e she is to go. Or if she has a card saying
"Reserved" or "Before the ribbons" or any special mark that means in the
reserved section but no especial pew, the usher puts her in the "best
position available" behind the first two or three numbered rows that are
saved for the immediate family, and in front of the ribbons marking the
reserved enclosure.

It is sometimes well for the head usher to ask the bride's mother if she
is sure she has allowed enough pews in the reserved section to seat all
those with cards. Arranging definite seat numbers has one disadvantage;
one pew may have every seat occupied and another may be almost empty. In
that case an usher can, just before the procession is to form, shift a
certain few people out of the crowded pews into the others. But it would
be a breach of etiquette for people to re-seat themselves, and no one
should be seated after the entrance of the bride's mother.

=THE BRIDEGROOM WAITS=

Meanwhile, about fifteen minutes before the wedding hour, the groom and
his best man--both in morning coats, top-hats, boutonnieres and white
buckskin (but remember not shiny) gloves, walk or drive to the church and
enter the side door which leads to the vestry. There they sit, or in the
clergyman's study, until the sexton or an usher comes to say that the
bride has arrived.

=THE PERFECTLY MANAGED WEDDING=

At a perfectly managed wedding, the bride arrives exactly one minute (to
give a last comer time to find place) after the hour. Two or three
servants have been sent to wait in the vestibule to help the bride and
bridesmaids off with their wraps and hold them until they are needed after
the ceremony. The groom's mother and father also are waiting in the
vestibule. As the carriage of the bride's mother drives up, an usher goes
as quickly as he can to tell the groom, and any brothers or sisters of the
bride or groom, who are not to take part in the wedding procession and
have arrived in their mother's carriage, are now taken by ushers to their
places in the front pews. The moment the entire wedding party is at the
church, the doors between the vestibule and the church are _closed_. No
one is seated after this, except the parents of the young couple. The
proper procedure should be carried out with military exactness, and is as
follows:

The groom's mother goes down the aisle on the arm of the head usher and
takes her place in the first pew on the right; the groom's father follows
alone,