WEDDINGS.
For invitation forms see [Chapter II].
When a wedding takes place in a church that has but one entrance, the customary way for the bridal procession to enter is for the groom and best man to walk in just behind the minister, a little before the others, and to take their places at the altar; then the ushers enter, walking two by two; then the bridesmaids in the same order; then the maid of honor alone; and last the bride on her father’s arm. The bride’s family enter the church a few minutes before the minister and the groom and bridal party.
A bride goes up to the altar with her veil over her face, but comes down with it thrown back. It is the duty of the maid of honor to throw it back immediately after the ceremony is ended.
When the bride’s mother gives her away at a church ceremony, she usually walks up the aisle with the bride. After she has given her to the groom, she steps quietly and unescorted to the front pew, where she stays during the remainder of the service. The bride may walk up the aisle with an attendant instead of with her mother, who in this case steps from her seat in the front pew to the chancel when the time comes for her to officiate, and steps back to her seat afterwards.
The bride and the groom should stand at the wedding reception until they have received the congratulations of all present, then, together, they should walk into the room where the breakfast is to be served. The others follow as they please, with the exception of the parents on both sides. The groom’s father usually escorts the bride’s mother, and vice versa.
It is not the custom for a bride to remove her gloves at the wedding. The inside seam of the ring finger of the glove should be ripped beforehand; and when the time comes for the ring to be put on, the bride merely slips off this glove finger, and puts it back again after the ring is on her finger.
At no wedding service is it proper for the bride to enter the church alone.
At a church or house wedding where the bride walks up the aisle with her sister acting as the maid of honor, instead of with a gentleman escort, she need not take the arm of her attendant, as both the ladies will look more graceful if walking separately. The maid of honor should carry a bouquet, and the bride a bouquet, prayer-book, or bible.
At a home wedding the bride enters the room on the arm of her father. With a short dress she would not wear a veil.
The wearing of gloves at an informal wedding is entirely a matter of taste. Recently at several large weddings they were omitted by the entire bridal party.
The prettiest way to make an aisle for the bridal party at a house wedding is for four children to enter the room where the ceremony will be, just before the bridal party comes in, and separate the guests into two groups by stretching two pieces of white ribbon the length of the room. A child stands at each end of the two pieces of ribbon, holding it while the bridal party walks up between them, and during the service. Ushers may hold the ribbons instead of the children, or the ends may be fastened around plants which are placed at the requisite points.
Where there is no side door through which the groom and best man may enter the room at a house wedding, they come in by the principal door just before the bridal party and just after the minister.
It is not customary for the men at a wedding party to kiss the bride; that is a liberty taken only by the immediate members of the family.
A bride, if she wishes, may omit the bridal veil, but she should then wear a dainty bonnet or picture hat. The ushers and best men are invited by the bridegroom.
If the church wedding is a full dress one, followed by an evening reception, it is proper to wear an evening gown. If it is in the daytime, a handsome visiting dress and pretty bonnet are proper.
At a daytime wedding the guests seldom remove their bonnets, although, of course, heavy wraps are frequently laid aside. At an evening affair one goes in full dress without anything on one’s head. The ushers present the guests to the bridal party. The bridesmaids are spoken to by the people they know, but it is not necessary that they should be addressed by everybody.
A bride may wear her wedding dress after her wedding day as much or as little as she chooses. For the sake of sentiment many brides like to preserve their wedding dresses intact to hand down to future generations; but a girl who has to consider economy cannot afford to consider sentiment, and often the wedding dress is converted into a low dinner and evening gown soon after the wedding day. A bride may, with perfect propriety, wear her wedding dress to the reception given her after her wedding by the groom’s mother. Of course, she will wear it just as it was when she was married, high in the neck, unless the reception takes place in the evening and demands evening dress, when, according to the conventions, it must be cut low.
A bridegroom is always expected to furnish the bouquets that the bride, bridesmaids, and all the bride’s attendants carry at the wedding. He should learn from the bride the flowers she wishes, and should order them several days before the wedding, so that they may be ready at the bride’s house when the bridesmaids meet there to go together to the church or to the place where the ceremony is held.
Besides furnishing these bouquets, the groom provides the ushers and best men with their boutonnières, and gives them also some small souvenir, and, if he wishes, a bachelor dinner or supper a day or two before the wedding.
There are no wedding luncheons nowadays. Every entertainment of the kind up to two o’clock is called a breakfast, and when it takes place in the afternoon or evening it is called a reception.