The ceremony

The parents close relatives of the bride and groom arrive a few minutes before the bride. The bridegroom and his best man should be in their places at least ten minutes before the service starts.

The bride, by tradition, arrives a couple of minutes late but this should not be exaggerated. She arrive with her father. The organ starts to play and the bride moves up the aisle with her veil over her face. She goes in on her father’s right arm and the bridesmaids follow her according to the plan.

The important part of reception are the cutting of the cake and the toast to the bride and groom. There should never be any long speeches. When all the guest have been received, the major-domo requests silence and the bride cuts the cake, with her husband’s hand upon.

The toast to the bride and groom is usually proposed by a relative or friend of the bride. He should not make a speech full of jokes or silly references to marriage. It should be short and dignified.

Wedding Parents

Some brides have lists of the presents they want to get at a large store near their homes. The list should contain items of all prices and when one is bought it is crossed off. Presents are sent after the invitation have been received, usually to the bride’s home.

The english character

The national character of the English has been very differently described, but most commentators agree over one quality, which they describe as self-satisfaction, serene sense of superiority, or insular pride. English patriotism is based on a deep sense of security. Englishmen as individuals may have been insecure, threatened with the loss of a job, unsure of themselves, or unhappy in many ways; but as a nation they have been for centuries secure, serene in their national successes. This national sense of security, hardly threatened by the Armada, or by Napoleon, or by the First World War, has been greatly weakened by the Second World War and by the invention of the atomic bomb.

Many books have been written by Frenchmen, Americans, Germans, and other foreigners on English traits, English ways of life, and the English character. Their authors are not always in agreement, but they point out what seems to them puzzles, contrasts, in the way the English behave.

First, there is the contrast between the unity the English display in a crisis, their strong sense for public order, and their extraordinary toleration of individual eccentricities. Germans are usually astounded by what they regard as the Englishman’s lack of respect for authority and discipline Frenchmen are often puzzled by the English political debates, by the Hyde Park public orator, which in their own country would seem signs of grave political disturbance. This sort of contrast has led to the common belief held by foreigners, and indeed by Englishmen themselves, that they are a most illogical people, always preferring practical compromises to theoretical exactness.

Second, there is the contrast between English democracy, the English sense of the dignity and importance of the individual, and the very great social and economic inequalities that have hitherto characterized English life. There has recently been some tendency to allow greater social equality. But Victorian and Edwardian England - which foreigners still think of as the typical England - did display extremes of riches and poverty.

Third, there is the contrast between the reputation of the English as hard-headed practical men - the “nation of shop-keepers” - and as men of poetry - the countrymen of Shakespeare and Shelley. The apparent coldness of Englishmen and their reserve has been almost universally noted by foreigners; but foreigners also confess that once one gets to know an Englishman he turns out to be a very companionable fellow.