The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-04-19


to be Congratulated.
The brides mother yields her place az
hostess for the nonce, and Is addressed
after the bride.
After two hours Of receiving the bride
retires to change her dress for travelling
suit. which may be OF any color but BLACK;
She comes down with her mother ana
sisters, meets the groom in the hall, and
dispenses the flowers Of her bouquet TO the
smiling maidens, each of whom struggles
for . flower.
Then occurs the farewell, scene OF
mingled tears and smiles. The horses
and driver and footman of the carriage
which is to drive the happy pair for the
favors and flowers, and as they drive of
rice Is thrown after them and an old
slipper.
honeymoon at some house. . friend 3
house presumably lent for the occasion.
However, in this land Of comfortable
hotels. an agreeable and quiet apartment
can always be secured.
After returning to her home the bride
should advise her friends by card OF the
DAYS on which she will receive them.
TO persons not invited to the wedding
the parents of the bride send announce
ment cards.
Dinners to the young pair succeed each
other in rapid succession. For the first
three months the art of entertaining is
stretched to its uttermost-
If the wedding occurs in the evening,
then the groom must wear the dress coat
and white tie.
A widow in marrying again should not
use the name or initials Of her late hus-
band.
If she was Mary Steward and had mar
ried Mr.. Hamilton, and, being his widow,
ri ho~ 20, len GnncfohIo hor
Mr.. AND MRS. STEWARD
request the pleasure OF your company ct
the marriage Of their daughter,
NARY STEWARD HAMILTON,
M JAMES CONSTABLE
Or, II she is alone, she can invite in her
own name as Mrs. Mary Steward Hamil-
ton, or better still, a friend sends out the
cards in her own name with simply the
cards Of Mrs. Mary Steward Hamilton
and of the gentleman whom she is to
marry.
If the wedding is to be celebrated at
home, the space where the bridal party is
to stand is usually marked off by ribbon.
The clergyman comes down in his robes
before the bridal pair, they face him, and
he faces the company.
Hassocks are prepared for them to kneel
npon. After the ceremony the clergyman
retires from his coign of advantage, and
the bridal party takes his place, standing
to receive their friends congratulations.
Should there be dancing at a wedding, and
it is not bad old custom, particularly in
the country, the bride must open the first
quadrille, dancing with the best man,
while the groom takes out the first brides
maid.
As for showing the wedding gifts, that
must be left to individual taste.
No friend should be deferred from send
ing small present, one not representing
q money value, because other and richer
people can send q more expensive gift.
Often the humble offering is much more
enduring and useful souvenir. Any gift
which betokens . long and predetermined
interest in the bride is the most fiattering.
The custom of giving bridal gifts has
become an outrageous abuse OF good
thing. From being very pretty custom,
one which had as its base the good reason
OF helping the young couple to begin
housekeeping, which is still observed in
and table linen and the necessary furniture
of the house, it has become but another
form of ostentation. There gets to be a
rivalry between the families; the publicity
of the whole thing, the notoriety and ex-
travagance, could well be rebuked.
The wedding breakfast in America is q
stand-up affair, and it is proper to serve
CVCty OCACaCy, SuCu Do S6ldoS VI CuICkeu
and lobster, boned and truffied turkey and
pheasants, patti of game, cold partridge,
pate de foie gras, teFapin and oysters, ices,
creams, jellies and fruits, champagne,
claret and punch.
The bride sometimes cuts the cake and
allows the young people to search for q
ring.
The prettiest wedding is one in June at a
country house, particularly if the bride can
walk to church over flowers and under the
poisoning trees. The massing of single
flower, the yellow daffodil or the pink and
white apple blossom, is very good idea
If choir boys could sing wedding
choral outside the windows it would be g
happy thought, and it is pleasant feat
ure Of country wedding that the faithful
domestics who have loved the bride from
childhood can assist. In England they
count on each wearing q favor made by
the bride herself. The cook, the maid, the
nurses and the men-Servants in England
always expect wedding favor and small
gratuity, and in this country all expect a
box of wedding cake.
At country wedding, if the day Is fine,
little tables are set out on the lawn. The
men carry refreshments to them. The pi-
azza can be decorated with autumn boughs,
evergreens and flowers, the whole thing
becomes a garden party, and even the
family dogs should have wreath of white
flowers around their good old necks.
Many ladies of today leave the bouquet at
home, and carry an ivory prayer book to
church. The term honeymoon is derived
from the Germans, who drank metheglin, q
beverage made of honey, for thirty days
otter the wedding.
The bride cake is not so universally sent
about as formerly, but still one finds the
little box of cake near the door for each to
take. As the ring is the expressive en-
blem of the perpetuity of the compact,
and as the bride cake and ibations form
significant symbols of the nectar sweets of
matrimony, it will not do to Danish the
cake altogether, although few people eat it
and few wish to carry it away.
Brides should send their future address,
if possible, with the wedding cards, else If
one is invited only to church wedding,
no one knows when or where TO call.
1t is convenient and pleasant custom
for the bridal pair to send out after their
marriage, cards having the date of two or
more receptions days At their new resi-
dence.
Quiet weddings, either at home or in
church. are very much preferred by some
families.
The bride is married in travelling dress
and bonnet, and drives OFF in the groom's
carriage from quiet wedding to the
honeymoon.
People with large acquaintance cannot
always invite all their friends, Of course,
to wedding reception, therefore only ask
them to the church.
These invitations require no answer. but
people being at distance, who cannot at