The engaged couple were taken entirely by surprise, for they had supposed the party to be only one of many sociable evenings which the crowd were in the habit of having.

The refreshments were reminiscent of camp and were served on wooden plates around the fire in picnic fashion. The menu consisted of hot bacon and roll sandwiches, dill pickles, coffee, and marshmallows toasted over the flames.



A "ONE I LOVE" SHOWER

The invitations were made of white water color paper cut in the shape of daisies, with centers tinted yellow. Scattered over the petals were the following lines:

"One I love, two I love, Three I love I say, Come and see if this is true On St. Valentine's Day." (or "Friday next, I pray")

On all the invitations but the guest of honor's was added: "In honor of Marion's engagement. Please send your remembrance to me the day before."

This direction was put on so that the gifts could all be wrapped in advance by the hostess in white tissue paper, tied with yellow baby ribbon and a big artificial daisy tucked into the knot. Piled on a tray they were brought to the surprised little bride-to-be on the afternoon of the party. The entertainment fulfilled the promise of the invitation in this way: A large paper daisy with many petals was hung against the wall and each guest was given a pointer and asked to select a petal at random. On the back of each petal was written a little fortune rhyme somewhat on the order of this one:

"Five! he loves—good pumpkin pie, So learn to cook it—thus say I."

The refreshments were served in buffet style in the dining room. In the center of the table was a blossoming pot of marguerites. There were individual daisy salads, formed by little mounds of chicken salad covered with yellow mayonnaise and surrounded by a fringe of petals cut from the whites of hard-boiled eggs. With the salad simple bread and butter sandwiches were eaten.

As a second course, frozen custard in paper cups with borders of white paper petals was served with squares of angel cake, frosted in yellow, and squares of sunshine cake, frosted in white.

The principal feature, however, and the final one, was the favor pie. A big imitation daisy was made from a round basket, by covering the top with yellow paper and surrounding the edge with as many petals as there were guests. Each guest was asked to pull a petal from the daisy, and in so doing drew from the basket a tiny doll dressed like a "rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief, doctor, lawyer, merchant or chief." The girl whose fate was already assured had been guided to choose a particular petal and her favor doll proved to be dressed in the garb of her fiance's profession.

FORTUNE RHYMES FOR A "ONE I LOVE" SHOWER

1. If you'll only wait a while Some one nice will make you smile.

2. You will have to choose between Walking or a limousine.

3. If you only ONLY knew Who was thinking much of you.

4. At a motion picture show From the screen your fate you'll know.

5. Something nice you'll sure know In about a week or so.

6. Don't despise Hazel eyes.

7. Far across the briny sea Comes thy lover now to thee.

8. Your career you'll surely ship And substitute a wedding trip.

9. A dance, a ride, a moonlit lawn, Your heart will be completely gone.

10. One—two—three— The third it will be.

11. Beware, beware the eyes of blue Or they'll surely capture you.

12. Your intellect will meet its equal, Happy though will be the sequel.

13. A word, a smile, a bow, Married in a year from now.

14. Try a smile For a while To beguile.

15. You will travel far away Sixteen years from yesterday.



AN INDIAN SUMMER SHOWER

For the girl who is to be married in the winter, an Indian Summer Shower might be given some November evening. The cards of invitation can have a little brown Indian wigwam painted in one corner, or cut out of brown paper and pasted on; or the invitations can be written on pieces of white birch bark, if you happened to have gathered and saved any from the summer vacation. Paper imitation of birch bark might also be used.

Put all the gifts, wrapped in brown tissue paper and tied with gay ribbons, in a toy wigwam which you can make with three sticks and a piece of brown burlap. When the right time comes, the engaged girl is led up to the wigwam and asked to receive the gifts. If there is a small brother or cousin who can be dressed up in an Indian suit to hand out the presents, so much the better.

The hostess may make this any kind of shower she wishes.

After the wigwam has been sacked, it would be fun if you could sit around the open fire to pop corn or toast marshmallows and play the Indian Summer game of "Pipe Dreams." Each girl writes out an imaginary dream of the bride's future. The dreams are read by the hostess, and then each dream paper is consigned to the fire.

The refreshments ought to be very simple, and may consist of hot chocolate and little chocolate cakes, cone-shaped to simulate wigwams, or they may be merely apples, nuts, popcorn, and sweet cider. Serve the nuts and apples in Indian baskets.



