d with the initials of the bride and bridegroom and are tied
with white ribbon. These are placed upon a table in the hall near the
door and the guests either each take one as he leaves, or one is
handed him by a servant.

Sometimes a part of the wedding cake is put away in a tin box and
sealed, to be opened by the couple on some future anniversary.

The wedding cake is distinct from the bride's cake, which may be
served by the latter at a dinner to her bridesmaids a day or more
before the wedding, and in which a thimble, a coin, and a ring are
hidden. The superstition is that the young women who by chance receive
the slices containing these are respectively destined for a future of
single blessedness, wealth, or domestic bliss.

At a reception the larger number of the guests depart before the
bridal couple go to the dining-room. As soon as refreshments are
served them, and the toast to them has been drunk, they retire to don
suits for traveling. The bridegroom waits for the bride at the foot of
the staircase, and the bridesmaids gather there too, as when she
comes, she throws her bridal bouquet among them, and the bridesmaid
who catches it will be the next bride, according to an old
superstition.

As the outer door is opened to let the couple out, all the friends and
relatives present throw flowers or confetti or rice after them, for
good luck, and an old white slipper is thrown after the carriage as
they drive off. The custom of thus showering the departing couple has
been sometimes carried to such an extreme that many refrain from it.
Rice is somewhat dangerous, and confetti is so distinctive as
frequently to cause embarrassment when in a public train or station.
Flowers may appropriately be used, and are always at hand in the
decorations of the home.

_The Wedding Journey_

The wedding journey is the bride and bridegroom's affair, and the
knowledge of it is kept their secret and divulged only to the best
man, who probably helps arrange for it, and to the father and mother
of the bride, and they all are silent about it. The intrusion of even
intimate friends upon such a trip is not considered good form.

The custom of taking a journey at this time is not so rigidly observed
as it used to be, many young couples preferring to go direct to their
new home, or to a quiet country house for the honeymoon.

The real wishes of the couple should be followed out at this time,
because they are now more free from socia