Shopaholic Ties The Knot

Shopaholic Ties the Knot (2002) is the third in the popular Shopaholic series. It is a chick-lit novel by Sophie Kinsella, a pseudonym of Madeline Wickham. It follows the story of Becky Bloomwood and her boyfriend (later fiancé) Luke Brandon as they become engaged and plan their wedding.

Plot Synopsis:
The book �starts with Becky living with her boyfriend Luke in Manhattan's West Village. She has finally found her career calling as a personal shopper at Barneys and is happily helping her best friend Suze plan her wedding. Becky's best friend, Danny, helps her making a bridesmaid's dress. That night, Luke, Danny and Becky discuss about when would Becky get married. She replies that she will get married in ten years, much to Luke's disbelief. A few days before the wedding, Becky learns that Suze is pregnant. Becky is shocked when she catches Suze’s bouquet and finds a marriage proposal from Luke in it.

Suddenly, she finds herself caught in the middle between her mother and Luke’s mother, both of whom want to throw her a lavish wedding, one at her childhood home in England and one at the Plaza Hotel in New York on the same day. On one hand, Becky wanted to get married at home. On the other, she wanted to have a gorgeous wedding at the Plaza, and being the 'special, glossy' person for the day. As she sees more and more preparations done on both sides, it's even more difficult for her to say no to either one. If Becky gives up the Plaza, she'll have to pay a penalty of a hundred thousand. Becky has no way of paying - and she can't possibly ask Luke or else he will get suspicious. During that time, she confronts Elinor for her own behaviuor in the way she treated him all his life. Thi, in turn,n made her despise Becky for calling her out about that and reveals that she thinks she's not good enough for Luke. Becky decides to bargain with Elinor about having her wedding at the Plaza in exchange that she writes down her confession in everything that she did including abandoning Luke and take responsibility for herself.

Meanwhile, Laurel, Becky's favorite customer at Barney's, is devastated about her ex-husband, Bill's, much younger girlfriend, Amy Forrester. Laurel tells Becky that she suspects Amy has been stealing some of her jewelrley, including a green pendant her grandmother gave her. After Becky helps Laurel get all of her jewelrley back, Laurel promises she will help Becky with anything she wants as a wedding gift. In the end, Becky finds a great idea - first attend the Plaza wedding (and pretend to get married) and then take a private jet provided by Laurel's company to England and really get married at Becky's home. At the end of the novel, Becky reveals to Luke that she had cashed in their New York wedding gifts booked two first-class travel-around-the-world tickets for their honeymoon.