Entertaining Made Easy Part 12

Every girl can have a pretty wedding--especially if she lives within reach of the free woods and fields or in a place of gardens and shrubbery.

Wild roses and wild clematis vines with ferns from the woods are lovely in a country church where festoons and garlands are often needed to adorn the bare walls.

Banks of black-eyed Susans with outdoor ferns, bowers of snowy dogwood in season and the fluffy wild pink azalea are very decorative, and so are the spring and early summer shrubs: syringa, deutzia, flowering almond and j.a.panese s...o...b..ll.

Mountain laurel, with its exquisite pink flowers and glossy green leaves, lends itself particularly to church decoration. Ropes of the leaves may be looped from the roof to the side walls; and the blossoms ma.s.sed in the front of the church make a fitting background for a bride and her pink-clad attendants.

In the South, Cape jasmine, in the Far West, the golden California poppies and carnations, are beautiful to use. Of course, nothing is lovelier than roses--pink and white--and should they prove scarce they can be successfully supplemented with pink and white peonies, especially for church decoration purposes.

Meadow rue in great misty clumps as it grows, arranged with tawny field lilies and dark green wood ferns, is remarkably striking in a church.

At one home wedding, big loose bunches of feathery gra.s.s, b.u.t.tercups, daisies, and clover in brown earthern jars filled the corners of the living-room, and in the bay window, where the ceremony took place, tall graceful sprays of Queen Anne's lace arranged with plenty of green, made an artistic background. Gla.s.s vases filled with it stood on the window sills and on the floor, the tops of the floor bouquets hiding the window receptacles.

In the dining-room a bowl of pink and white clover occupied the center of the table and there were window boxes of the same sweet flower.

THE TABLE DECORATIONS

Whatever color scheme is used in the other parts of the house, an entirely different one may be carried out in the dining-room. Some suggestions for simple table decorations in various colors follow:

1. Large low bowl of blue and pink forget-me-nots in the center of the table, with candle shades of white, painted with forget-me-not sprays.

2. Garden basket or gla.s.s basket of yellow roses and honeysuckle with graceful sprays of honeysuckle vines trailing to the corners of the table, yellow candle shades.

3. Old-fashioned bouquet of garden flowers in old-fashioned vase--snapdragons, lark-spur, coreopsis, babies' breath, mignonette--old-fashioned stiff little artificial bouquets in white lace paper for favors.

4. Hanging basket of pink and lavender sweet peas and smilax over the table, with smilax reaching to the corners of the table and caught with pink and lavender tulle bows.

5. Wood maidenhair ferns and pink garden roses, tiny ferns scattered over the tablecloth, and rose-colored candle shades.

6. Wild clematis vines from ceiling over table to four corners, and low bowl of wild roses in center beneath sprays.

7. Bachelors' b.u.t.tons and mignonette in the center of the table connected with small baskets of mignonette at the corners of the table by ribbon matching the blue bachelors' b.u.t.tons, tied on the handle of each basket.

8. Scarlet poppies in silver vase, silver candlesticks and shades.

9. Large bowl of "Jack" roses in the center on a table mirror, with a single large Jack rose in a slim flower holder at each corner of the table.

10. Wicker basket of June garden pinks (white and pink) with shower of tiny bells hung on pink ribbons above them from the chandelier or ceiling.

MENUS FOR THE BUFFET LUNCHEON

Many dining-rooms are too small to have a wedding breakfast served at the table, and for that reason buffet luncheons are most popular.

The dining table is decorated with flowers and often lighted with candles under colored shades, and on it are placed extra supplies of silver and small dishes of olives, nuts and bonbons.

As the guests leave the receiving line, they move informally toward the dining-room, where they stand to be served. If the wedding reception takes place directly after a ceremony in the morning, or at high noon, the refreshments are more elaborate than at an afternoon affair and the guests may be seated to be served in the different rooms.

When a caterer is not employed, and the serving of the refreshments is managed by the hostess herself, it is a pretty and practical plan to ask several young girls to help in the dining-room. They should see that the guests are promptly supplied, and can relieve them of their plates when they have finished.

Below are half a dozen good menus for buffet wedding breakfasts and receptions, varying in degree of formality to suit individual needs.

I

BOUILLON SALTED CRACKERS CHICKEN PATTIES OLIVES PINEAPPLE SALAD SMALL LETTUCE SANDWICHES NEAPOLITAN ICE CREAM WITH FRESH STRAWBERRIES COFFEE CAKE

II

CREAMED SWEETBREADS CHERRY SALAD WATERCRESS SANDWICHES RASPBERRY ICE MACAROONS

III

CHICKEN SALAD FINGER ROLLS FROZEN CUSTARD SUNSHINE CAKE

IV

SCALLOPED CRAB MEAT BREAD AND b.u.t.tER SANDWICHES STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM ANGEL CAKE

V

ICED CLAM BROTH WITH WHIPPED CREAM SALTED CRACKERS COLD VEAL LOAF SARATOGA CHIPS OLIVES PINEAPPLE ICE SMALL CAKES

VI

ICED CONSOMMe SALTED CRACKERS CHICKEN CROQUETTES ROLLS FRUIT SALAD UNSWEETENED CRACKERS LEMON CREAM SHERBET SMALL HOME-MADE COOKIES

THE FAVORS

For wedding favors at a wedding breakfast or reception a number of interesting little souvenirs can be inexpensively prepared. For instance, there are wee fans (bought at the doll department) with the date lettered on each; tiny straw baskets that look like the one the flower girl carries and are filled with very small artificial forget-me-nots and rose-buds; airy b.u.t.terflies of white and pale yellow silk, to be fastened to fine threads above the table in the dining-room, where they flutter realistically over the flowers beneath.

More frivolous are very diminutive bridesmaid's hats, and at the wedding of a bride who is going to travel far away there may be small boats, either real or of cardboard, with a flying flag of matrimony at the masthead.

The old-fashioned posy gift cards with clasped hands are quaint; so are the little nosegays in white paper frills, and every guest will like a box of bride's cake.