bridalty

plural bridalties

1. obsoleteuncountableusuallyA wedding.

   But to favour thee above thy brethren as a priest of infinite merit, we decree that thou shalt be the high-priest to solemnize this bridality.

   1887, Walter Stanhope, The Maid and the Monk, page 209

   2 more examples

   "Were she even that, and death the high priest who should solemnize our bridality, I would to my grave with rapture, if only her beauty shared it with me," returned the passionate Italian .

   1856, Emma Robinson, Caesar Borgia: An Historical Romance, page 49

   The happy pair finally go on their honeymoon, start with the papa for Ostend, "whither, across the watery plain of ocean, the eternal breeze of Eden appeared to fill the snowy sails and propel the switft barque; and whither arrived he witnessed their Heaven-ordained bridality, and then with many a fervent blessing left them to follow out their future diamond-hewn path of existence."

   1864 July 23, “Blackfriars' or, The Monks of Old”, in The Spectator, volume 37, page 855

2. obsoleteuncountableusuallycelebration of the wedding feast; wedding reception.

   in honour of this bridaltee

   1633, Ben Jonson, The King's Entertainment at Welbeck

   1 more example

   […] bridality is to take place this evening […] in the Pineroom at Oglebay Park

   1940, Advertising Research Foundation, The Continuing Study of Newspaper Reading - Issues 16-24, page 6

3. uncountableusuallyAny of the various items or rituals that are part of a wedding celebration, especially those concerning the bride.

   Amusingly written letter about postponing a wedding ceremony at which the Dean was to officiate, discussing arrangements and referring to "toys & trinkets and bridalities of all sorts."

   1958, Walter Romeyn Benjamin, The Collector, page 22

   1 more example

   I came back from Windsor after dinner and escaped the bride, who is so tedious in her "bridality," and sought my own room in isolation; but there she is knocking at the door — happily she is not the younger generation, so her advent does not distress me to tragedy.

   1897 July 17, Mlle. Sans-Gêne, “Notes from my Diary”, in Country Life Illustrated, volume 2, page 56