices and values. Etiquette literature has played a pivotal role in defining normative behavior. Furthermore, within an American context, these texts have been advertised as a means for achieving social distinction, establishing cultural capital, and fostering upward mobility.

This study focuses on both the production of the etiquette book, as well as on the ways in which the rules of etiquette are applied and enacted in the realm of social ritual---specifically, within the ritual of the American white wedding. Through analysis of twelve etiquette books from the decade of the 1920s, a period when both these texts and the white wedding surged in popularity, I argue that authors function as cultural arbiters, utilizing specific rhetorical devices to establish their authority and legitimate the larger project of etiquette itself. In addition, I analyze the ways in which wedding etiquette both reflect and shape dominant notions of class, gender, and social status. Studying both the wedding and etiquette in conjunction can allow us to identify the implicit power dynamics, systems of domination, and hegemonic ideals that form the basis and underpinnings of both social institutions, and allow us to critically interrogate their function with American society.