Did they have old, new, borrowed and blue?

In this season of frantic wedding preparations, it's instructive to remember how it was when William Dunton married Almeda Wood in 1845. Theirs was a simple ceremony in her parents' log cabin, not at the minister's home which had been suggested. The cabin was one room, 14 feet by 12 feet. But that one room was Almeda's choice. "I had some friends I wished to ask in, so all in all, there were about 20 present.

"Of course the bed was taken away," the wife of the founder of Arlington Heights told folks at the Old Settlers' reunion in 1885 when she, too, was an old settler and no longer a bride. "And we had quite a large room."

"The banquet," she continued, "consisted of turkey and mincemeat pie, etc."

By the time Almeda Wood Dunton was telling her story, marriage customs, and houses, had changed. Following New Englanders like the Duntons, many Germans had moved into the Arlington Heights area and the surrounding farm land. They were fleeing constant wars and threat of conscription in their homeland. They brought with them excellent farming practices and a heightened sense of celebration.

Those early immigrants endured tough times in dangerously antique, overcrowded ships often called "floating coffins." Daisy Daniels wrote in "Prairieville, U.S.A." that some passengers did not see daylight during the entire voyage. Ships often did not provide the legal quota of provisions and water. Built to carry 200 passengers with no sanitary conveniences of any kind, they were a hazard to health.

Survivors faced an "immigrant train" from New York to Buffalo, a boat ride to Michigan, an interminable train ride across the state and around the end of Lake Michigan to Chicago and then an overland ride to Arlington Heights.

There, these people Daniels called "thrifty and hard-working," made remarkable progress, progress exemplified by, as much as anything, the extravagant and dramatic weddings which dramatically contrasted with the Duntons' simple ceremony.

Invitations were delivered to wedding guests by a "brutbitter" on horseback who fired a pistol into the air. Daniels described the horse as "gaily decorated with a plume fastened to his head from which streamed many colored ribbons." When the family came out, the brutbitter would recite the invitation -- in verse. Then the invited guests would attach more ribbons and contributions to the brutbitter's hat. With a bow, he'd be off to deliver what we might call an "epistolary" invitation at the next farm.

The weddings themselves went on for 24 hours, starting from the time the bride woke at 4 a.m. to help peel potatoes for sometimes as many as 600 guests. Relatives would come at 9 a.m. for an early lunch called "runder-wurst." Then they'd all walk to church for the 11 a.m. ceremony.

The brutbitter, followed by the church band in a wagon, led the merry procession back to the bride's home for merriment, dancing and a bounteous dinner in a rented tent. Partying often included not only a sumptuous dinner at noon, but also supper in the evening, and sandwiches at midnight. We can assume that a good time was had by all.