THE formal aspects of getting married seem to have become less important in modern weddings. Informality seems to be the situation nowadays, with as much original thinking as possible. We hear of people marrying underwater or while on speeding skis or even in a trailer behind a tractor or on top of a haystack, while in my part of the world it now seems fashionable to get married in a ruined abbey.

The famous wheel has almost gone full circle when people are going to church to begin their wedded bliss.

Although this time of year is hardly the wedding season, they do occur in autumn and winter; indeed our wedding more than 55 years ago was conducted among snowdrifts and blizzards, so much so that the registrar (who then had to attend) got stuck in a snow drift and had to be rescued by our photographer.

However, one of the most important aspects of a wedding, especially so far as the bride is concerned, is her dress. With that in mind, I’ve been checking a few of the customs associated with wedding dresses.

The colour was of immense importance. Certain colours were considered lucky – they were white, silver, blue, gold and pink; softer colours such as grey, fawn and pale brown were often used, especially if the bride’s family were not too wealthy because the dress would have to be re-used on future occasions.

Black was definitely unwelcome in a wedding dress because it hinted too much of funerals while the most forbidden colour was green. At some weddings, green was never used in any of the decorations either, and no greens were served at the wedding feast.

Even if white was used alongside green, the old saying was “Green and white, forsaken quite” meaning the wedding would end in a tragedy of some kind or perhaps a separation. Blue was acceptable and there was a verse “Those dressed in blue have lovers true” although in some parts of Yorkshire, a blue dress hinted of future sorrow. The saying was “Marry in blue, be sure to rue.”

Another old belief was that it was unlucky for a bride to make her own wedding dress, and furthermore, it was unwise to dress in her full regalia before the ceremony or even catch sight of herself in a mirror. In modern times, a superstition has developed where it is unlucky for the future husband to see his bride in her wedding dress before the actual ceremony. To see her in her wedding dress, he was supposed to look at her in her dress for the very first time when she arrived to stand at his side before the altar.

On the other hand, it was lucky if the bride caught sight of a black cat, a grey horse, a chimney sweep or an elephant on her way to the church but very bad luck if either the bride or groom caught sight of a pig during that journey. The worst possible thing, however, was to encounter a funeral on the way to one’s wedding.

Some of those old superstitions have remained to this day and I am sure some brides, grooms and parents continue to be aware of them, but I have come across some circumstances where a bride had to get married whilst wearing only a shift – a long, loose undergarment. This occurred because the bride was in debt and marrying in this way was a means of freeing her future husband from any liability arising from her debts.

There are several recorded instances of such weddings. On October 17 in 1714, almost exactly 300 years ago, Anne Selwood wore only her smock without any other clothes or headgear; in 1738, George Walker married Mary Gee when she was wearing only a shift while in 1771, Nathaniel Eller married Widow Hibbert. Both were over 50 years of age but Widow Hibbert wore only a shift and had her hair tied behind with horse hair, this being the means of freeing both from her former husband’s debts.

There appear to be no instances where a vicar refused to marry a woman in such a skimpy outfit, and apparently one vicar had second thoughts because the bride wore only a nightdress.

When he checked the wording of the ceremony, however, he could not find any reason to refuse the wedding, and so the event went ahead. In another case at Birmingham, the bride arrived in a large cloak but flung it off at the beginning of the ceremony to reveal her nude body. The account said this excited much noise in the neighbourhood.

In 1808 at Otley in the West Riding, a 73-year-old man married a widow of 60, and she disrobed in front of the altar to exonerate her new husband from any debts she or her late husband had incurred.

And some people liked to get married under the gallows!

Aristocrats thrive

Judging from events in our garden rather than those in a wider area, the past summer seems to have been a good one for butterflies. Small tortoiseshells have been more numerous than usual and in recent days they have been looking for entries into the house where they will hibernate. I’m sure some have found their way into the garage and we’ve found one or two indoors but returned them to the open air because they did not appear very sleepy.

If one or two managed to commandeer some quiet corner of the house, I would not be too concerned; they would be well-behaved guests, I’m sure.

The so-called Aristocrat butterflies have been well represented this summer with local sightings of red admirals, peacocks and painted ladies – the small tortoiseshell is also a member of that group.

Last week, I recorded the arrival of a speckled wood butterfly in our house and garden and either it has made its home here, or else it has been joined by others. We seem to have had a lot of speckled woods about the garden and house but it could be just one exploring our patch of England.

Other prominent insect visitors have been masses of hoverflies which appear in all shapes, sizes and colours with some looking like wasps with others mimicking bees. One species of hoverfly even feeds alongside the honey bees it resembles but these interesting insects, many of whom have black and yellow markings, are harmless and will not sting.

Their lookalike wasp colours provide some protection against predators and they do not seem to enter the house in the way that houseflies and bluebottles seem to enjoy. We enjoy our hoverfly visitors because they appear to love our garden and all it offers.

Snow sayings

At this time of year, we are all concerned about the weather during the coming winter and there is a saying that “For every mist in October, there will be a snowfall in the winter”. The density of the mist will forecast the amount of snow, be it heavy or light. In the countryside, it is also said that when foxes bark a lot in October, they are forecasting heavy snowfalls.