WOMEN’S NOTES

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 190, 16 July 1925, Page 2

WOMEN’S NOTES

The pupils of Miss Wilson’s dancing class held a very successful dance in tho Anr.ac Club last night. The hall was tastefully decorated and the orchestral music was much appreciated by the number of patrons present. Mr N. Martin was M.C.

The usual weekly euchre party was held in the 0 range Hall last night under the auspices of the R.S.A. Soccer Club. 'The tables were well patronised and the games keenly contested. Mesdames Humphries and Sims were successful in the, ladies’ section, while Messrs Fletcher and Jones secured the men’s trophies.

Mrs J. E. Vernon, widow of the late Mr J. E. Vernon, formerly rector of the Palmerston North High School, and her son, Mr T. R. Vernon'(Auckland) who were in Scotland, were.to have come down south towards the end of Jtine and started on a motor tour of England and Wales, states a London correspondent.

At a meeting of the Wellington Centre of the New Zealand Red Cross the chairman, Mr J. Burnett, spoke of tho great regret with which the news of the death of Mrs Walter Nathan had been received. She had been a member of the society through the war years up to the present time. Her interest in its work, he said, had been very real and thorough, and her interest' in charitable institutions, quite apart from the Red Cross, had been practical and sympathetic. The secretary was instructed to write to Miss Nathan and express the society’s sympathy in the loss that had befallen the family. EVENING WEDDINGS. GROWING IN POPULARITY. CONVENIENT TO HOSTESS AND GUESTS. AUCKLAND. July 14.

Of the marriages solemnised in some of the largest Auckland churches no less than DO per cent, take place in the evening. To some people the custom amounts to nothing more than a passing “fad,” but the authorities inclose touch with-these ceremonies see more behind the vogue than fickle fancy, and the very people from whom opposition might be expected—the officiating clergy—reveal themselves in general sympathy. “1 am heartily in favdur of evening weddings,” a leading church authority declared. “I like them because they encourage a larger attendance of relatives and interested friends than can possibly come when they are held in mornings or afternoons, and 1 like them specially because they enable more men to attend than could be free for such purposes in business hours. There is no reason why they should not be held in the evenings,” lie said. “The Bible weddings were held in the evening, and all through the East you will find weddings are all celebrated at night. In tact the Western custom of holding marriages in the afternoon is really quite a modern idea.” The real reason behind the popularity of the evening wedding is undoubtedly its convenience. The bride’s mother finds it so much more convenient to entertain her guests at night than to see social festivities prolonged over the greater part of the day, and this is a point which is fully appreciated by the guests. There is no hastening from business, no awkward break between the time when tlie wedding tea finishes and the evening theatre party begins. That is the advantage of an evening wedding from the point of view of tlie hostess and guests. IMMODEST FASHIONS.

A prominent church authority in Auckland remarked the reverent spirit that was essential throughout the marriage ceremony was well nigh destroyed on some occasions by the immodest fashions affected by brides and bridespiaids who turned up at church ready for a dance rather than for a wedding. In fact he had been obliged to caution all intending brides before the ceremony that indecorous evening frocks could not bo tolerated. A story is told touching a certain Auckland church which is known for the strictness of its caution in this respect that a young lady about to be married aired her fears in the following fashion: “Well, 1 should like to get married at St. ; , but I hear the vicar keeps a blanket to throw over your dress if he thinks it is too low at the neck.” There was no foundation for the girl’s belief, , hut it showed at least that the vicar’s precautions were gaining some fairly effective publicity. There is one minor respect tn which every clergyman and officiating minister will be grateful, and it was mentioned by one member of the clergy who was obviously speaking with feeling. “We no longer suffer from the very common practice of bringing children and babies to the church in the evening. The babies are put to bed early, and it is for the best. If there is one other improvement wanted,” lie added, “it is the abolition of tlie confetti curse. It is a silly practice, and it ought to he stopped.” Evening weddings seem to have made no difference to the custom.