Entertaining Made Easy Part 13

TWO SUMMER WEDDINGS

A WILD ROSE WEDDING

A wild-rose wedding which one bride planned was wonderfully attractive. In one corner of the living-room an arch of woven wire was erected, and covered with graceful wild clematis vines and wild roses.

On each window-sill stood a jar of wild roses, and the mantel was banked with them.

The two bridesmaids wore pale green dresses, and carried baskets overflowing with wild roses; the maid of honor wore a gown of wild-rose pink, and carried an arm bouquet of wood maidenhair ferns and wild clematis.

The dining-table was decorated effectively. A crystal bowl filled with wild-rose sprays which trailed over the sides and along the table was placed in the center on a mat of hardy sword ferns. From above the middle of the table four garlands of wild clematis were looped down to the edge of the round table and held with bows of green tulle.

Gla.s.s dishes of olives and pink, green, and white candies on the table still further carried out the color scheme.

The menu, which was served in buffet style, was pink and white. It consisted of strawberry and pineapple c.o.c.ktail, with a sprig of green mint in each gla.s.s, sliced ham and pressed chicken, potato chips, hot rolls, raspberry ice, white-frosted cakes cut in the shape of bells, pink-frosted cakes in the shape of hearts.

Fruit punch, pink with strawberry juice and green with mint, was served on the rose-bowered porch by a pretty girl in a rose-flowered frock.

A FIELD FLOWER WEDDING

Another country bride used the field flowers for decorating.

Big jars of daisies, b.u.t.tercups, wild carrot, red clover, and ta.s.seled gra.s.ses stood in the corners of all the rooms and filled the empty fireplace.

Four little girls, dressed in white with yellow sashes and hair fillets, carried a daisy chain to form an aisle for the bride and her attendants, and the ceremony took place under a big bell of field daisies.

The bridesmaids wore pale yellow georgette gowns, and carried bouquets of black-eyed Susans, the maid of honor wore old-gold georgette, lightened with white, and carried a loose bunch of daisies and b.u.t.tercups.

In the center of the dining table a high-handled white-enameled basket held a natural arrangement of sweet white clovers, gra.s.ses, and yellow b.u.t.tercups, and was linked by several streamers of yellow baby ribbon, with four smaller white baskets at the corners which held smaller bouquets of the same flowers. A fluffy yellow bow was tied to the handle of each basket.

The menu was also yellow and white and consisted of hot bouillon, sprinkled with grated hard-boiled egg yolks; chicken jelly salad with mayonnaise; tiny bread and b.u.t.ter sandwiches; frozen custard in ice cups trimmed with white paper petals, so that each individual serving looked like a daisy; small squares of sponge cake, and angel food iced in yellow; yellow and white candies.

The boxes of wedding cake were piled on the hall table, and each one had a wee daisy blossom tied into the knot of white ribbon on top.

OUTDOOR WEDDINGS

AN ORCHARD PAGEANT

There's no wedding quite so picturesque as the outdoor one. Famous is the orchard wedding beneath a blossoming apple tree, where the air is filled with fragrance and the bridal party comes winding through the trees to the trysting place. It needn't be only a poetic fancy, either--it's entirely practical, and if you have a comparatively small house, why not give your guests the beautiful freedom of outdoors instead of cooping them up in the house?

Mark out the path beforehand by mowing the gra.s.s in the chosen direction. Select plenty of ushers to conduct the guests to the spot and provide benches and settees for the older folk, who may find it tiring to stand till the wedding party arrives.

There need be no decorations except the natural ones of the orchard; preparations may consist of raking out dead leaves and branches.

A victrola may be arranged in the proper place to furnish the wedding processional--or perhaps some musical friend may be found to play the violin.

The simpler the pageant, the more effective it will be. First may come a tiny flower girl in a white frock, swinging a cretonne flowered sunbonnet from which she tosses apple blossom sprays.

If there are bridesmaids, they should wear the simplest of pink dresses with pink fillets on their hair or else wide straw hats trimmed only with a tiny wreath of flowers.

Possibly the maid of honor may add a note of contrast by wearing forget-me-not blue.

Last of all appear the bride and bridegroom, together, for in an old-fas.h.i.+oned orchard wedding that is less awkward than for the bridegroom to come from some other direction. The bride should wear a simple white gown--formal satin would be out of place.

The wedding breakfast may be served picnic fas.h.i.+on on a long table of boards decked with apple blossoms. Toasts in strawberry punch are in order while an orchestra of robins and bluebirds sing in the apple trees round about--unless the noise drives them away. The little waiting maids should wear white ap.r.o.ns and white caps with an apple blossom sprig stuck in the top.

Following them came a flock of flower children, tiny girls and boys scattering flower petals from the high-handled baskets swinging in their chubby little hands.

Last of all, four abreast, came the bride and bridegroom, with the bride's mother, who gave her away, on the right of the bride, and the best man on the left of the bridegroom. The ribbon girls had accompanied the procession at the proper intervals holding the aisle ribbon, and the last two brought up the rear, winding up the ribbon as they came.

The reception took place immediately afterward on the lawn, and the guests were served with ice-cream and cake wherever they chanced to be by the attentive ribbon girls.

In the back yard at a long table a colored caterer superintended the service.

Altogether it was a most successful wedding and at the same time a fairly easy one to plan since there was no question of overcrowding in the house, although in case of rain it could have been managed there.

A WEDDING ON THE LAWN

A girl who lived in a small town and had a big lawn chose to be married outdoors in August. The blossoming hydrangea hedge in front of the house was made thicker with small evergreen branches stuck down into the ground. One corner of the yard where there was a natural alcove curving in among the shrubs, she picked out for the wedding itself.

The porch was decorated with j.a.panese lanterns and flowers, and beforehand the guests gathered in groups there or on the lawn.

When it was time for the ceremony, some girl friends of the bride marshalled the guests to the chosen place and then returned to the house to act as ribbon girls. There were about a dozen of them in light summer dresses, and the first couple, holding the ends of long white ribbons, preceded the bridal groups, roping off an aisle across the lawn and among the spectators.

A chorus of young musical friends came first, singing the words and music of Lohengrin.