Penny Weddings

1900

The Scotland penny weddings were so called, although the guests contributed shillings and occasionally half crowns, toward the wedding feast.

The penny wedding of Germany is on a different basis. The bride receives her guests with a basin before her, in which everybody deposits a jewel, a silver spoon or piece of money. In some parts of Germany the expense of a marriage is met by each guest paying for what he eats and drinks, and, moreover, at a very high rate, so that the young couple obtain a sum sufficient to start them nicely in life. As many as 300 guests often assemble.

In Poland a girl is not eligible for marriage until she has not only made her own trousseau, but the garments for the friends that will accompany the bridegroom to the altar.