The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1898-03-18
WEDDING EXPENSES.
Enormous Amounts Spent In Fashionable
NuptiAl Events,

NUPtiAl Events.
Fathers of families have long been COM
planning of the enormous cost of their
daughters weddings, says the London
Daily Telegraph, and this is matter in
which they compare unfavorably with 9TH
er nations.
America and Australia, following Eng
lish customs, are not only included in the
indictment, however, but appear to be
inclined to out-Herod Herod in the item
Of !, costly expenditure: TO make a
an ostentatious display, seems to be more
thought of than comfortably starting the
young couple in the world. Personal jour
nalism is in some degree responsible for
this
In England. we have the two great en-
tremes of wealth and poverty, and the in
clination to run up the cost of all social
entertainments bears hardly upon those
whose means are limited. 1t would be
difficult to estimate the number of British
families who are pinched and narrowed
in really important matters owing to the
prevalence OF the idea that Oh certain oc-
cas'ons such as weddings, money must be
freely spent i'll sums out of all proportion
to the income.
1t is time that this should be looked in
the face and that social reformers should
consider ways and means of simplifying
matters. In some directions, it is true,
details are less expensive than they were
ten years ago, but looked ut in the aggre
gate the expenses of Il fashionable wedding
are decidedly on the increase all around.
Whereas forty or fifty. friends of the
family We're once entertained at an elab-
crate "breakfast' alta cost of from Is
shliilngs per guest, couple of hundred
acquaintance are now summoned to the
afternoon reception, with a financial result
that comes out at much the same figure.
Floral decorations are more extensive
than they used to be. and the bridegroom
who is marrying into middle-class fam
lily is now put to as much expense as
would. twenty years ago, have been con-
sidered sufficient for the son of wealthy
and aristocratic house. He has to give
each bridesmaid present of jewelry and
a handsome bouquet.
ring in addition to other presents, and is
disappointed if the places for the honey
moon do not include Il trip to Paris at
least. The entire scale has been enlarged
of late and will go ON increasing, to the
embarrassment of the many a hard
worked and over-weighted father in times
when money seems to be getting scarcer
and more difficult to earn.
Why should not the reform begin " it'll
the girls of England. the brides them
selves? Our girls now take much broader
views ON many subjects than they did
some twenty years ago, and much may be
hoped from their increasing common
sense. As it is. there are many changes
for the better in some directions.
Tears for instance, have quite gone out
at weddings, whereas they used to he in
vited and encouraged. perhaps, as naces-
sary evidence that amidst all the fuss and
frivolity of millinery preparations the So
lemnity of the occasion was not quite lost
sight of.
There is also considerable reduction in
the expenses of the trosseau. fewer gowns
being thought necessary than once were
deemed Indispensable to the due outfit of
youthful bride.
This change may. of course, be partly
attributed to the rapid changes in which,
fashion has of late INDUCED: but it is
not entirely owing to this. since It ex
tends to other items in which change is
comparatively slow and unimportant. A
sensible alteration is in the demeanor of
the bride.
She is no longer expected to advance
up the aisle at a funeral pace, as though
she We're going to execution. This in
volved a poor compliment to the bride
groom, VINO awaited her ut the altar.
and must have contemplated her with any
thing but qualification as she advanced
with martyr mien and a pose of resigna-
ton and despair.
The bride of today is brisk and bright
She recognizes the golden rule Of good
manners as it obtains at present to ignore
all that is sad and serious in life, it's
sounding depths, its coral reefs. and to
playfully sport in the shadows, while min
Cling with ones world.
Brides are more matter of fact than
once they were. The weeping, fainting,
trembling, sensitive creatures who afflicted
their friends in the days when sensibility
was in fashion, are now replaced by the
f0r ri hi ri s11 1~r
ly-made husband as "Old boy!' and bids
good-by to her father with sounding slap
on the back. If her heart trembles a
little in taking leave of her girlhood's
home, she takes no one into her conf
dence ON the subject and is wise in her
reticence. She very possibly gives the i'm
preston of being harder than she really
is, but she is only copying her brothers.
ideal of manly fortitude, as girls will
nowadays.
There are symptoms of revolt against
tic orthodox white satin and orange bios,
SONS, even among brides whose social po-
sition entities them to be accustomed to
the wearing of costly fabrics.