German Lutheran Marriage
The Dress: Bernard writes on the “solemn procession” of a Lutheran marriage, which involves all the witnesses walking “two by two” to the groom’s home, where the wedding will take place. The traditional dress for the bride is black, “but all the rest in gayest colors.”
The Time: According to Bernard, a wedding like the one depicted at Augsbourg would take place “at night, in their own homes… the ceremony, however, is all the same.” These were “nobility and gentry,” wealthy people who could pay a presider to come into their homes to marry them. The opulent setting of Picart’s engraving also tips off the reader that these were not people of lower means.