The Caucasian

WHEN A GIRL'S MARRIED.
Customs Preceding and Attending the Ceremony--The Fashionable Hour.
This is the time of the year when the bride flourishes in the land. The customs attending a wedding are so varied and complicated that perhaps it will be well to give a short recital of them from the bride's point of view.
A short time before the eventful day she gives a luncheon or a dinner party to her bridesmaids, which is practically her last appearance in society as a girl. On this occasion the souvenirs intended for the bridesmaids are given out.
Though a bride elect does not personally ask any one to serve as usher, she selects a number of ushers from among her own relatives and friends, and when they have been asked and have consented to serve she or her mother gives them careful directions as to the part they are to play in the wedding procession and in seating guests. On the morning of the wedding the bride sends to the house of every gentleman in her escort the boutonniere she wishes him to wear. These are the flowers that predominate in the bridal decorations.
Any hour between half past 10 in the morning and 9 at night is perfectly fitting to celebrate with more or less pomp the marriage ceremony. The most fashionable time is, in accordance with the English custom, high noon, or 12 o'clock precisely, but the most popular time is between 3 and 6 in the afternoon, when an easily conducted reception can succeed the ceremony and when ample time is afforded the bride and her mother to prepare every detail of the designed entertainment. Night weddings are neither so fashionable nor so frequent as formerly.
In the case of a church wedding the chancel is banked with fine palms, the altar crowded with flowers, and a rope of flowers is cast across the center aisle in place of the traditional white ribbon. In a country church field and garden flowers should be used to give a simple effect.
Whether the weather is fair or foul an awning leads to the edge of the sidewalk. Under this is a strip of carpet.
The mother and the bridesmaids go to the church first; then the bride and the father arrive. The vestibule and center aisle are cleared of guests by the ushers, and the procession of bride and bridesmaids forms in the vestibule and proceeds up the center aisle.
The ushers proceed first, two by two, followed by the bridesmaids in similar order. Next comes the maid of honor, walking alone, and behind her the bride on the arm of her father.
Arrived at the foot of the altar, the ushers and bridesmaids divide, half to the left and half to the right. At the foot of the chancel steps the bride leaves the arm of her father to put her hand into the right hand of the groom. Just at the moment when the clergyman inquires, "Who giveth this woman to this man?" the father, advancing between the bride and groom, takes his daughter's right hand, lays it in that of the groom and, bowing his acquiescence, says, "I do." He then takes a seat by his wife's side in the pew.
The bride goes down the aisle with her left hand on the arm of her husband.
ISABEL LEE.