Weddings

 

The definition of a wedding from the Oxford English Dictionary is provided as either:

'(1) the action of marrying; marriage, espousal' or:

'(2) the performance of the marriage-rite; the ceremony of a marriage, with its attendant festivities'.

 

As can be seen, therefore, the term 'wedding' has a dual meaning, one relating to the literal act of wedding another person and the second to the ceremony or occasion of a marriage, known as a wedding or the wedding. This page will focus on the latter definition of 'the wedding'.

 

During the eighteenth century, the average age for a woman to wed was 22, whereas for a man this was 26. It was still commonplace for weddings to be arranged by the parents of the couple, although there was a gradual trend towards marriages for love, particularly amongst the lower and middle classes. When a woman married, she was given a dowry by her parents, this was usually money if they were wealthy enough to do so or possessions if they were less wealthy, this was a contribution to her new family and often was provided as an incentive for a man to marry. Once she was married a woman might receive pin money from her husband, for more information about this please click here. This page will investigate various ideas of ‘the wedding’ in the eighteenth century including the types of clothing worn, the legal governance of weddings and reasons provided for wedding in literature at the time.

 

 

Legal

 

The Marriage Act of 1753 - which was popularly known as Hardwicke's Marriage Act - was the first example of legislature which required marriage to be completed with a formalised ceremony. This law was designed to put an end to the tradition of secret weddings - sometimes known as 'Fleet marriages' - which had been commonplace, particularly in the first half of the eighteenth century, and especially with young people marrying against the wishes of their parents. This law decreed that a couple wishing to marry would have to fulfil several criteria, excluding the Royal family who were exempt from this law, also exempt from this law was Scotland, where couples often eloped to avoid this law, for more information on this please click here. 

 

The conditions were as such:

- those wishing to marry would require a license and the banns must be read before they were able to marry

- if the couple were under the age of 21 they would require parental consent

- the marriage ceremony must be performed between 8am and 2pm

- the marriage ceremony must occur in a public chapel or church and be completed by an authorised clergyman

- the marriage must be recorded in the marriage register.

 

 

Hardwicke's Marriage Act [Image One]

This is a copy of the statute, displaying the provisions and conditions of the act.

 

 

The novel A Simple Story, written by Elizabeth Inchbald and published in 1791, responds to Hardwicke's Marriage Act and is clearly influenced by this legislature. The wedding between Miss Milner and Lord Elmwood is a service which is merely religious and not a legal marriage, in this extract below the newly married couple are reminded of this fact by Sandford. The two consider themselves married, in religious terms, however they are not legally husband and wife.

 

 

A Simple Story [Image Two]

 

Rings first appeared in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer marriage service, they could be of any material and shape and were used to seal the marriage. They were commonly left in wills to the children of the deceased and thus were often family heirlooms.

 

At the end of this extract, the ring used to marry the two is mentioned. As has been previously discussed, rings could be of any shape and size with no limitation on the style or type. The ring in this wedding was provided from the hand of Lord Elmwood himself, the two had wed too hastily to allow another ring to be found. This ring is a 'mourning ring', this is clearly a foreboding image which suggests bad luck. Thus although rings could be of any type, it is clear that the type of ring chose had significant connotations.

 

 

Wedding dresses

Wedding dresses, during the period, were often not designed to be worn only on this single occasion. For many of the lower, and even middle, classes it was too costly to have a dress made for a single occasion and therefore women would often wear their best dress, or for members of the middle classes would have a dress made which could be then worn again reserved for 'best'.

 

For the upper classes, this would be very different, thus immediately showing the difference between the two classes and the way that clothing operates within this, clearly a wider variety of materials were available to the upper classes and clothing did not need to be practical. The upper classes could well afford a new dress for the occasion and it is unlikely it would be worn again, although it may be modified and worn on a second occasion. 

 

Wedding dress [Image Three]

 

This is an image of a wedding dress from 1779. It is made from white silk which has been woven with silver to decorate, including a fringe made from strands of silver thread. There were increasingly large numbers of commodities available during this time, including items such as silk and this can be seen to have shaped the way dresses were made. The luxurious decorations were designed to reflect the wearer's class and status, clothing was a clear indicator of one's class, status and wealth and was relied upon by many to give a first impression of the wearer. 

 

White and silver were popular colours for bridal gowns, supposedly after The Good-Natur'd Man, a play by Oliver Goldsmith, appeared. It was first performed in 1748. In the play, the maid remarks 'I wish you could take the white and silver to be married in. It's the worst luck in the world, in anything but white.' Below is an extract from the playtext, showing these lines. Blue was also a popular colour during this time, blue was supposed to symbolise purity whereas white would symbolise joy. Bridal wear has always been associated with superstition, even in today's times, this shows how even bridal colours had connotations of either luck or ill luck. However, despite this portentous warning wedding dresses were not always white and other colours continued to be popular well into the next century. For those lower down on the social hierarchy the chosen dress would usually be a darker shade, for practical reasons.

