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concealing the bride's face and form; or it may be an amplification of the
veil which medieval fashion added to every head-dress.

In olden days the garland rather than the veil seems to have been of
greatest importance. The garland was the "coronet of the good girl," and
her right to wear it was her inalienable attribute of virtue.

Very old books speak of three ornaments that every virtuous bride must
wear, "a ring on her finger, a brooch on her breast and a garland on her
head."

A bride who had no dowry of gold was said nevertheless to bring her
husband great treasure, if she brought him a garland--in other words, a
virtuous wife.

At present the veil is usually mounted by a milliner on a made foundation,
so that it need merely be put on--but every young girl has an idea of how
she personally wants her wedding veil and may choose rather to put it
together herself or have it done by some particular friend, whose taste
and skill she especially admires.

If she chooses to wear a veil over her face up the aisle and during the
ceremony, the front veil is always a short separate piece about a yard
square, gathered on an invisible band, and pinned with a hair pin at
either side, after the long veil is arranged. It is taken off by the maid
of honor when she gives back the bride's bouquet at the conclusion of the
ceremony.

The face veil is a rather old-fashioned custom, and is appropriate only
for a very young bride of a demure type; the tradition being that a maiden
is too shy to face a congregation unveiled, and shows her face only when
she is a married woman.

Some brides prefer to remove their left glove by merely pulling it inside
out at the altar. Usually the under seam of the wedding finger of her
glove is ripped for about two inches and she need only pull the tip off to
have the ring put on. Or, if the wedding is a small one, she wears no
gloves at all.

Brides have been known to choose colors other than white. Cloth of silver
is quite conventional and so is very deep cream, but cloth of gold
suggests the habiliment of a widow rather than that of a virgin maid--of
which the white and orange blossoms, or myrtle leaf, are the emblems.

If a bride chooses to be married in traveling dress, she has no
bridesmaids, though she often has a maid of honor. A "traveling" dress is
either a "tailor made" if she is going directly on a boat or train, or a
morning or afternoon dress--whatever she would "wear away" afte