Who settled the naming of the anniversaries of the wedding day is not known, but it was a happy thought; for it is a charming idea to celebrate the different wedding anniversaries by entertaining one's friends in some novel way. It is not enough to make the celebration a mere gathering of one's friends to spend an evening contemplating a spectacle of mutual felicity; there must be something done to entertain them, and in this day of innovations the hostess must have her wits about her to find some form of jollification which will interest the entire assemblage. The anniversaries have been recognized by the following titles for many years and are variously celebrated:
- One year , Cotton Wedding.
- Two years, Paper Wedding.
- Three years, Leather Wedding.
- Five years, Wooden Wedding.
- Seven years, Woolen Wedding.
- Ten years, Tin Wedding.
- Twelve years , Silk or Linen Wedding.
- Fifteen years, Crystal Wedding.
- Twenty years, China Wedding.
- Twenty-five years, Silver Wedding.
- Thirty years, Pearl Wedding.
- Thirty-five years, Lace Wedding.
- Forty years, Ruby Wedding.
- Fifty years, Golden Wedding.
- Seventy-five years, Diamond Wedding.
The first five or six wedding anniversaries are apt to be seasons of delightful frolic for all invited. Usually no sorrow has come to the home and all goes happy as the first marriage bell. The bride and groom are in the heyday of life, and the woman of thirty or thirty-five finds nothing sad in the fact that, while she is not so slender, she is even lovelier in her matronly beauty than on her wedding day.
It is a charming idea to celebrate the different anniversaries by some simple form of entertainment. Include, if possible, in your invitations all the guests who were with you on your wedding day, although a cozy little dinner, to which are bidden the bridesmaids, ushers and intimate friends, will be the most effective celebration.
Fanciful divisions of the years into shorter epochs than mark the silver, golden or diamond weddings are frequently accepted as occasions for merry-making. Of these the wooden, tin, and crystal weddings are those most commonly observed. Other anniversaries, also described in the following pages, are occasions not neglected by the lovers of merriment. The invitations to these souvenir entertainments are usually suggestive of the occasion and are frequently of a humorous or original character, following the lines of some of the invitations given in the ensuing chapters.
The epoch which is marked off by twenty-five years of wedded life is especially honored by being named the silver wedding, while the lapse of another quarter of a century brings the golden wedding, and still another quarter the diamond wedding. Formal invitations to a silver wedding are usually printed in silver and to a golden wedding in gold upon heavy note-sheets, and frequently the initials of the lady's maiden and marriage names are combined in an embossed monogram at the top of the page between the dates of her marriage and its anniversary celebration. Very often these are the only features which distinguish them from invitations to other receptions, the wording being the same, though the golden wedding, being less usual, is noted by a more impressive formula, which "request the honor of your company" the names of the bride and groom being frequently printed a line below at opposite sides of the page. While such invitations may be, and are, varied in many ways, such divergences as personal taste directs are more frequently in the direction of removing than adding formality. The following is a very good form of invitation:
1900 1915
Mr. and Mrs. Walters
request the pleasure of your company
on Wednesday, December the tenth , at eight o'clock
Silver Wedding
James Walters Alice Jones
22 Morris Avenue
Another form of invitation is as follows:
Crystal Wedding
Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Manning
At Home
Friday evening, April twenty-fourth
nineteen hundred and six
141 Van Wyck Avenue
1900 1915
Either of these invitations will serve for any of the anniversaries by simply changing the wording to suit the particular occasion.
At these wedding anniversaries host and hostess are, during the time of receiving their guests, bride and groom, and congratulations are offered them beneath a floral wedding bell, an umbrella or canopy, and afterward they leave their station and go about among their guests. Usually the celebration is regulated entirely after the manner of an evening party. Host and hostess take places in the opening dance, and also lead the way to supper. This is usually found more practicable and is considered better form than the attempt to duplicate the original wedding festivities, which may have taken place in the morning.
Gifts from near friends and relatives are in order, but so deeply rooted is the distaste of refined people for making such occasions the opportunity for display or a draft upon the generosity of acquaintances, that many "invitations bear in the left-hand corner the words "no gifts received." Privileged friends may send gifts, but the latitude allowed in choosing these wedding presents often takes the choice almost if not entirely out of the realm of the designated ware or material of the anniversary. However, appropriate gifts can usually be found and, as in the case of the silver anniversary, this metal is every day extending its sway, and the number of artistic and useful articles that are fashioned out of it is all the time increasing in beauty and variety, one may indulge in the fancy for selecting some articles of silver, without being compelled to choose something which can only be purchased by h large outlay of money.
Of course, as many as possible of the friends who assisted at the first ceremony are present at the anniversary. A feature of the table appointments is usually a beautifully frosted cake, upon which the monogram of the couple and the dates of the marriage and the wedding anniversary are conspicuously displayed.
If one feels free to respond to an invitation to a wedding anniversary by sending a gift, it should be presented to both husband and wife, as such invitations are of course issued in the name of both, and neither should be ignored.
In replying to an invitation to a wedding anniversary, it is quite proper to offer congratulations to those who thus announce the number of years of happy wedlock. A brief and comprehensive formula is:
Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Morgan accept with pleasure Mr. and Mrs. George
King's kind invitation for Friday evening, October the tenth, and present to them
their warmest congratulations on their China Wedding Anniversary.
8 Willow Street.
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