Wedding Anniversary Menus - 1905

It has sometimes been questioned whether good taste warrants the social celebration of wedding anniversaries, and there is much to be said on that side.

If the burden of giving and receiving gifts is imposed, or if mere acquaintances are invited to help celebrate what is in the nature of things a more or less family affair, then the observance of the day is better honored in its breach.

If, however, the keeping of anniversaries is not taken too seriously, if intimate friends alone are asked to some rather informal dinner, luncheon, or reception, and if presents are definitely understood not to be expected (unless in the earlier anniversaries, when they are usually absurdities), then wedding anniversaries become times of real interest and pleasure.

Table Laid for First Wedding Anniversary (Paper Wedding)
© 1902 Beautiful Homes and Social Customs of America
The damask doth rovers a round table. The decorations are white paper roses with green leaves. The candies are shaded with green paper shades. A wedding cake occupies the center of the table. Designed by Janet McKenzie Neil, Editor of the Boston Cooking School Magazine. © 1902 Beautiful Homes and Social Customs of America.

The first anniversary brings the paper wedding, and it seems as though the pretty crêpe paper found in all the shops was especially designed for this.

The drawing-room may have numbers of lamps and candles with frills of rose or scarlet; the card-tables—cards are obviously the best form of entertainment for a paper celebration— may have frills on their edges.

The dining room may have paper ribbons drawn from the sides and corners of the room to a central point over the table, and the table itself may be laid most attractively for a late supper.

Get a set of pretty paper doilies stamped with a floral design; lay circles of felt on the table, and then a centerpiece and covers of the doilies, with others for small dishes and candles.

Have a bowl of flowers like those on the paper, and plain paper candle-shades to match the prevailing color.

Have small dishes for bonbons, radishes, and olives of square pasteboard boxes covered with the crêpe paper, and place-cards decorated with a floral wreath like those elsewhere; and have paper napkins, plain white or matching the doilies, and have all the plates and dishes of paper or papier-mâché, from the baker's.

The Ice Cream Candle

 

Since the supper is informal, this menu will be found sufficient:

• Clam bouillon with whipped cream, in cups.
• Radishes, salted nuts, olives.
• Broiled birds; French fried potatoes; hot rolls; celery; coffee.
• Lobster salad with watercress sandwiches; crackers and cheese.
• Ice-cream candles, lighted.
• Wedding-cake.

The final course is delightfully appropriate for a supper party. The candlesticks are molded out of chocolate or other dark creams, and the candles are of white cream.

Just before serving, a tiny wax taper is inserted at the top and lighted, with a curious and charming effect.

The wedding cake served at all anniversaries may be a rich fruit cake cut in small pieces to represent genuine wedding-cake.

The Wooden Wedding Anniversary (5th)

The wooden wedding comes five years after the actual wedding day. For this, a little dinner, informal, as was the supper, may be arranged. The invitations may be printed or written with a paint-brush dipped in brown paint, on oblong shavings of new wood.

The table may have a large wooden bowl of flowers in the center, and all the food may be served on wooden plates, from wooden dishes; a large assortment of these may be found at the shops.

The place-cards may be squares of burnt wood, with the dates and the monogram of the host and hostess. The last course of the dinner may be served in a decorated chopping-bowl.  

Little souvenirs of the occasion may be pieces of toy woodenware or little market-baskets filled with candy. Serve:

• Oysters on the half-shell; cocktail in half lemon on each plate.
• Radishes, celery, salted nuts, etc.
• Creamed bouillon; hot wafers.
• Deviled fish in shells; sliced cucumbers with French dressing.
• Roast chickens; creamed chestnuts; sweet-potato soufflé; French peas.
• Orange salad with white mayonnaise.
• Bombe glacée; wedding-cake.
• Brie cheese; toasted wafers; coffee.

For the salad, peel large seedless oranges, cut off the ends, and slice each in three thick pieces; lay one on each plate on a white lettuce leaf and put on a spoonful of very stiff mayonnaise in which half as much whipped cream has been mixed.

Bombe Glacée

The bombe glacée is a globe of white French cream with the center of raspberry ice; this looks very attractive in the chopping-bowl wreathed in vines.

The Tin Wedding Anniversary (10th)

A Pretty Table Service for a Tin Wedding Dinner

The tin wedding marks the tenth anniversary, and the bride might give a luncheon for her former bridesmaids. For this, the table should be laid with pretty linen and lace doilies, but the service must be all of tin.

