It is strongly enjoined upon a bride, when being dressed for the marriage ceremony, to wear,—
“Something old and something new,
Something borrowed and something blue,
And a four-leaved clover in her shoe.”
June is now at the height of popularity as the month of all months to get married in, for no other reason that I can discover, than that it is the month of roses, when beauty and plenty pervade the fair face of nature.
It is now the custom for the bride, if she is married at home, or on returning there from church, to throw away her bouquet for the guests to scramble for. The one getting the most flowers will be married first, and so on.
Giving wedding presents was not practised before the present (nineteenth) century.
One old marriage custom, though long since obsolete, may be briefly alluded to here, not only for its singularity, but for its suggestiveness touching a state of mind that would admit of such tomfoolery. This was the so-called Smock-marriage, in which the bride went through the ceremony standing only in her shift, thereby declaring herself to be possessed of no more than she came into the world with. On being duly recorded, the act exempted the husband from liability for his wife’s debts previously contracted. If she went through this ridiculous performance in the presence of witnesses, and in the “King’s Highway,” that is to say, the lawfully laid out public road, she thereby cleared herself from any old indebtedness. As amazing as it may seem, several such cases are recorded in New England, the formalities observed differing somewhat in different localities.
It is considered unlucky to get married before breakfast.
“If you marry in Lent,
You will live to repent.”
May is considered an unlucky month to be married in.
“Marry in May,
And you’ll rue the day.”