ing is not merely a combination of wonderful
flowers, beautiful clothes, smoothness of detail, delicious food. These,
though all necessary, are external attributes. The spirit, or soul of it,
must have something besides; and that "something" is in the behavior and
in the expression of the bride and groom.

The most beautiful wedding ever imagined could be turned from sacrament to
circus by the indecorous behavior of the groom and the flippancy of the
bride. She, above all, must not reach up and wig-wag signals while she is
receiving, any more than she must wave to people as she goes up and down
the aisle of the church. She must not cling to her husband, stand
pigeon-toed, or lean against him or the wall, or any person, or thing. She
must not run her arm through his and let her hand flop on the other side;
she must not swing her arms as though they were dangling rope; she must
not switch herself this way and that, nor must she "hello" or shout. No
matter how young or "natural" and thoughtless she may be, she _must_,
during the ceremony and the short time that she stands beside her husband
at the reception, assume that she has dignity.

It is not by chance that the phrase "happy pair" is one of the most trite
in our language, for happiness above all is the inner essential that must
dominate a perfect wedding. An unhappy looking bride, an unwilling looking
groom, turns the greatest wedding splendor into sham; without love it is a
sacrament inadvisedly entered into, and the sight of a tragic-faced bride
strikes chill to the heart.

The radiance of a truly happy bride is so beautifying that even a plain
girl is made pretty, and a pretty one, divine. There is something glad yet
sweet, shy yet triumphant, serious yet--radiant! There is no other way to
put it. And a happy groom looks first of all protective--he, too, may have
the quality of radiance, but it is different--more directly glad. They
both look as though there were sunlight behind their eyes, as though their
mouths irresistibly turned to smiles. No other quality of a bride's
expression is so beautiful as radiance; that visible proof of perfect
happiness which endears its possessor to all beholders and gives to the
simplest little wedding complete beauty.

=THE HOUSE WEDDING=

A house wedding involves slightly less expenditure but has the
disadvantage of limiting the number of guests. The ceremony is exactly the
same as that in a church, excepting that the proce