Upstairs everyone is still dressing.  The father of the bride (one would suppose him to be the bridegroom at least) is trying on most of his shirts, the floor strewn with discarded collars!  The mother of the bride is hurrying into her wedding array so as to be ready for any emergency, as well as to superintend the finishing touches to her daughter’s dress and veil.

=THE WEDDING DRESS=

Everyone knows what a wedding dress is like.  It may be of any white material, satin, brocade, velvet, chiffon or entirely of lace.  It may be embroidered in pearls, crystals or silver; or it may be as plain as a slip-cover—­anything in fact that the bride fancies, and made in whatever fashion or period she may choose.

As for her veil in its combination of lace or tulle and orange blossoms, perhaps it is copied from a head-dress of Egypt or China, or from the severe drapery of Rebecca herself, or proclaim the knowing touch of the Rue de la Paix.  It may have a cap, like that of a lady in a French print, or fall in clouds of tulle from under a little wreath, such as might be worn by a child Queen of the May.

The origin of the bridal veil is an unsettled question.

Roman brides wore “yellow veils,” and veils were used in the ancient Hebrew marriage ceremony.  The veil as we use it may be a substitute for the flowing tresses which in old times fell like a mantle modestly 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.