When the circle of acquaintances is very large and invitations must be limited to a certain number, the announcement cards may be sent to others.
A wedding invitation, unless it includes a wedding breakfast, limited in number, requires no reply. Cards sent afterward are all that is necessary. These cards, and whatever congratulations are sent, are addressed to the ones in whose name the invitation or announcement was sent out—usually the parents of the bride. A congratulatory note to the bride is always in order among intimate friends, but this bears no relation to a response to the invitation.
WEDDING ANNIVERSARY INVITATIONS are simply, "Mr. and Mrs. George Lathrop, at home," etc., with date and residence. They are printed on cards or note sheets, preferably the latter, and the character of the occasion is indicated by a monogram at the top of the page, in the centre, flanked by the two annual dates, as "1837 [monogram] 1887." If for a golden wedding this heading is lettered in gold; if for a silver wedding, in silver, the invitation being, as usual, printed in black ink. It is good form to engrave "No presents" in the lower left corner, if such is the wish of "the bride and groom."
DINNER CARDS OF INVITATION may have this form:
MR. AND MRS. GEORGE LATHROP
request the pleasure
Of ………………………………
company at dinner on Thursday,
……………. at seven o'clock.
95 Willow Street.
The above form may be engraved for perennial use by a host or hostess who frequently give dinners, and always on the same day of the week. Blanks are left to be filled in with the name of the invited guest and the exact date. Or for a single occasion the form may be without any blank spaces, and the phrasing read, "Request the pleasure of your company."
A dinner given in honor of some distinguished guest requires an invitation card specially engraved. This form is most deferential:
To meet
GENERAL LA FAYETTE,
MR. AND MRS. GEORGE LATHROP
request the honor
of …………………… company
at dinner
on Wednesday, May tenth,
at eight o'clock.
95 Willow Street.
If the honored guest is esteemed on the score of personal friendship rather than public distinction his name will be given last, instead of first, on the card, the phrasing of the invitation remaining the same.
Invitations to dinner should be answered at once, and no one should accept if there is the least doubt about being able to be present. Only the most serious detentions suddenly arising will excuse a failure to keep a dinner engagement once made. If such contingency does occur at the eleventh hour an explanation and apology should be sent to the host or hostess without delay in order to give opportunity for securing "the fourteenth man."