At A Wedding

By Owen Hiscock

Weddings began with church ceremonies. Like all religious rites, the marriage ceremony was sacred. Since the marriage vow was a lifetime committment (divotce was unknown), it was a serious event. However, it was also a joyful event and one which required a celebration.

The ringing of the church bell indicated that the ceremony was over and the newlyweds were on thier way down the aisle. Men armed with muzzle-loaders and good supplies of gunpowder lined the church door, a barrage of gunfire got the celebrations underway. The gunners followed the bridal party firing powder guns as they went. Wherever possible, they would take a short-cut to get ahead of the bridal party and line up for another volley. Here and there along the way, men who had not made it to the church road fired a few shots as the group passed by. It sounded more like the beginning of the war than a union. The last volleys were fired as the party entered the groom's home. As the sound died down among the low hills, and the acrid smell of spent gunpowder drifted away, the guns were taken to a place of safe-keeping. they would be used again when the couple retired to their bedroom for the night.

It was not customary to send written invitations. Everyone knew if the couple were having a wedding reception. If there was a reception, everyone expected an initation to be delivered verbally. After the bridal party rereached the groom's home, the bridesmaids and bridesboys went around the town, knocked on every door and invited all to the wedding feast.

Since the young couple usually resided with the groom's parents until they were ready to move into their own home, that's where the wedding feast and celebrations were held. Tables were set up in the kitchen and all guests were served a meal. The food was provided by the family and close friends of the bride and groom. It took several settings to serve everyone. After the bridal party had eaten, the older folks were accommodated. The remaining guest were fed as places at the table became available. As soon as a person finished eating, he or she moved on to make way for someine else. This system continued until everyone was fed.

The whole house, except for one bedroom, was open to the guest. Fragile items and valuables, along with the supply of spirits, were locked in that room for safe keeping. The same bedroom would serve as the bridal suite. As guests arrived, the older people were invited into the inside room. The younger folk hung around the porch and hallways or occupied the upstairs' bedrooms. As the night progressed and the spirits began to take effect, people began to move around. Since the whole house, including porches and hallways, was packed with people, movement was not easy.

After everyone had eaten, the kitchen was cleared out for a dance. tables and chairs were carried outside to a shed. At one wedding even the kitchen wood range was moved out on the bridge. With the kitchen stripped, the fiddler was summoned. He was placed on a chair in the middle of the kitchen with his button accordian and couples took their places for a set.

A wedding wasn't considered much of a success without a good supply of spirits. Other than a bottle or two of "bought" rum and wine, moonshine was the only liquor available. The groom and his relatives would have brewed and distilled a supply in the weeks prior to the wedding. A good friend sometimes contributed a few bottles. At the wedding, bottles were placed in the upstairs room, in each bedroom, in the porch and in the upstairs hallway. The father of the groom was usually to be found in the inside room. He made sure that a supply of drinks and tid-bits was kept on the table. The bridesmaids and bridesboys were left to look after the bedrooms.

While the home of the groom was the main base for the wedding reception, relitives living nearby often accommodated some of the guest in the kitchen and provided drinks, especially during the early part of the night. Most of the single fellows had a bottle and went from house to another before going to the wedding house. One measure of the success of a wedding was the number of bottles avilable.

By eleven, some families, especially those with small children, would begin leaving for home. By one or two in the morning, the bride and groom would retire to their room. Leaving for a honeymoon was unknown. The wedding continued. As the night moved along, the older folk gradually drifted away and went home and the younger people took over. By daylight only the younger people remained. Just before dawn, they often broke into small groups and went to someone's home to cook a scoff.

It was not unusual for the groom's buddies to go back to the groom's home the next day. They returned under the guise of helping to clean up, and to take chairs, tables and other things borrowed for the wedding back to the owners. More often then not it resulted in the party being renewed and carried on into the second night. Generally, the groom did not participate in the drinking and carousing on his wedding night. However, he was free to join the party on the second night. Unlike today, the groom's stag party came after the wedding.