Marion Harland's Complete Etiquette. Marion Harland

which only a limited number of guests have been invited. If the wedding has been large or was followed by a large reception to which all one’s calling acquaintances may be bidden, the announcement cards are unnecessary and the “At Home” cards are issued with the invitations to the marriage, or are sent out after the bride returns from her trip.

      THE DRESS FOR A WIDOW

      The dress for a widow at her second marriage should be made of some elegant colored fabric and she should wear a hat if the ceremony is performed in a church. There should be no attendants except the father or brother or an intimate friend.

      A young girl without parents and of limited income may quite properly be married in her traveling costume and with the utmost simplicity. If she have a proper sense of the delicacy and solemnity of the occasion she will not, however, go to the house of a strange clergyman for the ceremony but have it performed in the parlor of her nearest friend or relative. In this way she shows her own good breeding and protects herself from any idle remarks. For a girl to join her fiancé in a distant city and marry him there is a step seldom taken in wisdom, whatever the circumstances.

      Notes to all who have sent gifts must be written by the bride before she leaves home.