The Bridesmaids ~ Inside the Privileged World of Grace Kelly and Six Intimate Friends

by Judith Balaban Quine

Offers an intimate portrait of the Princess of Monaco through the eyes of her bridesmaids--from Kelly's rise to Hollywood stardom to her spectacular wedding

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Royalty, History, Own

576 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Judith Rose Balaban (October 13, 1932 – October 19, 2023) was an American actress and author. Balaban was a friend of Grace Kelly and served as a bridesmaid at her wedding to Rainier III, Prince of Monaco in April 1956.

Reviews

[Mary]

The subject material was good, but the author wrote mostly about herself instead of Grace Kelly. It seemed she was more taken with the fact that she herself was one of the Bridesmaids and therefore went on and on about her own life. I found it somewhat offensive.

[₵oincidental Ðandy]

With approximately 60% of the narrative being about & by the authoress (with probably 35% devoted to Grace Kelly & about 5% allotted to the other bridesmaids) & her tiresome life & incessant name-dropping, a more apt title for this book would've & should've been "Bridesmaid," in the singular. The last page couldn't be reached quickly enough. The end came as a release.

[Alice]

I searched for a book about Monaco that was neither about Grace Kelly nor a murder mystery/adventure, to no avail. I really didn't want to read a celebrity rich-and-famous smooch fest. And, luckily, this wasn't. Yes, there were famous people's names sprinkled liberally throughout - the mostly the author relates what was happening to American white women of her generation and could have been true for lots of people. She obviously never sees herself as being any different than anyone else - just lucky financially. Her discussion about her generation's expectations and how everything changed in the 1960's, how she (and many others) worked through their disolutionment and came to a place starting in their 50's that was better than before. So, believe it or not, I'm giving the "celebrity" book 4 stars.

[Sherri Rabinowitz]

This is second time I read this book, (sort of trend because of moving and finding books as I slowly unpack.) I was in my twenties the first time I read it and rather innocent. I was more interested in the glamour and the movie stars then in the real lives.

Now as I mature women I read it very differently. With life experience I actually took in thing I don't think my younger self could have even understood. Some of the lessons I learned from this book was very much needed. It made me feel more understanding and better about my own up and downs and my losses.

Grace was a beautiful, accomplished, very intelligent woman, she had a full life that contributed a lot in several ways. As much I enjoyed her many and varied accomplishments I really learned from her mistakes. It was a lot to take in.

[Carolyn Harris]

A fun snapshot of the times. I enjoyed the sections of the book that were about Grace Kelly and the descriptions of her wedding and the surrounding festivities were enjoyable to read. Unfortunately, the author spends a great deal of time on her own experiences, including circumstances that did not relate to her friendship with Grace Kelly and these sections of the book are comparatively dull. Still, one of the more detailed books about Grace Kelly and her role as Princess of Monaco.

[Kelsey Johnson]

I've read this before, but after learning it was no longer in print, I found it at a used bookstore and bought it! Such a good look into the wedding of Princess Grace and who she was before the wedding.

[Paula Gazette]

Enjoyed reading about Grace Kelly and her 6 Bridesmaids their life’s challenges from 1950’s to Grace’s death in 1982. Although somewhat detailed at times it was a look through the challenges of fast changing history and how the women of her generation had to cope with a new world of new norms and new ideals.

[Brid]

wow!

[Stephanie Azevedo]

This book was poorly written and a big fat yawn!

[Lisa]

Grace Kelly was staying very busy in Hollywood and had won an Academy Award in 1954 for best actress for "The Country Girl" only a few years into her career. When she went to Monaco in 1954 to film "To Catch A Thief" for Alfred Hitchcock, she was introduced to Prince Rainier of Monaco briefly. Later on, the two began corresponding and became engaged in 1955, marrying in April 1956. Grace had to give up her acting career since she was expected to do the usual "royalty chores" such as chairing committees and hostessing dinners and galas.

This interesting book was written by one of the six women Grace selected to be her bridesmaids at her wedding. The book gives the reader a mini-biography of each of the six women and their relationships to Grace both before and after her life changed completely when she married. Also interesting is that none of the six women had met each other prior to the wedding; each was someone Grace had met at a different time in her life. The author was married at the time to Grace's agent in Hollywood, Jay Kanter, so was actually the friend Grace had acquired most recently out of the six.

Once I got into the book, I thought at first I'd be bored with all the sections the author included on the six bridesmaids since after all, I'd only heard of one or two of them. But surprisingly, each of their stories was interesting and Grace was actually better than most of the others at keeping in touch with letters and phone calls. The author realized years later that she should have been more diligent about keeping up the friendship, as although Grace was busy, she was also homesick for her friends in America. I really enjoyed the book and recommend it highly. It doesn't cover a whole lot about her movie career so you'll need to read one of the many other biographies of Grace Kelly out there if you want that information.

**#74 of 120 books pledged to read/review during 2016**

[Gina Miccio]

A lovely little time capsule of a few famous people from the 50s-80s.

[Sue]

I read the edition of this book that was titled Grace Kelly and Six Intimate Friends: The Bridesmaids by Judith Balaban Quine. And I enjoyed it so much that I wrote my own index to it because there were so many intriguing people and events that sometimes I wanted to reread certain parts and had to know what page to turn back to.

[Ree]

Interesting insight on the private life of Grace Kelly.

[Martha]

interesting look back at " the good old days ". read at ed and diane pascoe's yard in fogelsville penn

[lola Franco]

An interesting book book because my father knew one of the bridesmaids

[Karen Jones]

I realized after I started this that I'm not interested in Grace Kelly's bridesmaids and that the author had only a superficial relationship with her. I couldn't finish.

[Teddie]

A wonderful and well written book I so enjoyed reading this book.

[Melissa]

Insightful look into Grace Kelly's life.