A CHRISTMAS TREE SHOWER

For the bride who announces her engagement in December, a Christmas tree shower might be given Christmas week. Send out cards of invitation in the shape of small Christmas trees, or else paste or paint little evergreen trees on white cards. Ask the guests to bring something small enough to be hung on a little Christmas tree. The bride should be asked to come a little later than the others, so that they may have time to hang their gifts on the tree.

The tree may be as elaborate as you wish to make it. Where trees are hard to procure, a cunning little one on a table is quite large enough. It can be decked with gold and silver hearts and candy kisses, and on its branches should hang the shower gifts, prettily wrapped and tied.

When the bride arrives, she must strip the tree. Among its treasures may be English walnut shells, gilded and tied together, with fortune verses inside.—The hostess provides one of these for each guest.

The refreshments may consist of sandwiches cut in the shape of Christmas trees and filled with green pepper and cream cheese; caraway cookies cut in the shape of Christmas trees; and hot chocolate, with a sprig of evergreen tied by a tiny bow of red to each cup-handle.

This affair could be planned specifically as a handkerchief, hosiery or kitchen shower.



WEDDINGS

Following naturally on the engagement announcement and bridal showers come the wedding plans.

If the bride's house is small, a church wedding may be the solution for her, or else she may plan a house wedding with just a few chosen friends and relatives present.

Very often, if a church wedding is planned, there is a reception afterward at the bride's home. If only a few guests are invited to it, a wedding breakfast or dinner may be served, but if a large number of people are asked, buffet refreshments are sufficient.

According to the different seasons of the year, the weddings may take on varying characters. Spring, summer, fall and winter weddings, indoor and outdoor weddings, all have their own special charms.



SUMMER WEDDING DECORATIONS

Every girl can have a pretty wedding—especially if she lives within reach of the free woods and fields or in a place of gardens and shrubbery.

Wild roses and wild clematis vines with ferns from the woods are lovely in a country church where festoons and garlands are often needed to adorn the bare walls.

Banks of black-eyed Susans with outdoor ferns, bowers of snowy dogwood in season and the fluffy wild pink azalea are very decorative, and so are the spring and early summer shrubs: syringa, deutzia, flowering almond and Japanese snowball.

Mountain laurel, with its exquisite pink flowers and glossy green leaves, lends itself particularly to church decoration. Ropes of the leaves may be looped from the roof to the side walls; and the blossoms massed in the front of the church make a fitting background for a bride and her pink-clad attendants.

In the South, Cape jasmine, in the Far West, the golden California poppies and carnations, are beautiful to use. Of course, nothing is lovelier than roses—pink and white—and should they prove scarce they can be successfully supplemented with pink and white peonies, especially for church decoration purposes.

Meadow rue in great misty clumps as it grows, arranged with tawny field lilies and dark green wood ferns, is remarkably striking in a church.

At one home wedding, big loose bunches of feathery grass, buttercups, daisies, and clover in brown earthern jars filled the corners of the living-room, and in the bay window, where the ceremony took place, tall graceful sprays of Queen Anne's lace arranged with plenty of green, made an artistic background. Glass vases filled with it stood on the window sills and on the floor, the tops of the floor bouquets hiding the window receptacles.

In the dining-room a bowl of pink and white clover occupied the center of the table and there were window boxes of the same sweet flower.



THE TABLE DECORATIONS

Whatever color scheme is used in the other parts of the house, an entirely different one may be carried out in the dining-room. Some suggestions for simple table decorations in various colors follow:

1. Large low bowl of blue and pink forget-me-nots in the center of the table, with candle shades of white, painted with forget-me-not sprays.

2. Garden basket or glass basket of yellow roses and honeysuckle with graceful sprays of honeysuckle vines trailing to the corners of the table, yellow candle shades.

3. Old-fashioned bouquet of garden flowers in old-fashioned vase—snapdragons, lark-spur, coreopsis, babies' breath, mignonette—old-fashioned stiff little artificial bouquets in white lace paper for favors.

4. Hanging basket of pink and lavender sweet peas and smilax over the table, with smilax reaching to the corners of the table and caught with pink and lavender tulle bows.

5. Wood maidenhair ferns and pink garden roses, tiny ferns scattered over the tablecloth, and rose-colored candle shades.

