CHAPTER VIII
THE CHURCH WEDDING
THERE is about a church wedding a formality that is dispensed with at a home ceremony. The cards of invitation may be engraved in the same form as those described in the last chapter, but the church at which the marriage is to take place is mentioned instead of the residence of the bride’s parents. If in a large city where curiosity seekers are likely to crowd into the edifice, it is customary to enclose with the card of invitation a small card to be presented at the door. Only bearers of these bits of pasteboard are admitted. With the invitations may be cards for the reception or the wedding-breakfast to follow the ceremony. These cards demand acceptances or regrets, which should always be addressed to the mother of the bride, never to the bride-elect.
The decorations for a church wedding may be elaborate. As a rule, one color scheme is chosen, and carried out through all the arrangements. For example, the coloring is pink and white, and if the wedding is in the autumn, chrysanthemums may be the chosen flowers, if in the summer, roses. The matter of decorations is usually put into the hands of a florist.
White satin ribbon is stretched across the pews to be occupied by the members of the two families or, more courteously, large bows of it are fastened at the end of each, and to these pews the destined occupants are conducted by the ushers a short time before the bridal party enters the edifice. A list of the persons entitled to sit in these pews should be given to the chief usher.
DUTIES OF THE USHERS
At a large and elaborate wedding six or eight ushers are often needed. Sometimes an usher follows the older custom of giving his arm to a lady, but he may be less formal if he choose and merely precede her down the aisle. There is an equal number of bridesmaids, a maid of honor and a best man. The best man, the bridegroom, and the clergyman enter the church by the vestry door, and await at the altar the coming of the bride and her attendants. The organ, which has been playing for some moments, announces the arrival of the wedding party by the opening strains of the wedding march.