The centerpiece may be a bright, new tin quart measure filled with carnations, pink or red; the candlesticks must be of tin with open-work silver shades lined with color to match the flowers; the small bonbon, olive, and jelly dishes may be scalloped patty-pans.

• Salpicon of fruits.
• Cream of oyster soup; hot wafers; Broiled smelts with sauce tartare.
• Timbale of chicken with sweetbread filling.
• Circles of veal in batter, with mushrooms; French peas; sweet - potato soufflé.
• Hot rolls.
• Asparagus salad; cream-cheese balls; olives.
• Chocolate mousse; wedding-cake. Coffee.

For the timbales, take a tablespoonful of melted butter, half a cup of fine bread crumbs wet with four tablespoonfuls of cream, the beaten yolks of two eggs, and seasoning of salt, Cayenne, grated parsley, and a few drops of onion juice.

Heat and mix well, and add a cup of minced and pounded chicken, white meat only. Last, add half a cup of thick cream and the beaten whites of the eggs.

Butter small molds and press the mixture on the bottoms and sides, and fill the centers with creamed sweetbreads; bake in a pan of hot water twenty minutes, and turn out on small hot plates with a spoonful of rich cream in Sauce.

For the meat course, have small even circles of veal cutlet, rather thin, and dip these and the contents of a can of large mushrooms in a thick batter. Drop into hot, deep fat, and fry till golden brown; pile the mushrooms on the overlapped slices of veal on a long platter.

The Crystal Wedding Anniversary (15th)

For the crystal wedding which comes after fifteen years, send out small sheets of isinglass with your invitations written on them, and give an evening reception to your nearest friends.

Lay your table with a lace and linen cloth and have a flat mirror in the center edged with ferns and daisies, with an odd-shaped basket of the same in the center.

Have two old-fashioned glass candelabras with prisms, if possible, or single glass sticks; the shades should be thin white silk with crystal fringe. Have cut-glass dishes for sandwiches, cakes, and bonbons, and serve the ice-cream on glass plates.

This cream may be a large double mold of white vanilla, decorated with candy daisies and green candy leaves, and a flower may be served with each slice.

• Bouillon.
• Lobster Newburg in cases.
• Sweetbread salad with white mayonnaise; finger-rolls.
• Ice-cream with candy daisies; wedding-cake.
• Coffee.

Ice Cream with Candy Daisies

The Linen Wedding Anniversary (20th)

The linen wedding which comes at twenty years is seldom celebrated, unless in the bosom of one's own family, since its purpose is distinctly useful. If kept, the decorations of the table may be merely the best of one's monogrammed and drawn work doilies and centerpieces, with napkins folded about all the hot dishes.

The Silver Wedding Anniversary (25th)

The silver wedding, marking as it does the quarter of a century of married life, is another matter. For this, a pretty dinner may be arranged, with invitations written on silver cardboard or in silver ink, and guest-cards to match.

The table may have for a centerpiece a large silver bowl of pink or white roses. Use the dinner menu already given but have a final course of vanilla mousse served in silver - paper boxes dotted with small silver candies.

The Golden Wedding Anniversary (50th)

The Dining Room and Table as It Was Laid on the Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary. © 1908 Mrs. Gillette's Cook Book.

For the golden wedding, no trouble is too great to be taken, since the occasion is a rare one. To this, all the friends of a lifetime should be asked, and an afternoon or evening reception is the only feasible plan.

Decorate the house with green vines, and have whatever golden flower is in season. Use an abundance of gold-colored candles with golden-yellow shades.

In the dining-room lay a yellow piece of satin under a cloth with lace insertion, a doubtful thing to do on an ordinary occasion, but just what is needed for this once, and have for a centerpiece a gilded basket of yellow flowers.

The candles and shades here, too, must be gold-colored. A large wedding cake should stand at one side of the table, and at opposite may be a lovely arrangement of ice-cream—a white candy basket with white candy ribbons on the handles, filled with golden ice-cream peaches.

The supper served at this golden wedding may be as elaborate or simple as is desirable, the dishes suggested for the silver wedding being used, or the usual reception menu.

Candy Basket of Ice Cream Peaches

"Wedding Anniversary Menus," in Harper's Bazar, Vol. XXXIX, No. 1, January 1905, p. 80-82.