Edwardian Wedding Part One

Invitations and Gifts

Invitations should be sent out three weeks before the date of the wedding. They should be engraved and mailed in sealed envelopes with two cent stamps. The paper should be the cleanest white available with no decoration at all.

In the same envelope are enclosed the church card and the cards of invitation to the more or less limited number of guests who are asked to the wedding breakfast or reception. If the invitation includes a breakfast, a response should be sent at once; if only a reception no reply is necessary. If you do not go send cards as you would to any other reception.

If the wedding is a small private one to which only intimate friends are invited, announcements cards should be sent on the day of the wedding to all who have not been invited.

For a large church wedding, invitations to the church are usually sent to all the acquaintances of the respective families and reception cards enclosed in those to friends only.

An acceptable form of lettering is:

Mr and Mrs John James Smith

Request the honour of your presence

At the marriage of their daughter

Amanda Jane

To

Mr. Gregory Leroy Jones

On Tuesday afternoon, March the

Tenth

At two o’clock

First Presbyterian Church

Ashville

The invitation is folded once and enclosed in one envelope.

The announcement card usually follows this wording:

Mr. and Mrs. John James Smith

Announce the marriage of their daughter

Amanda

To

Mr. Gregory Leroy Jones

On Tuesday the tenth of March

One thousand nine hundred and eleven

Ashville

This is folded once and enclosed in an envelope on which the name only is placed. This envelope is placed in another one bearing both the name and address.

If there is to be a reception at the house after the church ceremony then cards should be enclosed which state that fact:

Reception

From half past two o’clock

18 Lincoln Avenue

Once the invitations have been sent out, the bride-to-be should find herself a notebook so she can write down a list of her gifts. She should not write a lengthy letter to friends who send gifts, but a cordial note of thanks.

It is best to have two forms of letter ready, one to those you don’t know very well, and a more intimate, chatty one for friends and close relatives.

Gifts are sent to the bride from one to two weeks before the wedding. However, the guests should not send a gift until they receive a receipt of their card.

If the guest is invited to the church only, and not the breakfast or reception, then they do not need to send a gift at all. Sometimes these guests will send flowers on the day of the wedding.

Guests should avoid duplicating gifts. A good way to overcome this is to discuss the subject. If the guest is a close relative such as an aunt or uncle, a check is a welcomed gift to the new couple.

The best man can, if he chooses, send a gift to the groom. The gift should be a silver toilet article, a smoking set or something similar.