It sounds improbable, doesn’t it?  One naturally exclaims, “But how stupid of her, why didn’t she go up-stairs?  Why didn’t her son send for her?” Usually she does, or he does.  But often the groom’s parents are strangers; and if by temperament they are shy or retiring people they hesitate to go up-stairs in an unknown house until they are invited to.  So they wait, feeling sure that in good time they will be sent for.  Meanwhile the bride “forgets” and it does not occur to the groom that unless he makes an effort while up-stairs there will be no opportunity in the dash down to the carriage to recognize them—­or anyone.

=FLIPPANCY VS.  RADIANCE=

A completely beautiful wedding 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.