October 6 Wednesday – Sam and Livy attended “Our Big Wedding,” the marriage of Governor Jewell’s daughter Josephine to Arthur M. Dodge of New York. Joe Twichell pasted a clipping by that title from the Hartford Courant into his journal. The wedding was at Asylum Hill Congregational [Yale 126]. Andrews gives details:

“The wedding…was an elaborate ceremony that exemplifies the social level of a class richer than the residents of Nook Farm. The Asylum Hill Church was like a hothouse—filled with a trainload of the most exotic flowers procurable in New York. The costumes, of fabrics gathered all round the world by the Cheneys (silk manufacturers), were richly elegant. Mrs. Jewell wore a robe of velvet the color of crushed strawberries and trimmed with wide Venetian point lace. Her ornaments were plain diamonds; her headdress, white and garnet feathers. The bride’s dress was of very heavy white silk. The Jewell mansion, decorated for the reception with festoons of smilax, and the grounds, lighted with innumerable Japanese lanterns, were thronged by such crowds that it was hard for the Courant reporters to see the costumes of their guests, though they noted glimpses of long trains, velvet fluting, much silk, and many diamonds. The bridal cake was topped by a pyramidal superstructure two feet high; the wedding presents were insured for $10,000; the bride and groom left for New York on a special train. All the Nook Farm group, Mark and Livy included, were present at this most brilliant social event of the year. President Grant sent his regrets” [101].