Evening star., 1905-11-04
MARRIAGE CUSTOMS
DISAPPEARANCE OF ELABORATE
CEREMONIES IN ENGLAND.
Doing Away With the Reception
Wedding Dress Discarded Tor
Travelling Costume.


SO completely altered the customs and con-
ventions of English society during the last
twenty-five years there is nothing more
marked than the difference In the nature
of the festivities and formalities attendant
On weddings.
Relegated to the realms of dust and oo
lvion is the old-time wedding breakfast
with which our mothers entered upon their
welded life, dreaded alike by parents on
account of its expense and by guests for
its ponderous solemnity anu wearisome
dullness.
No longer does the blushing and nervous
bride struggle to dissect an iced monstros-
ity decorated with silver flowers and cupids.
no longer does the still more nervous bride
groom stand first on one foot and then on
the other while he feebly tortures his brain
and his hearers by endeavoring to reply in
suitable terms to the pompous toast pro-
nosed by his recently acquired parent
at-law.
The modern wedding Is a ceremony OF
a very different character. The recep-
ton at which four hundred guests are IN
vited to meet the bride In a room orig
inally constructed to hold one hundred
has taken the place of the breakfast. and
the whole affair is merely hurried squash.
in which the guests struggle and wrlggie
up a crowded staircase. murmur con-
yentioual greeting to the tired bride. ana
after souirming through another room
where the wedding presents are displayed
and partaking of mild refreshment, find
themselves free to rush of to two other
receptions the same afternoon
Present-Day Tendency.
The whole ceremony of the present day
is to cram as many things into as short
space of time as possible. People have
no time to devote to long and solemn func-
tions and moreover, those who lead an
existence which may in any way be con-
sidered a social one have as rule circle
of acquaintances double and treble that OF
the hostess of quarter of century ago.
There is also an increasing tendency
to do away with even the reception ana
Ii is becoming more and more common
to read notices of weddings at which the
guests are present only at the church. or
the ceremony takes place with only the
Immediate relatives Of the contracting par
ties present
The wedding dress is frequently dis
pensed with. the travelling dress being
substituted for 1t; bridesmaids are nom
existent, an in many places the registrars
office is the scene OF the ceremony.
Whether 1t be that marriage is more an
incidental in the life of the modern gill
than 1t used to be. or whether II Is that
people have less money to spend on CIV
ing large entertainments. or whether 1t
Is another sign of the modern desire to
as far as possible eliminate from life any
thing savoring of solemnity, 1t Is diff
cult to say; but there is no doubt that the
present day wedding has been shorn Of
much of it's Importance.
Even in the costume of the guests things
have completely changed. Time was when
1t would have been considered very bad
taste, and nothing short OF an Insult, to
have attended friends wedding clad In
anything but either entirely new or ex-
Arxxr Ia
attend dressed in their ordinary afternoon
clothes and no one feels in the least hurt.
It would even be possible. II one had not
time to change. to go in country tweed
without exciting much comment
So with the wedding presents. In many
cases checks are sent by relatives whose
purse will run to it; while there Is not the
same inclination to present the couple with
because butter knives happen to be the
fashionable fad of the moment for wedding
presents.
People take sufficient trouble to send
some thing that may be of real use, or they
inquire beforehand as to what Is really
wanted, thereby avoiding the mistake or
presenting people who are going to spend
their lives on ranch In the lar west OF
Canada with an assortment of silver table
accessories. which will have to be stored
In a bank for many years. or of providing
them with cut glass and fragile china when
they may have to spend their lives In NOV
ing from one garrison town to another.
Another Radical Change.
Again, In the matter of trousseaux.
things have undergone a radical change.
Formerly it was considered necessary for
q girl to enter on her married life with a
supply of clothing which was calculated to
last her for I'VE years at least. much or
which, owing to the changes OF fashion.
would In all probability never be worn at
all In its original form. Materials. too, In
those days were made OF q more lasting
quality than they are now. and there are
very few brides of today who will be able
to show their grandchildren garments
which they have worn since the day OF
their wedding.
Although. no doubt. quite as expensive.
II not more so than the trousseau of TWEEN
ty years ago. and certainly Infinitely more
elaborate. girls have fewer dresses owing
to the fact that fashion changes SO rapidly
that gowns made In October will be out OF
date In December. It Is therefore COM
mon thing for the trousseau TO be given In
two parts, or for a portion Of the trousseau
money to be laid aside by the bride herself
In order to have second installment at the
end of six months.
Honeymoons are spent In motor cars or
In fishing. shooting or some other pursuit..
Cor the modern athletic young woman u not
content to spend the days sitting hand In
hand ag4t6 6eR huGf1And 2ha xas1nf harn