Cards for wedding anniversaries bear the names of the married pair, the hours of the reception to be given and the two dates, thus:
June 15, 1880——June 15, 1905.
If the anniversary be the Silver Wedding the script may be in silver; if a Golden Wedding, in gilt. Wooden Wedding invitations, engraved or written on paper in close imitation of birch bark, are pretty. At one such affair all decorations were of shavings, and the refreshments were served on wooden plates. The Wooden Wedding is celebrated after an interval of five years. At a Tin Wedding, tinware was used extensively, even the punch being taken from small tin cups and dippers. This wedding marks the flight of ten years of married life.
The reception is usually held in the evening, and husband and wife receive together, and, if refreshments are served at tables, they sit side by side. It is proper to send an anniversary present suitable to the occasion. Such a gift is accompanied by a card bearing the name of the sender, and the word “Congratulations.” It is customary to send such a gift only a day or two before the celebration of the anniversary.
An anniversary reception is just like a reception given at any other time, and rules for conducting such a one apply to this affair. To repeat the wedding ceremony, as is sometimes done, is in bad taste.
CHRISTENING PARTIES
In close sequence to weddings and wedding anniversaries we give a few general directions for the conduct of christening-parties.
As the small infant is supposed to be asleep early in the evening, the christening ceremony should take place in the morning or afternoon. As it is not always convenient for the business men of the family to get off in the daytime on week days, Sunday afternoon is often chosen for such an affair.