Page:Every Woman's Encyclopedia Volume 1.djvu/220

 MARRIAGE 198 dress. Perhaps the best way out of the difficulty is to choose first a father, and then a husband, in some regiment where the uniform is picturesque and suitable for wedding wear. Flower Weddings Flower weddings, where the bride has a flower name, have always been in favour, and even violets, once associated with death, have been seen in church. Harlequin weddings sometimes are very pretty ; but where every bridesmaid wears a different colour great care must be taken to ensure that the hues will blend, for there is often but a hair's-breadth between the right colour and the wrong. When the bridesmaids are dressed in varying hues it is essential that the materials should be soft and light. Sheen satin, for in- stance, must be forbidden, because if it is worn each figure will stand out boldly from the rest. Hydrangea weddings are always charming. However, although the church should be decorated with these flowers, the bouquets must bs of something else, or the effect will be too laboured. Pale roses would do admirably, or deep red — almost black — carnations. The bridesmaids should wear gowns of chiffon, each in some hydrangea shade, the bride alone being clad in white. The bridesmaids' dresses, so far as style is concerned, might perhaps be Reynolds — with soft fichu and pleated skirts flowing over silver petticoats. White hats with shaded feathers could be replaced equally well by small wreaths of hydrangea. A sweet-pea wedding on the same lines is more audacious, but, with an expert colourist in charge, is even more successful. The bridesmaids can wear dresses in which two or three shades of chiffon are super- imposed — say, purple, pale pink, bright pink, and lavender. Each dress consists of the same hues, but in each they are arranged in different order, so that the top skirt is different from all the rest, and yet brought into harmony by having the same tones beneath it. Sweet-pea bouquets, if chosen, should be entirely in pale colours, with perhaps a very few of the darkest purple blooms among them. When Lord Rosebery's daughter married Lord Crewe, the bridesmaids were dressed in his racing colours — primrose and pink. The idea is notable, but not always feasible. Orange and black, for example, would scarcely be attractive. Children as Bridesmaids Short brides frequently prefer to have children for bridesmaids, or at least to keep their taller bridesmaids at a distance by having small ones in between. The custom of having children in the bridal procession is so picturesque that it is likely to be with us a very long time. The smaller the children the prettier is the effect, but the greater the risk of the service being inter- rupted. A three-year-old page once, at the end of the first hymn, caught sight of his mother in the first pew, and remarked to her in loud and injured tones as the last note of the organ died away, " Cook said a hand — that wasn't a band ! " A little girl of the same age, acting as train-bearer to her aunt, took a strong dislike to the chancel of the church. When the bridal couple moved up to the altar, the chief bridesmaid urged her to carry the train, but she replied with a sturdy " No ! " and sat herself down, cross-legged, in the middle of the aisle. For this she made up, however, by carrying the train down the aisle in a dramatic manner. She stretched her arms wide, held the train somewhere on a level with her eyes, and, with a stately step, passed gravely between the rows of smiling faces. Where there are both grown-up and child bridesmaids the dresses are nearly always modelled on the same plan, some small difference being made in the children's. Occasionally quite different dresses are made, and then the children nearly always wear white. Long frocks and Dutch bonnets are favourites for the small girls, and Charles I. or Georgian suits are the recog- nised choice for the pages. The old adage of " three times a bridesmaid never a bride " seems to have fallen quite into disbelief nowadays. Tennyson's sentiment is more popular. He saw the girl who after- wards became his ideal wife when she was acting as bridesmaid to her sister, and wrote : " O happy bridesmaid, make a happy bride ! " THE ETIQUETTE OF MARRIAGE Continued from page 4S, Part J When to Arrive— When the Mother ** Gives Away '* her Daughter— Marriage at a Registry Office- The Pace to be Adopted by the Bridal Procession— The Origin of the **01d Shoe ** T is good manners to arrive before the bride, and for a bridesmaid to be late is almost unpardon- able. The best-looking young men of the two families show the guests into their places, asking them at the church door whether they are friends of bride or bride- groom, and placing them accordingly — on the left or on the right side of the aisle — taking care to reserve the three front pews for immediate relatives or any distinguished guests. It is not always quite young men who are chosen for this office ; once Lord Charles Beresford undertook this duty, in his own genial way, at the marriage of the then Marquis of Waterford, his nephew. It must be remembered that no congratu-