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example of a Victorian Wedding Certificate. Wedding Etiquette After the wedding, it was customary to send cards indicating when the couple was to be called upon by their friends and family. When calling on a couple, it was important to be punctual; never arrive before or after your appointed hour. Wedding cake and wine was served and the guests could bestow wishes of health and happiness on the couple. When receiving guests, the bride was never to be alone. Even if her husband was present, it was expected that her mother, sister, or close friend was with her to receive visitors. To do otherwise is to disregard the usages of society (Wells). Views on Divorce Divorce was difficult to obtain; the only acceptable reason for divorce was adultery, and even then it was only a valid reason for a man. Women could use adultery as an excuse to divorce her husband, but she also had to supplement it with a reason proving her husband engaged in incest, bigamy, or excessive cruelty (Marriage and Divorce). Though this was a double standard, the reason for it was this: men were viewed to take care of their wives, and thought that their fidelity should not matter; women on the other hand, if caught cheating, were seen as disrespecting the care of their husbands. Laws were modified in the mid-19th century to make divorce more accessible to both men and women, but it was still scarce. Women saw marriage as a way to gain independence from their families and to start a new life, even though their husbands were granted all of the power. Divorce was extremely expensive; it entailed the loss of wealth and property. Since it accumulated from generation to generation and helped to strengthen the family line, divorce was neither economically or socially practical. It would guarantee the family losing some of its strength and influence by giving up property and wealth. Works Cited Marriage and Divorce in Victorian England. Charlotte's Web: A Hypertext on Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. <http://www.umd.umich.edu/casl/hum/eng/classes/434/charweb/MARR_485.htm>. "The Rules of Marriage in the Victorian Era. <http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~ulrich/femhist/marriage.shtml>. Soames, Enoch. Marriage in the Victorian Era. The Charlocks Shade. 18 February 2004. <http://thecharlocksshade.typepad.com/the_charlocks_shade/2004/02/marriage_in_the.html> Wells, Richard A. Manners Culture and Dress of the Best American Society. King, Richardson, & Co. Publishers. Springfield, MA. 1893. <http://www.burrows.com/booknotes/wedding.html>.
www.clas.ufl.edu/users/agunn/teaching/enl3251/vf/pres/ziegenfuss.htm
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