I (Meg) am getting married next week. The fiancé and I have been neck deep in wedding planning several months now – program design, menu planning, dress fittings, dessert tastings (this was the best part), guest lists, ceremony writing, music selections, etc. I realized today that we had not consulted the books at the Institute Library! Certainly there must be something there that can teach me how to be a good wife, how to be a perfect bride, wedding etiquette, etc – all things that may or may not align with my personal beliefs.
I skipped my allotted lunch break today to search through the card catalog for possible books on weddings, brides, and being a good wife.
I found several catalog cards for fiction books about brides (The bride dined alone, Bride in the bush) and weddings.
And then I found what I was looking for:
Wedding day in all ages and countries, published in 1869.
The book was checked out three times in 1969 and probably hasn’t even been opened since then. I feel like it is going to fall apart in my hands.
I love this – “The ancient Scythians, being a warlike people, would not marry a maiden who had not killed an enemy.”
And there is an entire chapter dedicated to the various origins of the wedding ring! If I wasn’t moving tomorrow (yes, I’m moving tomorrow and getting married a week from tomorrow) and/or it was still my lunch break, I would read this book cover to cover. Perhaps, I will have the time sometime soon!
The Institute Library 