Or a blank may be left and the name of the person invited be written in. If there are cards of admission to the church, they may read:
_Please present this card at the Church of the Disciples Amsterdam Avenue and Eightieth Street on Thursday, the fourth of November_
If many guests are expected, a plan should be made of the church, showing how the numbers of the pews run. Relatives and friends are assigned to these in the order of their relationship or intimacy with the family, those nearest and dearest coming next to the altar. The number of the pew is written on the card of admission to the church. The ushers are provided with duplicate plans, giving the names of these special guests and the pews they are to occupy. Another method is to have cards engraved:
_Mr. and Mrs. . . . will please present this card to an usher_
The latter can then look up the name on his list and see which pew has been assigned to that guest. The bride’s family and friends sit on the left of the middle aisle, those of the groom on the right.
The invitations to the reception are usually engraved on a large white card, according to the following formula:
_Mr. and Mrs. Amos Litchfield request the pleasure of your company_ [or of . . . .’_s company_] _on Thursday, the fourth of November, at half after four o’clock at Seventeen Waverley Place_
The fashion of asking only a limited number of persons to the wedding and of sending out announcement cards afterward seems to be gaining in public favor. These cards are sent to the friends and acquaintances of the bride and groom and their parents. A proper form is:
_Mr. and Mrs. Amos Litchfield have the honor of announcing the marriage of their daughter Margaret Louise to Mr. James Otis Griswold on Thursday, the fourth of November, One thousand nine hundred and fourteen at Windymere West Medford, Massachusetts_
The announcement is engraved on the same sort of paper as that used for wedding invitations. With it may be inclosed a card with the address of the newly married couple:
_Mr. and Mrs. James Otis Griswold Will be at home Three hundred and four after the twentieth West Fiftieth Street of November New York_
Announcements are usually mailed immediately after the marriage. If the “At Home” cards are sent out with the invitations, they contain no name, but simply the statement: