The invitation to the ceremony is engraved on the front sheet of white note-paper.  The smartest, at present, is that with a raised margin—­or plate mark.  At the top of the sheet the crest (if the family of the bride has the right to use one) is embossed without color.  Otherwise the invitation bears no device.  The engraving may be in script, block, shaded block, or old English.  The invitation to the ceremony should always request “the honour” of your “presence,” and never the “pleasure” of your “company.” (Honour is spelled in the old-fashioned way, with a “u” instead of “honor.”)

Enclosed in Two Envelopes

Two envelopes are never used except for wedding invitations or announcements; but wedding invitations and all accompaning cards are always enclosed first in an inner envelope that has no mucilage on the flap, and is superscribed “Mr. and Mrs. Jameson Greatlake,” without address.  This is enclosed in an outer envelope which is sealed and addressed: 

Mr. and Mrs. Jameson Greatlake,
24 Michigan Avenue,
Chicago.

To those who are only “asked to the church” no house invitation is enclosed.

=THE CHURCH INVITATION=

The proper form for an invitation to a church ceremony is: 

(Form No. 1.)

Mr. and Mrs. John Huntington Smith
request the honour of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter
Mary Katherine
to
Mr. James Smartlington
on Tuesday the first of November
at twelve o’clock
at St. John’s Church
in the City of New York

(Form No. 2.)

Mr. and Mrs. John Huntington Smith
request the honour of
[HW:  Miss Pauline Town’s]
presence at the marriage of their daughter
Mary Katherine
to
Mr. James Smartlington
on Tuesday the first of November
at twelve o’clock
at St. John’s Church

(The size of invitations is 5-1/8 wide by 7-3/8 deep.)

(When the parents issue the invitations for a wedding at a house other than their own.)

Mr. and Mrs. Richard Littlehouse

request the honour of

presence at the marriage of their daughter

Betty

to

Mr. Frederic Robinson

on Saturday the fifth of November

at four o’clock

at the house of Mr. and Mrs. Sterlington

Tuxedo Park

New York

R.s.v.p.

No variation is permissible in the form of a wedding invitation.  Whether fifty guests are to be invited or five thousand, the paper, the engraving and the wording, and the double envelope are precisely the same.

Church Card of Admittance

In cities or wherever the general public is not to be admitted, a card of about the size of a small visiting card is enclosed with the church invitation: 

      Please present this card,
          at St. John’s Church
    on Tuesday the first of November