The preliminaries of a marriage having been duly arranged by the parents and friends on either side, when the day arrived, the groom, bearing his gifts, went to the Ducal Palace, where he was welcomed by his own friends {222} and some of the friends of the bride. The marriage banns were published, and all present shook hands. These friends and the magistrates who were engaged in the ceremony, with the bridegroom, all went that evening to the home of the bride, where they were welcomed by her relatives and friends. And now, for the first time, the bride appeared. She was dressed in white, and still wore her veil, which at the proper moment was unfastened, and as it fell disclosed her long hair falling about her shoulders, and the marriage formula was pronounced. The bride, followed by her maidens, with a rhythmic motion, to the music of flutes and trumpets, then passed around the salons and welcomed each guest, and afterwards retired to her own apartments. Whenever new guests arrived, the bride and her maidens repeated the dance of welcome, and at the end they all descended the staircase to the canal, where a gondola awaited them. The bride's seat was richly decorated, and raised in front of the cabin, and with her attendants she went to a convent to announce her marriage. Here other relatives and friends were waiting to congratulate her. The next day many ladies called to pay their compliments to the bride, and after a few days some grand festivity or a series of banquets took place, as was the case when the marriage of Jacopo Foscari was celebrated. Five or six hundred guests were frequently entertained, and vast sums were expended in decorations of the house, in choice dishes and rare wines, until at last these lavish expenses were restricted by sumptuary laws. About 1450 the wealth of the nobles was at its climax, and such extravagance was indulged in dress and entertainments that in 1514 certain Senators demanded a hearing in full Senate to denounce the ruinous manner in which money was spent by the Venetian ladies. In 1474 certain stuffs and jewels had been actually prohibited by {223} law, and pearls were most severely forbidden. In 1514 amber, chased silver, agates, ladies' cloaks, laces, diamond buttons, chains, silk capes, lace sleeves, enamelled gold, damasks of all colors, velvets of all qualities, leathers, embroideries, fans, gondolas, with their rugs and carpets, and sedan chairs lined with velvet were all put under regulations. The style and cost of entertainments were limited. The expense of the gold and silver plate, the cost and number of courses served, even the sweetmeats and smallest details of the table, were legislated upon. For some time already the Dogaressa had been under strict orders as to her costumes at home and abroad, at church, on ceremonial occasions, and even in the privacy of her own apartment.