 

 

A Good Natur'd Man [Image Four]

 

 

 

Wedding shoes Image Five

 

Here is an image of some bridal shoes, worn by a Mrs Growden when she married in 1748. They are covered in a pale pink satin and decorated with silk braid. Once again the burgeoning commodity culture can be seen to have influenced even weddings, far more luxury items were widely available and thus they were incorporated into upper class weddings.

 

Shoes Image Six

This is a second example of wedding shoes. Light coloured shoes were worn at court and for other important social occasions. This pair are made of white leather and originally would have had blue heels and ornate buckles, to show the wearer's status, style and wealth, the Prince of Wales was known to have worn a very similar pair of shoes on his wedding day, which occurred in 1736. This is important for two reasons, firstly it shows that for upper class males it was just as important to dress finely, status was intrinsically associated with clothes and luxurious items such as these highly impractical white shoes would have displayed that one had no need to work, secondly the fashion for copying the upper classes, and especially royalty, seems to have been a feature even in the eighteenth century. By the 1800, the tradition of the white wedding dress was fairly enshrined and this was cemented when Queen Victoria chose it for her own wedding in the 1830's.

 

 

The tradition of a fully veiled bride was not established during this period. It was far more likely that women would wear a cap or bonnet, as they usually would to appear in public. If they were veiled, it would be made of lace, net or tulle. Some brides chose to wear flowers, either in their hair or in their dress, towards the end of the century the flower of choice was orange blossom which is associated with good luck. Below is an image of Ann Somerville, painted by Thomas Gainsborough, on the occasion of her wedding in 1764, as can be seen she wears flowers in her dress, she also wears a white dress and is not veiled, thus she resembles a fairly typical upper class bride. Her class can be seen from quality of her dress, embroidered and embellished as it is, as well as the mere fact that a portrait exists of her, something which obviously was only available for the wealthier members of society. 

 

 

Ann Sommerville Image Seven

Commodity culture and Weddings

Weddings were clearly influenced by the burgeoning commodity culture of the eighteenth century. Much of the popular literature readily available during this time was newspapers, periodicals and broadsheets both saw greatly increased circulation across the century. One way of tracking the commodity culture is through the advertisements relating to weddings which appear in many of these publications. Advertisements exist for a range items from wedding cards and envelopes to wedding silk to mementos or commemorative items to remember weddings.

 

This is an example of an advertisement placed in Daily Advertiser on the 7th of November 1772. It advertises a baker in London who sell wedding cakes to order, amongst other items. For more information on wedding cakes see below. The existence of this advert suggests that wedding cakes were an increasingly common part of weddings, additionally they could be bought as a commodity, rather than being made at home. This sort of advertisement was likely to be aimed at the middle and upper classes.

 

Baker's advert [Image Eight]

 

Furthermore, even producing your own wedding food and cake was made into a commodified process. For example, this is an example of a newspaper advertisement promoting the publication of a new cookery book which, it suggests, gives appropriate food for weddings. Furthermore, this advert serves to show the popularity of copying members of the royal family, in a time before celebrities members of the royal family became icons to copy, they were the original arbiters of style and a commodity market grew correspondingly around this.

 

Cookery book advert [Image Nine]

 

This doll was made by Laetitia Clark, she created a series of dolls across this period all of whom are dressed in various outfits representing the fashions of the time. This is a replica of the dress she wore at her wedding, in 1761. She used swatches of fabric from her own clothing, for this dress this includes silk, lace, cotton and netting. This is clearly a luxurious item, the lower classes would have little access to the materials to be used for their own dresses let alone for those of the doll. This also shows the way in which women wanted to remember their weddings and keep a memory of them, this is perhaps a way of doing so in a time before photographs.

 

Wedding doll Image Ten

 

This links to this quote by Samuel Richardson: 'Every woman's heart leaps...when a wedding is described' (1753). This links both to the romance novel, and contemporary fears around this, as well as to commodity culture. Women are typically supposed to enjoy romance and weddings far more than men and Richardson's quote suggests that this stereotype existed even in the eighteenth century. Furthermore, the implication here is that women enjoy weddings and that this romantic notion is a result of romance novels. However, this also links to the idea that women judge other weddings, this idea can also be seen in Emma, 

 

'The wedding was very much like other weddings, where the parties have no taste for finery or parade; and Mrs. Elton, from the particulars detailed by her husband, thought it all extremely shabby, and very inferior to her own.--- "Very little white satin, very few lace veils; a most pitiful business!---Selina would stare when she heard of it." (362)

 

However, this could be intended as a critique of commodity culture as Austen sets up the marriage between Emma and Mr Knightley as a perfect and harmonious union whereas Mrs Elton is seen to be a rude and socially unaware character, therefore her opinion - and her monetary sizing up of the situation - is devalued.

