tomary to give a bridegroom a personal wedding present.
Q. Should one send a gift upon receipt of an invitation to a wedding?
A. While anyone who receives an invitation to a wedding may send a present, it is not necessary to do so. This is also true of a wedding announcement.
Q. The twenty-fifth wedding anniversary is called the Silver Wedding. What are some of the other wedding anniversaries which are given special names?
A. Some of the most generally celebrated wedding anniversaries are as follows:
Cotton Wedding—first year.
Paper Wedding—second year.
Wooden Wedding—fifth year.
Tin Wedding—tenth year.
Silk and Fine Linen Wedding—twelfth year.
Crystal Wedding—fifteenth year.
China Wedding—twentieth year.
Silver Wedding—twenty-fifth year.
Pearl Wedding—thirtieth year.
Ruby Wedding—fortieth year.
Golden Wedding—fiftieth year.
Diamond Wedding—seventy-fifth year.
Q. Please tell me the proper way to acknowledge a wedding announcement.
A. Announcement cards need no acknowledgment, although carefully courteous persons leave cards or call on the bride’s parents within two weeks after receiving the formal notification of the marriage. Not infrequently the friends of the newly wedded pair answer an announcement card by a brief note addressed to the bride or to the groom. This, of course, is usually done only when the friend lives at a distance.
Q. What is the proper procedure of a best man in regard to the handling of the wedding ring?
A. The best man carries in his right-hand waistcoat pocket the wedding ring and in his left-hand pocket the fee for the clergyman. He joins the groom in the room set aside for their use and walks with him to the spot where the marriage is to take place. The best man stands one pace behind the bridegroom. Anticipating the moment that the ring is to come into requisition he advances and places it in his friend’s hand. At the conclusion of the ceremony the best man procures the groom’s hat and gloves for him and slips the envelope containing the fee into the clergyman’s hand.
Q. If a toast is proposed does the person who is toasted drink from his glass?
A. The person who is toasted does not drink the toast.
Q. Does a woman precede or follow her escort down a receiving line?
A. A woman is received first.
Q. Upon which finger does a man wear a wedding ring, when the double ring ceremony is used?
A. A man wears a wedding ring, as a woman does, on the finger next to the little finger of the left hand.
Q. Should the engagement ring or the wedding ring go on the finger first?
A. The engagement ring is worn over the wedding ring.
Q. When wedding gifts are displayed should cards be attached?
A. The cards should always be removed before the wedding gifts are placed on display. The bride-elect or some member of her family should make a list of the gifts with the names of the persons sending them before removing the cards. This is to enable the bride to acknowledge them. Of course, if possible, it is better to write notes of thanks as the gifts are received.
Q. Is it necessary always to write notes of thanks for wedding gifts received?
A. In no circumstances should a bride
