University of Virginia Library

INVITATIONS

THE form of the invitation depends a great deal upon the character of the function to which one wishes to invite the guests to whom one issues the invitation. Or, to put it more simply, invitations differ according

to the nature of the party to which one invites the guests. In other words, when issuing invitations to invited guests one must have due regard for the fact that these invitations vary with the various types of entertainments for which one issues the invitations. That is to say, one would obviously not send out the same form of invitation to a wedding as to a dinner party, and vice versa. This is an iron-clad rule in polite society.

For example, a gentleman and lady named Mr. and Mrs. Weems, respectively, living at 1063 Railroad Ave., wishing to invite a gentleman named Mr. Cleek to dinner, would send him the following engraved invitation:

MR. AND MRS. LIONEL THONG WEEMS
request the pleasure of
MR. WALLACE TlLFORD CLEEK'S
company at dinner
on Tuesday January the tenth
at half after seven o'clock
1063 Railroad Avenue.

This invitation would of course be worded differently for different circumstances, such as, for example, if the name of the people giving the party wasn't Weems or if they didn't live at 1063 Railroad Ave., or if they didn't have any intention of giving a dinner party on that particular evening.

Many prospective hostesses prefer to send written notes instead of the engraved invitation, especially if the dinner is to be fairly informal. This sort of invitation should, however, be extremely simple. I think that most well-informed hostesses would agree that the following is too verbose:

For receptions in honor of noted guests, word the invitation in this manner:

MR. AND MRS. CORNELIUS VANDERBILT
request the pleasure of your company
on Friday evening February sixth
from nine to twelve
AT DELMONICO'S
to meet Asst. Fire-Chief CHARLEY SCHMIDT and Mrs. SCHMIDT

Invitations to graduating exercises are worded thus:

THE SENIOR CLASS
of the
SOUTH ROCHESTER FEMALE DENTAL INSTITUTE
requests the honor of your presence at the
Commencement Exercises
on Tuesday evening, June the fifth
at eight o'clock
MASONIC OPERA HOUSE
"That Six" Orchestra.