The Age of Innocence: Chapter 19 Summary & Analysis

The day of the wedding is beautiful, and all of the old ladies have gotten out their old, smelly furs. Archer stands with his best man on the step of Grace Church. The carriage with May and Mr. Welland is in sight, but they have to prepare in the lobby once they arrive. While this happens, the groom is expected to stand and wait as a sign of his eagerness, and Archer follows this tradition just as he has followed all the other wedding traditions, with resignation. He has done everything right, sending bouquets of lilacs and lilies-of-the-valley to the bridesmaids and cufflinks to the ushers. He’s packed to leave after the wedding, when they’ll take a train to a destination whose location has been carefully guarded, per tradition.

Archer’s best man asks whether he has the ring, and Archer feels in his pocket to check in just the same way he’s seen countless grooms do. Then he stands looking at the door of the church. Handel’s March is playing, reminding him of all the weddings he’s attended here. He thinks it feels like a night at the opera, and he sees all the same people he would see there. The women look excited, the men sulking at having to dress up so early. Archer imagines Reggie Chivers and Sillerton Jackson speculating on the food to be served at the breakfast and the fashion of serving it.

Archer sees his mother sitting in a pew and weeping, and he pities Janey for her poor view of the guests. He also sees Beaufort looking at the women while sitting next to his wife, as well as Lawrence Lefferts seeming to represent the god of “form.” Archer wonders what Lefferts will find lacking, and then realizes that he used to think such things important, though they now seem very trivial. He couldn’t believe how worked up everyone got over whether the wedding presents should be displayed. He thinks that the whole time he was worried about manners and form, people were living real lives somewhere.

The best man gets excited, thinking May is entering, but it’s only the sexton checking the scene in the church. In a minute the door opens again, and the Wellands enter to the murmur of the crowd. As soon as Mrs. Welland sits, everyone cranes their necks to see who else is coming. The day before, there were rumors that Mrs. Mingott was going to attend the wedding. She sent a carpenter to see whether enough space might be made for her gigantic form, but it seemed impossible. Her family was worried she would insist on sitting in her wheelchair, and they were relieved when someone realized that the chair was too wide to get through the awning between the door and the curb. Mrs. Welland refused to let the awning be removed, since it would allow reporters to take photographs of May. However, Mrs. Mingott insisted that the wedding breakfast must be at her house, even though it’s in the middle of nowhere.

People are disappointed to see that Mrs. Mingott’s daughter-in-law has come in her place. However, everyone approves of her dress. On the other hand, Medora Manson, entering next, is dressed wildly in stripes and fringes. Archer’s heart practically stops. He thought Medora was still in Washington with Ellen. They supposedly left in order to get Medora away from Dr. Carver, who wanted her to join his Valley of Love. They weren’t expected to attend the wedding. Archer strains to see if Ellen will enter, too, but no one else comes in.

The best man points out that May is here, but Archer is hardly aware of the procession going up the aisle. All the sights and sounds of the wedding are mixed up in his mind. He checks again to make sure he has the ring, and May is beside him at the altar and he smiles at her. Then the ceremony is over and the organ is beginning the Mendelssohn March, a traditional necessity. The best man hisses at Archer to give May his arm, and Archer realizes his mind has been drifting because he saw a woman with dark hair, though when she turned she looked nothing like Ellen.

Archer and May leave the church and enter the waiting carriage. May turns to him eagerly, and Archer rambles about his nervousness at the wedding while he feels he’s falling into a black abyss. She flings her arms around his neck, exclaiming that everything will be wonderful now.

After the wedding breakfast, Archer and May change their clothes and get into their carriage in a shower of rice and satin slippers. They drive to the station and settle in the train compartment that’s been reserved for them. They’ll be staying at the house of some of Archer’s aunts in Rhinebeck. May loves this idea, and the Englishness of staying in a country house adds to society’s feeling that the wedding is particularly brilliant. Only the parents of the bride and groom are allowed to know where they’re going.

Once the train makes it to the countryside, conversation is easier than Archer expected. May wants to talk over the wedding, and neither of them seems any different than the day before. For May, the whole thing feels like a game and a great adventure. Archer is amazed that she can be so emotional and yet lack any imagination. He perceives that she will always deal with life as it comes, but never anticipate anything unusual. She looks more like she represents a moral ideal than a real person, and she seems indestructibly young. Archer feels like she’s a stranger, and he begins talking about the wedding breakfast to cover his confusion.

May says she was surprised that Medora Manson showed up, and she wishes Ellen had come instead. Archer has been dreading her bringing up Ellen; it feels like his world will collapse every time he hears her name. He changes the subject to the tea they’ll have when they arrive.

When they arrive in Rhinebeck, Archer and May meet one of the van der Luydens’ men who has been sent with a carriage. He informs them that there’s a water leak at the house where they were supposed to stay, and Mr. van der Luyden has prepared the stone house at Skuytercliff for them instead. Archer can only stare, but May exclaims that it will be perfect. As they drive away, she gushes that the van der Luydens rarely show the house to anyone, though Ellen has told her she thought it the only place she could be perfectly happy. Archer says that’s just what they’ll be, and May says this is the beginning of their good luck.