Oblong slices of plumb-cake, iced all over, are now sent round in very pretty white card-board boxes, exactly fitting each slice, covered on the inside with lace-paper, and an engraved card of the bride and groom laid on the top of the cake. These boxes (to be had at the fancy stationers,) are of various prices; some of them are very elegant and costly.
At wedding-parties, it is usual for the bride and bridesmaids to appear in exactly the same dresses they wore at the marriage; all of them ranged in their respective stations before the company begin to arrive.
When the marriage-guests are not too numerous, it is customary to have all the company shown into the largest parlour, when they first arrive; the folding-doors being closed between. Meanwhile, the bride and groom, bridesmaids and groomsmen, with the heads of the family, arrange themselves in a line or a semi-circle; the most important personages in the centre, with the clergyman in front of them. When all is ready, the doors are thrown open, the guests advance, and the ceremony begins. When it is over, and the bride is receiving the compliments of her friends, we hope the silliest woman present will not go up and ask her the foolish question, “If she does not feel already like an old married woman?”
A crowd at a wedding is now obsolete. We once heard of a marriage in a great family, where the company was so numerous that all the doors were blocked up, and quite inaccessible; and the bride could only make her entrance by being taken round outside, and lifted through a back window—the groom jumping in after her.
Dancing at weddings is old-fashioned. A band of music playing in the hall is of no use, as on such occasions no one listens to it, and some complain of the noise. We think a marriage in church is not as fine a spectacle as may be imagined. The effect is lost in the size of the building, and broken up by the intervention of the aisles and pews; the wedding guests seated in the latter, and the former occupied by people out of the street, coming in to see the show. And this they will do, if not forcibly excluded; particularly idle boys, and nurse-maids with children, all trying to get as near the altar as possible.
If the bride and groom are to set out on a journey immediately after the ceremony, it is best for her to be married in a handsome travelling-dress—new for the occasion, of course. This is often done now. She can reserve the usual wedding costume for her first party after returning home.
In preparing for a party, it is well (especially if you have had but little experience yourself,) to send for one of the best public waiters, and consult with him on the newest style of “doing these things.” A respectable coloured man will be found the most efficient for this purpose. He can also give you an idea of the probable expense. We do not, of course, allude to magnificent entertainments, such as are celebrated in the newspapers, and become a nine days’ wonder; and are cited as costing, not hundreds, but thousands of dollars.
In case the required waiter should be pre-engaged, it is well to send for, and consult him, a week or two before your party.
We knew a lady who, some years ago, sent for Carroll, (a very excellent mulatto man, well known in Philadelphia,) to officiate at a projected party. Carroll, in very polite terms, expressed that he was engaged for that identical evening to attend at a ball. “Then,” said the lady, “you must try to furnish me with some one else, in your place. Where is Bogle?” “I know Bogle can’t come,” answered Carroll; “he is bespoke that night for a wedding.” “Shepherd, then?” said the lady; “see if you cannot send me Shepherd.” “As to Shepherd,” replied Carroll, “he is sick in his bed, and like to keep so.” “Where is Solomon King, then?” pursued the lady; “Solomon King will do very well.” “Indeed, ma’am,” answered Carroll, “I don’t think Solomon King will suit you now, any how; he’s taken very much to drink, and besides he’s dead!”
Apropos to the talk of coloured people.—We were told by a southern lady, that one of her girls being dressed for an entertainment given by a neighbour to the servants, came to her, and said: “Mistress, Becky has come for me to go with her; and she says her mistress has gave her two grand words to say at the party.—Now, I want you to give me two words that shall beat Becky’s; for I know you are a heap smarter than her mistress.”