About twelve o'clock
The ceremony was performed by old Uncle Daniel , the negro preacher on the place , and the children 's father gave the bride away . After the marriage , the darkies adjourned to the barn to dance . Diddie and Dumps begged to be allowed to go and look at them `` just a little while , '' but it was their bedtime , and Mammy marched hem off to the nursery . About twelve o'clock supper was announced , and old and young repaired to the laundry . The room was festooned with wreaths of holly and cedar , and very bright and pretty and tempting the table looked , spread out with meats and breads , and pickles and preserves , and home-made wine , and cakes of all sorts and sizes , iced and plain ; large bowls of custard and jelly ; and candies , and fruits and nuts . In the centre of the table was a pyramid , beginning with a large cake at the bottom and ending with a `` snowball '' on top . At the head of the table was the bride-cake , containing the `` ring '' and the `` dime ; '' it was handsomely iced , and had a candy Cupid perched over it , on a holly bough which was stuck in a hole in the middle of the cake .