6. Wild clematis vines from ceiling over table to four corners, and low bowl of wild roses in center beneath sprays.

7. Bachelors' buttons and mignonette in the center of the table connected with small baskets of mignonette at the corners of the table by ribbon matching the blue bachelors' buttons, tied on the handle of each basket.

8. Scarlet poppies in silver vase, silver candlesticks and shades.

9. Large bowl of "Jack" roses in the center on a table mirror, with a single large Jack rose in a slim flower holder at each corner of the table.

10. Wicker basket of June garden pinks (white and pink) with shower of tiny bells hung on pink ribbons above them from the chandelier or ceiling.



MENUS FOR THE BUFFET LUNCHEON

Many dining-rooms are too small to have a wedding breakfast served at the table, and for that reason buffet luncheons are most popular.

The dining table is decorated with flowers and often lighted with candles under colored shades, and on it are placed extra supplies of silver and small dishes of olives, nuts and bonbons.

As the guests leave the receiving line, they move informally toward the dining-room, where they stand to be served. If the wedding reception takes place directly after a ceremony in the morning, or at high noon, the refreshments are more elaborate than at an afternoon affair and the guests may be seated to be served in the different rooms.

When a caterer is not employed, and the serving of the refreshments is managed by the hostess herself, it is a pretty and practical plan to ask several young girls to help in the dining-room. They should see that the guests are promptly supplied, and can relieve them of their plates when they have finished.

Below are half a dozen good menus for buffet wedding breakfasts and receptions, varying in degree of formality to suit individual needs.

I

BOUILLON SALTED CRACKERS CHICKEN PATTIES OLIVES PINEAPPLE SALAD SMALL LETTUCE SANDWICHES NEAPOLITAN ICE CREAM WITH FRESH STRAWBERRIES COFFEE CAKE

II

CREAMED SWEETBREADS CHERRY SALAD WATERCRESS SANDWICHES RASPBERRY ICE MACAROONS

III

CHICKEN SALAD FINGER ROLLS FROZEN CUSTARD SUNSHINE CAKE

IV

SCALLOPED CRAB MEAT BREAD AND BUTTER SANDWICHES STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM ANGEL CAKE

V

ICED CLAM BROTH WITH WHIPPED CREAM SALTED CRACKERS COLD VEAL LOAF SARATOGA CHIPS OLIVES PINEAPPLE ICE SMALL CAKES

VI

ICED CONSOMME SALTED CRACKERS CHICKEN CROQUETTES ROLLS FRUIT SALAD UNSWEETENED CRACKERS LEMON CREAM SHERBET SMALL HOME-MADE COOKIES



THE FAVORS

For wedding favors at a wedding breakfast or reception a number of interesting little souvenirs can be inexpensively prepared. For instance, there are wee fans (bought at the doll department) with the date lettered on each; tiny straw baskets that look like the one the flower girl carries and are filled with very small artificial forget-me-nots and rose-buds; airy butterflies of white and pale yellow silk, to be fastened to fine threads above the table in the dining-room, where they flutter realistically over the flowers beneath.

More frivolous are very diminutive bridesmaid's hats, and at the wedding of a bride who is going to travel far away there may be small boats, either real or of cardboard, with a flying flag of matrimony at the masthead.

The old-fashioned posy gift cards with clasped hands are quaint; so are the little nosegays in white paper frills, and every guest will like a box of bride's cake.



TWO SUMMER WEDDINGS



A WILD ROSE WEDDING

A wild-rose wedding which one bride planned was wonderfully attractive. In one corner of the living-room an arch of woven wire was erected, and covered with graceful wild clematis vines and wild roses. On each window-sill stood a jar of wild roses, and the mantel was banked with them.

The two bridesmaids wore pale green dresses, and carried baskets overflowing with wild roses; the maid of honor wore a gown of wild-rose pink, and carried an arm bouquet of wood maidenhair ferns and wild clematis.

The dining-table was decorated effectively. A crystal bowl filled with wild-rose sprays which trailed over the sides and along the table was placed in the center on a mat of hardy sword ferns. From above the middle of the table four garlands of wild clematis were looped down to the edge of the round table and held with bows of green tulle.

Glass dishes of olives and pink, green, and white candies on the table still further carried out the color scheme.

The menu, which was served in buffet style, was pink and white. It consisted of strawberry and pineapple cocktail, with a sprig of green mint in each glass, sliced ham and pressed chicken, potato chips, hot rolls, raspberry ice, white-frosted cakes cut in the shape of bells, pink-frosted cakes in the shape of hearts.

