spending it at the country house of a friend, lent
to them for the purpose. But it is entirely a matter of individual
feeling which course is taken.

* * * * *

=The Bride's Trousseau= should be marked with the initials of the name
she is to take.

* * * * *

=The Bridegroom should provide= the house-linen and all other things
appertaining to the bride's new home.

* * * * *

=The Wedding Presents= should be dispatched to the bride's residence
immediately after the wedding, and they should at once be put into their
several places, and not arranged for the purpose of being shown to
visitors.

* * * * *

=The Bridal Wreath= should not be worn after the wedding-day. The bridal
wreath, the bridal bouquet, and the orange blossoms from the
wedding-cake, if treasured as mementos of the happy event, should be
preserved in the recesses of a locked drawer in the bride's chamber, and
not exhibited under glass shades in the drawing-room.

* * * * *

=Precedence= should not be accorded to a bride during the first three
months after marriage, although this old-fashioned custom is sometimes
followed at country dinner-parties on the occasion of a bride's first
visit.

* * * * *

=The Custom of sending Wedding Cake= to friends is an exploded one, and
only followed between near relations.

* * * * *

=Wedding Cards= are, strictly speaking, out of date, and only sent by
people who adhere to old-fashioned customs.

* * * * *

=The Words "No Cards"= should not be inserted when the announcement of a
marriage is sent to the newspapers; neither should the intimation be
added that the bride and bridegroom will be "at home" on certain days.

CHAPTER XVII

WEDDING RECEPTIONS

=An Afternoon Wedding= usually takes place between 2 and 2.30 o'clock,
and the "reception" that follows is given from 2.30 to 5, on the return
from the church.

When a wedding is a choral one the choir and clergy frequently head the
bridal procession. This is arranged with the vicar of the church where
the marriage is solemnized.

* * * * *

=Invitations= to wedding receptions are no longer issued on "at home"
cards, but are included in the invitations to the wedd