# The First Wedding explained — Little Women

> Chapter companion for Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.

## What happens

Meg March marries John Brooke in a simple, heartfelt ceremony at her family home. The chapter describes the intimate wedding, the sisters' appearances after three years, and the joyous yet bittersweet farewell as Meg begins her married life.

## Themes in this chapter

### Love and Marriage

Meg's wedding embodies a loving, simple marriage based on mutual affection rather than wealth or fashion, contrasting with the more elaborate society weddings of the time.

### Family and Sisterhood

The sisters cling together before the ceremony, and Meg reassures her family that her love for them remains unchanged, highlighting the enduring bond of sisterhood.

### Coming of Age and Self-Improvement

The chapter notes the changes in the March sisters over three years, particularly Jo's softened angles and Amy's graceful maturity, marking their transition into young womanhood.

## Character check-ins

### Meg March

The bride, dressed in a simple homemade gown and lilies of the valley, radiates happiness and love as she marries John Brooke.

### Jo March

Jo's angles have softened over three years; she refrains from crying during the ceremony and later puts a posy in Laurie's buttonhole.

### Beth March

Beth appears slender and pale, with a shadow of pain in her eyes, but she hides her face on her mother's shoulder during the wedding.

### Amy March

At sixteen, Amy is considered the flower of the family, graceful and charming, and she stands like a statue during the ceremony.

### Marmee March

The mother hides a secret sorrow at losing her first child to marriage, but her heart rejoices at Meg's trust in John.

### Laurie Laurence

Laurie serves the bride, teases Jo, and promises Mr. Laurence he will marry one of the March girls someday.

## Key lines

> I don’t want to look strange or fixed up today. I don’t want a fashionable wedding, but only those about me whom I love, and to them I wish to look and be my familiar self.

Meg insists on a simple wedding where she can be her true self, surrounded only by loved ones.

_Meg's preference for simplicity over fashion underscores her genuine nature and the theme of love over materialism._

> Don’t feel that I am separated from you, Marmee dear, or that I love you any the less for loving John so much.

Meg reassures her mother that marriage will not diminish her love for her family.

_This moment highlights the balance between new marital love and enduring family bonds._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/little_women_se/chapters/part-ii-xxv-the-first-wedding
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/little_women_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/little_women_se/chapters