Chapter 4

All the relations from both families are invited to the wedding and Flaubert describes the country fashions that ranged from the First Communion dresses of the adolescent girls to the coats of varying lengths worn by the men.  The wedding party and all the guests walk to the Mayor's office for the civil ceremony and then to the church and afterward they follow a hired violinist back to the farm. Monsieur Roulaut escorts the elder Madame Bovary while the elder Monsieur Bovary flirts with a country girl.  The dining table is in the carriage shed and amply supplied with hearty country food, cider and wine.  The wedding cake is an extravagant three tiered affair topped by real rosebuds.  The banquet lasts past nightfall, full of music, dancing and displays of strength.  Eventually many of the guests drunkenly made their way home while others stay up all night drinking in the kitchen.  At his daughter's request Monsieur Roulaut manages to prevent some of his coarser relatives from engaging in the traditional wedding night pranks though one cousin nearly succeeds in spitting a mouthful of water through the keyhole of the bridal chamber.  The following day Emma seems unaffected by her lost virginity while Charles is obviously smitten with the girl.  Two days later Emma and Charles travel to Tostes where the elderly maid greets them and offers Madame a tour of her new home.