THE BRIDE’S DAY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 38, 15 February 1939, Page 2

THE BRIDE’S DAY

THE RIGHT ATMOSPHERE FOR THE SERVICE

The bride can make or mar the wedding service. That, at least, is my experience (says a clergyman). Nobody worries about that forlorn figure, the bridegroom, waiting by the altar, except his best man, who is probably blaming him bitterly for dragging him into it! Everybody in the church is looking for the bride. It is her day, and to a large extent she carries the burden of the cere--1 mony on her shoulders. As she comes up the aisle, the clergyman can quite easily see whether she is going to make the service run smoothly or not. If she is nervous, walking with her eye. down and leaning heavily upon her father's arm, she may need some prompting when she makes her vows, and she will probably speak quite inaudibly. The congregation will only hear a low murmur, ii they hear as much as that. On the other hand, there are brides who march with heads erect, almost jauntily. They are of the kind who answer “I will” with, confidence and firmness, and can be heard all over the church.

A nervous bride can make her bridegroom nervous. It is a curious fact that the bridegroom is often far more afflicted by “stage fright” than the bride, but I have often seen men who were quite timid at the beginning of the service become entirely conndent when they realised that the bride, at least, was showing no timidity.

The service goes better when the bride has read it through before hand. There was once a bride who, when I asked her to give me her right hand in order that the bridegroom might take it in his, shook hands with me violently in the belici that I wished to congratulate her! If the words of the service aic quite unfamiliar, the bride may linu herself making her response long before the clergyman has finished, and that gives an impression of unseemly eagerness!

The ideal bride times her entry to the minute. She does not keep the minister and congregation waiting, for the atmosphere ol pleased anticipation in the church soon becomes one of weariness. Neither does she arrive 20 minutes early, as one anxious maiden did only the other day. Some brides are inclined to weep. One can understand that they find the service something of an ordeal. Those who are liable to tears, however, are advised, if they must make up, not to make up round the eyes. A short time back a bride who was very heavily made-up began to weep in the middle of the ceremony, ana she arrived in the vestry with two long, inky channels from her eyes to the corners of her mouth! I had to tell her that she had better wash before she faced the relations and friends who were waiting for the newly-married couple to emerge from the church. Music is important in making the right “atmosphere” Jor the service. Most brides simply ask for tne organ, and leave the selection of the music to the organist, who, of course, uses the same stock pieces over and over again. A brine with musical taste can often find different yet equally appropriate music.

There is a prejudice against trying on the ring before the ceremony, but the wise bride does not yield to superstition. 1 have witnessed some frenzied tussles as the bridegroom tried to fit on a ring which had suddenly become much smaller than it seemed when it was bought! There have been occasions when the bride has had to sacrifice much of her dignity by sucking her linger in order to get the ring on!

The bride is the central figure in the wedding service, at least, so lai as her many friends and relations are concerned, and a great deal depends on her for its success of failure.

A bride witn a clear voice, a good hearing, and confidence can help to make the marriage service the beautiful act of love and worship that it was intended to be. But there are brides who make every moment an anxious one for the minister: