“Mr. and Mrs. Nelson Brown request the pleasure of your company at the marriage of their daughter, Helen Adams, to Mr. Charles Sprague, on Tuesday afternoon, October the thirteenth, at four o’clock.”
“R. s. v. p.” may be added if desired. Some people prefer to “request the honor of,” etc., as more elegant.
WEDDING CARDS
Wedding-cards are enclosed in two envelopes, with the inner one bearing the name only and left unsealed.
Sunday weddings are not good form, and Friday is, owing to the old superstition, not popular. Probably more weddings take place on Wednesday than on any other day.
At a home wedding, the bride often has but one girl attendant, and that one is the maid of honor. The bride tells her what kind of dress she wishes her to wear, and the bridegroom provides her bouquet for her. He also sends the bride her bouquet.
THE MATTER OF EXPENSES
The wedding expenses of the bridegroom are the flowers for the bride and her maid of honor or bridesmaids, the carriage in which he takes his bride to the train, the carriages for best man and ushers, and the clergyman’s fee. Besides this, he usually provides his ushers and best man with a scarf-pin. In some cases he gives these attendants also their gloves and ties; sometimes he does not. The bride’s family pays all other expenses, including the decorating of the house, the invitations and announcement cards and the caterer. If guests from a distance are to be met at the train by carriages, the bride’s father pays for these.