CHURCH DECORATION 175 



to the flowers, and so they are practically useless 

 and certainly not ornamental. I am quite sure that 

 if five vases of undulating heights were filled in a 

 perfectly natural way with Lilium Harris!, Arums, 

 white Tulips or other long-stemmed flowers which 

 the seasons give us, the altars would look much 

 more simple and artistic, and moreover the flowers 

 would last considerably longer. 



There is one church to which I should like to 

 point as being beyond criticism in the way their 

 floral arrangements are carried out ; it is St. Paul's, 

 Knightsbridge, where a large number of important 

 society weddings take place. 



For many years I was appointed by them to 

 carry out the decorations for a great proportion of 

 these ceremonies, but it was not until the wedding 

 of Miss West to His Grace the Duke of West- 

 minster that I was able to prevail upon those in 

 authority at the church to allow me to depart 

 from the usual formal style of decoration, and con- 

 vert the altar and screen into artistic bowers of 

 flowers and foliage ; the fact that they have never 

 returned to the old way speaks volumes for the 

 result of the experiment. 



An ecclesiastical edifice is naturally and pro- 

 perly sombre and dignified in its lines, but weddings 



