A bit late (unexpected hospital visit by hubby)– Here is Part II of author Cheryl Bolen‘s blog about Regency Weddings. Cheryl is a former journalist and English teacher who admits to a fascination with dead English women. She is a contributor to The Regency Reader, The Quizzing Glass, and The Regency Plume. Her articles on Regency England can be found on her website, www.CherylBolen.com. (Part One appeared here on May 9, 2011.)
The Regency Wedding
by Cheryl Bolen
Bridal couple, plate #15, Le Journal des Dames et Des Modes (Costumes Parisien) 1826
Few current Regency writers get weddings right. Formal wedding invitations were not sent out. Seldom was a church filled with well-wishers or strewn with flower arrangements because weddings were family affairs. Neither bride nor groom was surrounded by attendants dressed alike in special attire.
In most instances, very few family members attended weddings. It was not the custom for out-of-town relatives to come for a wedding.
When Lady Georgiana Spencer, daughter of the enormously wealthy 1st Earl Spencer, married the 5th Duke of Devonshire, who was probably the richest peer in the realm and indisputably the biggest matrimonial catch, only five people attended the wedding. Georgiana’s parents feared a mob; therefore, the simple ceremony at a village church in Wimbledon was attended by the duke’s two siblings and Georgiana’s parents and grandmother.
The Prince of Wales himself (before he became Regent) was not married at Westminster Abbey or St. Paul’s but at St. James Palace in a simple ceremony with just a handful of people present.
Lord Palmerston, the 2nd Viscount and father of the future Prime Minister, married Miss Frances Poole in an extremely simple ceremony when he was 28 years of age. Here is the announcement he sent to his mother: I should have wrote to you a little sooner but could not have given you any certain notice of the time of my being married, but have the pleasure to tell you that before you read this, you will in all probability have a most amiable daughter-in-law, as I believe we shall be married tomorrow.
The 1754 Marriage Act established that brides or grooms under the age of 21 could not marry without parental consent. The act also stipulated that all marriages had to be performed in an Anglican church between 8 a.m. and noon by an Anglican clergyman, unless the couple belonged to the Jewish or Quaker faith.
The wealthy purchased a special license that would allow them to marry speedily and to marry at any time or place. Many aristocratic daughters married at home, as did Lady Melbourne’s daughter, Emily, who married Lord Cowper at Melbourne House in 1805. A favorite church for aristocratic weddings in the Regency was St. George’s Hanover Square.
The bride’s father did give away his daughter, and the groom placed a wedding ring on the bride’s hand during the ceremony. Five people had to sign the marriage register at the church: the bride, groom, clergyman, and two witnesses.
The Wedding Dress
Wearing a specially made white wedding gown with veil did not come into fashion until the Victorian era.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/dreh/ho_C.I.37.46.1.htm (October 2006)
Most Regency brides married in their best Sunday dress, with a bonnet or turban adorning their heads. White or another pastel was typically chosen for the gown. The wealthy, however, might get a special dress made for the wedding day. Lady Caroline (Ponsonby) Lamb’s was made of the softest muslin, with lace sleeves.
Bridal attendants were free to wear whatever they chose.
While Regency weddings were low key, an exception occurred when the Regent’s daughter, Princess Charlotte, married in 1816. The public clamored for details of the Princess of Wales’ wedding. Her elaborate wedding dress was made of silver threads.
Regency wedding dresses would not be put away with moth balls after the ceremony; they would be much worn thereafter. As Jane Austen might say, very sensible.
—Cheryl Bolen
whose articles on Regency England can be read on her website, www.CherylBolen.com.
Thanks for posting this! I found this, and the first posting very interesting