St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1885-01-31
FASHIONABLE WEDDINGS.
What One Of Them Costs in the
City Of Gotham.
Zig Bills That Are CheerfuIiy Paid--Ex-
Penses In De.aii--Why Some Peo-
pie Who Are Well Off Are Yet
Too Poor to Marry.

may be hkened to matrimony itself in
that nothing is known of it save by ex-
pericnce. At least such is the verdict
OF the father of a family who has
launched his daughters, like so many
gayly-decked and graceful yachts, on
the sea OF married life A Tribune re-
porter has been investigating the cost Of
fashionable weddings and the approSi-
mate figures are given below. The esti-
mates are for an average Fifth avenue
'church wedding, where a large COM
pany is invited to the church and sub
seqcently at the home Of the bride, all
the appointments being on liberal but
rot extravagant scale. Weddings may
be arranged to cost any sum, but fash
ionable wedding with everything of
satisfactory quality, can hardly be had
mt less expense than the estimate below
without the economy being apparent.
There is, to be sure, no absolute neces-
sity for incurring some of the items
of expense, and some of them might
be cut down. Nevertheless people of
means would be ready to pay all
the expenses enumerated, and many
fathers would be glad to get off so
cheaply. The estimate is for a church
wedding with six bridesmaids and six
Cshers, reception and collation. with
wine for FIVE hundred people, floral
decorations, etc. The total cost is cal
culated to be little over $1,000 for the
BRIDE father and 81 900 additional for
the bridegroom's clothing, brief bridal
trip, etc, leaving out his present of dia-
monds, ETC., to the bride. Though this
estimate is often exceeded. the vast ma
jority of people manage to get married
fer much less money.
Many of the items in the expense of a
wedding depend entirely On ones liber-
ality. For instance, the rector of
fashionable church receives variety of
sums in marriage fees, but he expects
as much as $50 from rich people, at
church weddings especially. Yet it is
not always the richest people that pay
the most. The fees run from $40 to
$50, sometimes reaching 500, but rare
" over that. The bridegroom is ex-
pected to pay this. and gives the money
to his best man for that purpose. Diff
ferent churches charge different
amounts for the use of the building for
weddings. Sometimes half goes to the
church and half to the sexton. In other
cases the whole fee is perquisite OF
the sexton, gas, ETC., being paid for by
him or bv the persons hiring the use OF
the church. When the chimes are rung
an additional charge is made of So to
SO. The man who calls carriages. un-
less engaged with the collation., IS an
extra expense and costs from So to SO
or more, according to the size OF the
wedding, the time he works, and the
number of assistants he has. Mr: john
son, the well-known successor OF brown
of Grace Church, has the happy faculty
of remembering the faces and the car
rieges. drivers and footmen OF almost
all the fashionable people in New YORK.
AT least ten carriages are needed TO col
lect bridesmaids and convey them. the
ushers, bride and groom. minister ana
members of the family to and from the
church In the city guests are expected
to provide carriages for themselves.
But in the case Of . wedding in the
suburbs the bride family must supply
hacks to take people to and from the
railroad station and the church or house.
Canopies are occasionally dispenser
with in pleasant weather, but even then
they protect guests from the gaze OF
bystanders, and so are necessary to
well-appointed wedding. 1t is vel! 70
have the carpets of the parlors and re-
freshment room covered with crash:
and the steps outside should be carpeted
to protect ladies in slippers or fhin-soied
shoes from the cold. Camp-chairs must
be hired for seating people. They take
up little room and are easily moved.
The cost of refreshments depends entire
ly upon the quality of the visnds. the
extent of the bill of fare, the time OF
year, price of delicacies, etc. Most OF
the delicacies of the season, hot and
cold, will be served in the best style Tor
two dollars head, and from that the
price goes down to one dollar for n plain
luncheon. A table tastefully decorated
is usually set in the dining groom and
the yiands distributed by the waters.
The guests sit about on camp-chairs or
stand if they can not get a seat He
brews sit down to regular dinner at
their weddings Campagne is ususliY