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_To_
_Mr. and Mrs. Ross Clark,_
_On Thursday evening, December fifth,_
_At nine o'clock._
_28 St. Caroline's Court._
_R.S.V.P._]
This invitation, of course, implies a large evening party, reception or ball, and should be sent out ten days or two weeks in advance of the event.
Receptions.
Informal receptions and full-dress occasions of the same kind are announced somewhat differently. In the first case the affair partakes so closely of the nature of an afternoon tea that the same form of invitation is used: MRS. HOWARD POST, At Home, Tuesday, October second, from four to seven.
If a series of receptions are planned the form would be: MRS. HOWARD POST, At Home, Tuesdays in November, from four to six o'clock.
Full-dress receptions are frequently given both afternoon and evening, sometimes in the evening only. Invitations to these should be engraved on square cards or note sheets, and sent out two weeks previous to the reception day. A very good form is:
[Ill.u.s.tration:
_Mrs. Jerome Hastings_
_Requests the pleasure of your company,_
_On Thursday, November twelfth,_
_From five until ten o'clock._
_711 DuPage Street._
_R.S.V.P._]
If a daughter or a friend is to a.s.sist in receiving, the invitation should include her name also: MRS. JEROME HASTINGS, MISS HASTINGS, At Home, Thursday, November twelfth, from five until ten o'clock. 711 DuPage Street.
When the reception is given by a gentleman, and its object is to enable his friends to meet some distinguished guest, the following form is used: MR. HOWARD POST requests the pleasure of the company of MR. ALONZO METCALF to meet GENERAL E.L. BATES. Union League Club. 100 Cedar Street. _R.S.V.P._
Though some prefer placing the name of the honored guest first, according to the form given under dinner invitations. The answer should be:
Mr. Alonzo Metcalf accepts with pleasure Mr. Howard Post's kind invitation to meet General E.L. Bates.
Weddings.
Wedding invitations are issued two weeks in advance, sometimes earlier to friends at a distance, in order that they may lay their plans accordingly. They are engraved in fine script on small sheets of cream note, and the form most used for church weddings is as follows:
[Ill.u.s.tration:
_Mr. and Mrs. Richard Earle_
_Request the pleasure of your company_
_At the marriage of their daughter,_
_Guendolen_
_To_
_Mr. Egbert Ray Cranston_
_On Tuesday, June Eighteenth, 1895,_
_At half-past twelve o'clock,_
_Christ Church,_
_Binghamton._]
Still another form would give the daughter's name as "Miss Guendolen Earle."
There may or may not be a monogram on the sheet of paper, but, if used there, one to correspond must be placed on the inner envelope also.
The envelope, however, may be stamped with a monogram and the paper left plain, this latter style being much in favor. Where the wedding is in church, it is usually followed by an after-reception, cards for which are engraved in some similar form to the following: Reception from one until three o'clock, 107 Was.h.i.+ngton Street. Or: At Home after the ceremony. 107 Was.h.i.+ngton Street.
A still more ceremonious invitation to the reception may be issued in the parents' name, and in the usual form of similar invitations, as: MR. and MRS. RICHARD EARLE request the pleasure of your company at the wedding reception of their daughter, GUENDOLEN, and MR. EGBERT RAY CRANSTON, Tuesday evening, June eighteenth, 1895, from nine to eleven o'clock. 107 Was.h.i.+ngton Street.
If there is reason to believe that the church will be crowded with uninvited guests, admission cards are engraved as follows: Christ Church. Please present this card to the usher. Tuesday, June eighteenth.
How Invitations are Sent.
Several of these cards are usually enclosed for distribution to friends of the invited and for the use of servants that have accompanied guests to the church. This custom is hardly necessary in country towns. All of the cards and the invitation are enclosed in one envelope superscribed with the name only of the person invited, and re-inclosed in another envelope bearing the full address. All formal invitations are to be enclosed in the two envelopes as above; less stately affairs requiring but one envelope; send by mail.
In England, wedding invitations are issued in the name of the mother of the bride only; here custom sanctions the use of the father's name as well. If the invitation is issued in the name of some other relative, then the word "granddaughter," "niece," etc., should be subst.i.tuted for that of "daughter." If the future home of the young couple is decided upon, "At Home" cards also should be enclosed for all the invited guests that the bride desires to retain upon her visiting list. The following form is appropriate: MR. and MRS. EGBERT RAY CRANSTON, At Home, Thursdays in September, from four until six o'clock. 48 Was.h.i.+ngton Street.
Or, in place of designating especial days, it may read: MR. and MRS.
EGBERT RAY CRANSTON, At Home, after September first. 48 Was.h.i.+ngton Street.
Where the list of acquaintances is very large it sometimes happens that a portion of the guests are invited to the church only. When this is the case the reception card is omitted from the envelope; but if a visiting acquaintance is to be maintained, "At Home" cards must be enclosed.
Wedding Invitations.
The home wedding is, perhaps, less stately in appearance, but, involving as it does, less care on the part of friends and less nervous strain on that of the bride, is frequently adopted. The invitations are precisely the same as for a church wedding, merely inserting street and number in place of designating the church, omitting, of course, the card of admittance and that for reception.
The "At Home" card of the newly-married couple should always be enclosed lest doubt as to their new address prove perplexing to their friends.
Sometimes, where life is to be commenced in their own home, the wedded pair, soon after their establishment therein, send out "At Home" cards for a few evenings after this style: MR. and MRS. EGBERT RAY CRANSTON, At Home, Tuesday evenings in September, from eight to eleven o'clock.