 

 

Reasons for wedding

Literature during this period often discusses reasons for a couple to wed. At the beginning of the century, arranged marriages were very commonplace, particularly amongst the upper classes. An example of this is the marriage of the Prince of Wales to Princess Augusta who were married in 1736, the pair had only met a few days prior to their wedding and Augusta spoke very little English. This is clearly an example of a dynastic alliance, for upper and middle class families money would also be a hugely important factor in the wedding. 

 

However, there was an increasing backlash against arranged marriages. Hogarth's Marriage a la Mode captures this feeling, his series of six paintings depicts a disastrous arranged marriage between the son of the Earl Squander to the daughter of a wealthy city merchant, the series ends with the murder of the son and the suicide of the daughter.

Hogarth, Marriage a la Mode [Image Eleven]

 

The images provided a satirical look at the custom of arranged marriages and highlighted the errors intrinsic in doing so. Hogarth highlights the trope of greedy parents arranging a disastrous marriage in order to benefit financially.

 

The lower classes, and often those in the middle classes, had long been able to choose their own matches, although this would be restrained by class boundaries as well as by geographical scope, travel was fairly limited and thus partners would likely be chosen from the local area. These constraints aside matches could be made for love and this became increasingly popular. This was blamed largely on novels, it was claimed that novels such as Pamela by Samuel Richardson promoted the concepts of self-expressions and free will and thus encouraged girls to seek their own matches and expect to find a true romantic love. Furthermore, one critique of romance novels, and of particular concern for moralists, was that it made girls more romantically inclined and thus romances were considered especially dangerous. As an example of this, the Archbishop of Cambray in his Instructions for the Education of a Daughter warned of the dangers of girls reading romance novels and then being 'astonished, not to find in the World real Persons, who may answer to these Romantick Heroes'. The 1753 Marriage Act arose partly from these concerns, the clause which stated that one needed parental consent to marry was aimed to protect vulnerable heiresses being swept away in marriages to unsuitable men.

 

 

Instructions for the Education of a Daughter Image Twelve

 

The concept of wedding for love can be traced in many of the novels during this period. For example, the wedding between Emma and Mr Knightley is dictated entirely by the personal feelings they have for the other, both are financially comfortable enough to not require a marriage for financial reasons. This is a trope throughout the novel, the couples who do marry for money - Mr and Mrs Elton - are presented as socially inept and rude characters, thus associating marriage for money with unpleasant behaviour and character deficiency. The marriages for love are presented as successful, however this is due to the strict framework which Austen applies to each successful marriage: the participants must be of the same social class in order to have a successful marriage. Thus, even within a supposedly freer spirit which allows love marriages it is still rigidly controlled by class boundaries.

 

However, this is transgressed in Richardson's Pamela where Mr B, an upper class gentleman, marries his servant, the country maid Pamela. Their marriage is simple and hasty, Pamela sees herself as inferior to Mr B, however Richardson presents this marriage as acceptable as Pamela is morally superior to Mr B whilst he is socially superior and this balances the couple.

 

 

 

Bibilography

 

Archbishop Fenelon. Instructions for the Education of a Daughter, the second edition. London, 1708. Open Library. Web. 3 March 2015.

This resource was difficult to find as it was not originally published in English. It is interesting to see the way in which romantic novels were feared by society believing they had the power to corrupt young girls. 

 

Austen, Jane. Emma. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. Print.

Austen's text Emma was interesting in it's perception of marriage, unusually the female protagonist initially swears she will never marry. Her free will and self expression give an interesting insight into the way weddings were viewed. 

 

Coke, Edward. The first part of the institutes of the laws of England. Or, a commentary upon Littleton. Dublin, 1791. Historical Texts. Web. 1 March. 2015.

This text was particularly interesting for seeing the way in which the new Marriage Act worked, the provisions of the act restricted weddings and clearly was very influential. 

 

Daily Advertiser. London. 7 November, 1772. Burney Collection Newspapers. 3 March 2015.

This resource was particularly useful in looking at the use of commodities and weddings and the way these function together. This paper gave clear indication that wedding cakes were very popular and that it was common to buy these rather than having them ready prepared.

 

Goldsmith, Oliver. The good natur'd man: a comedy. As performed at the Theatre-Royal in Covent-Garden. London, 1768. Historical Texts. Web. 20 Jan 2015.

I only looked at part of this text but it was useful regarding wedding customs and traditions, I found it interesting how popular tradition has an influence on literature and will be repeated in literature.

 

Inchbald, Elizabeth. A Simple Story. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. Print.

This text was especially useful in showing how the law - in this case the Marriage Act - impacted weddings and the way this was directly reflected in literature at the time.

 

Tatler. London, 12 September 1710. Burney Collection Newspapers. 3 March 2015.

This resource was interesting in seeing how 18th century advertising functioned as well as the way in which advertisers put royalty in the image of today's celebrities.

 

VAM. The Victoria and Albert Museum. Web, 3 March 2015.

This website was particularly interesting as the museum currently has an exhibit of wedding dresses from 1775 to 2014. This was particularly useful for actually seeing the types of clothing which would have been worn at weddings.