Fruit punch, pink with strawberry juice and green with mint, was served on the rose-bowered porch by a pretty girl in a rose-flowered frock.



A FIELD FLOWER WEDDING

Another country bride used the field flowers for decorating.

Big jars of daisies, buttercups, wild carrot, red clover, and tasseled grasses stood in the corners of all the rooms and filled the empty fireplace.

Four little girls, dressed in white with yellow sashes and hair fillets, carried a daisy chain to form an aisle for the bride and her attendants, and the ceremony took place under a big bell of field daisies.

The bridesmaids wore pale yellow georgette gowns, and carried bouquets of black-eyed Susans, the maid of honor wore old-gold georgette, lightened with white, and carried a loose bunch of daisies and buttercups.

In the center of the dining table a high-handled white-enameled basket held a natural arrangement of sweet white clovers, grasses, and yellow buttercups, and was linked by several streamers of yellow baby ribbon, with four smaller white baskets at the corners which held smaller bouquets of the same flowers. A fluffy yellow bow was tied to the handle of each basket.

The menu was also yellow and white and consisted of hot bouillon, sprinkled with grated hard-boiled egg yolks; chicken jelly salad with mayonnaise; tiny bread and butter sandwiches; frozen custard in ice cups trimmed with white paper petals, so that each individual serving looked like a daisy; small squares of sponge cake, and angel food iced in yellow; yellow and white candies.

The boxes of wedding cake were piled on the hall table, and each one had a wee daisy blossom tied into the knot of white ribbon on top.



OUTDOOR WEDDINGS



AN ORCHARD PAGEANT

There's no wedding quite so picturesque as the outdoor one. Famous is the orchard wedding beneath a blossoming apple tree, where the air is filled with fragrance and the bridal party comes winding through the trees to the trysting place. It needn't be only a poetic fancy, either—it's entirely practical, and if you have a comparatively small house, why not give your guests the beautiful freedom of outdoors instead of cooping them up in the house?

Mark out the path beforehand by mowing the grass in the chosen direction. Select plenty of ushers to conduct the guests to the spot and provide benches and settees for the older folk, who may find it tiring to stand till the wedding party arrives.

There need be no decorations except the natural ones of the orchard; preparations may consist of raking out dead leaves and branches.

A victrola may be arranged in the proper place to furnish the wedding processional—or perhaps some musical friend may be found to play the violin.

The simpler the pageant, the more effective it will be. First may come a tiny flower girl in a white frock, swinging a cretonne flowered sunbonnet from which she tosses apple blossom sprays.

If there are bridesmaids, they should wear the simplest of pink dresses with pink fillets on their hair or else wide straw hats trimmed only with a tiny wreath of flowers.

Possibly the maid of honor may add a note of contrast by wearing forget-me-not blue.

Last of all appear the bride and bridegroom, together, for in an old-fashioned orchard wedding that is less awkward than for the bridegroom to come from some other direction. The bride should wear a simple white gown—formal satin would be out of place.

The wedding breakfast may be served picnic fashion on a long table of boards decked with apple blossoms. Toasts in strawberry punch are in order while an orchestra of robins and bluebirds sing in the apple trees round about—unless the noise drives them away. The little waiting maids should wear white aprons and white caps with an apple blossom sprig stuck in the top.

Following them came a flock of flower children, tiny girls and boys scattering flower petals from the high-handled baskets swinging in their chubby little hands.

Last of all, four abreast, came the bride and bridegroom, with the bride's mother, who gave her away, on the right of the bride, and the best man on the left of the bridegroom. The ribbon girls had accompanied the procession at the proper intervals holding the aisle ribbon, and the last two brought up the rear, winding up the ribbon as they came.

The reception took place immediately afterward on the lawn, and the guests were served with ice-cream and cake wherever they chanced to be by the attentive ribbon girls.

In the back yard at a long table a colored caterer superintended the service.

Altogether it was a most successful wedding and at the same time a fairly easy one to plan since there was no question of overcrowding in the house, although in case of rain it could have been managed there.



A WEDDING ON THE LAWN

A girl who lived in a small town and had a big lawn chose to be married outdoors in August. The blossoming hydrangea hedge in front of the house was made thicker with small evergreen branches stuck down into the ground. One corner of the yard where there was a natural alcove curving in among the shrubs, she picked out for the wedding itself.

The porch was decorated with Japanese lanterns and flowers, and beforehand the guests gathered in groups there or on the lawn.

When it was time for the ceremony, some girl friends of the bride marshalled the guests to the chosen place and then returned to the house to act as ribbon girls. There were about a dozen of them in light summer dresses, and the first couple, holding the ends of long white ribbons, preceded the bridal groups, roping off an aisle across the lawn and among the spectators.

A chorus of young musical friends came first, singing the words and music of Lohengrin.



FALL WEDDINGS



A BLUE AND GOLD WEDDING

September and October weddings are always popular, partly perhaps because of the decorating possibilities of the autumn season.

Goldenrod and wild asters one thinks of for early fall. At one evening home wedding where this blue and gold color scheme was used, the stalks of plumey golden rod seemed to be growing naturally along the stair rail; they were held in place at the uprights.

The rooms were hung with blue and golden globes of lights—in reality paper lanterns—sheltering electric bulbs. The fireplace held masses of goldenrod, and blue jars holding wild asters crowned the mantel, the tables, the piano, and the wide window sills.

The bridesmaids wore gowns of yellow organdy and the maid of honor an aster blue costume.

In the dining-room a dull gilt basket of blue asters occupied the center of the table set for a buffet repast, and a bow of blue and golden tulle fluttered from the handle of the basket.

The favors were tiny kewpie dolls, wearing frilly skirts and caps, some of blue and others of yellow. The blue were for the men, the yellow for the girls.



OAK LEAVES AND COSMOS

When oak leaves begin to glow with tawny splendor, another girl celebrated her wedding. The house was a bower of rich, deep red and brown foliage, and the "bridey" touch came in with the pale pink garden cosmos that was used.

Cosmos made the background for the wedding group, and was arranged in feathery masses wherever it might contrast with the dark oak leaves.

The wedding was in the late afternoon, and after the sunset light had faded the pink candles began to glow rosily under soft pink shades.

The dining-room table was lovely with pink candle-light and pink cosmos as a centerpiece on a mat of oak leaves. There were pink and white candies and raspberry ice was served with the tiniest of pink and white and green petites fours.



THREE WINTER WEDDINGS



A CHRISTMAS WEDDING

The first girl lived in a country town and evergreens in the woods near by were plentiful. The wedding was a Christmas one, and took place in the late afternoon. Garlands of graceful ground pine were wound over the banisters in the hall, and draped over the doorways to hang down halfway on each side against the ivory white wood-work. In the living-room, two little Christmas trees, lighted with tiny white candles, formed an alcove where the bridal group could stand.

The table in the dining-room was decorated for a buffet luncheon in holiday red and green. There was a centerpiece of red roses, red silk candle shades shading white candles in clear glass candlesticks, and tiny green Christmas ferns scattered on the white cloth.

The menu had the same color harmony, and consisted of consomme, salted crackers, oyster patties, chicken jelly salad with green mayonnaise, salad rolls, olives, pistachio ice-cream in holly-decked cases, little cakes with green icing and silver bonbons stuck on top, and coffee, with green mints.



A RAINBOW WEDDING

The second bride lived in the city and had a rainbow wedding. The usual green of potted ferns and palms formed the background of decorations, but over the rounded archway which opened into a small alcove a "rainbow" of tulle—rose, pale pink, yellow, green, blue, and lavender—was arranged. Pink and yellow roses with green foliage were supplemented in the living-room by blue and lavender tulle on the vases. The six bridesmaids wore gowns which matched the tulle rainbow and they carried pink roses.

On the table in the dining-room was a bowl of pink roses, and from the table dome a myriad of baby ribbon streamers in the same varied colors came down at six points, and were held in place by six fluffy favor dolls, dressed in tulle to match the six bridesmaids, to whom they were afterward given as souvenirs.

The menu consisted of chicken a la King, small sandwiches, olives, Neapolitan ice-cream, fancy frosted cakes, and coffee.



A COLONIAL WEDDING

The third girl, with a delight for old-fashioned ways, was followed by six maids in quaint Colonial gowns of plain or flowered silk, no two costumes alike, save for soft white lace fichus. Black velvet neckbands, powdered curls, and "nosegays" of small pink carnations in lace paper holders quite carried out the lovely effect.

The old-fashioned rooms were hung with smilax and asparagus fern, and in every window stood a pot of flowering fuchsias.

THE END