The Lace Wedding Anniversary
At the end of thirty-five years comes the lace wedding. The adornments for this, as far as the drawing-room is concerned, can consist of broad lace of different kinds, no matter if it be a trifle coarse, draped among the flowers over the mantel, pictures and mirror. Festoons of it can hang from the chandeliers and have lace shades on the lamps.
A quaint and picturesque idea would be to christen the dinner or reception a Louis XVI. affair, and request your guests to appear in appropriate costumes, with powdered wigs, lace stocks and hand ruffles, satin gowns or coats and knee breeches, such as were worn by the lords and ladies of the French court of that period. Issue the invitations written on fine linen handkerchiefs with lace borders. Capital imitations of the real article can be purchased, made of paper, with beautiful lace borders.
The dinner table can be made to look most beautiful. Have no tablecloth, but the polished table with a large lace centerpiece and lace doilies at each plate. Have several sizes of doilies at each place and larger ones arranged at various positions on the table; it is also dainty to place smaller lace doilies on the plates under the bread, cake and bonbons.
A charming effect is obtained by having a lace runner through the center of the table, from one end to the other. If a tablecloth is desired, cover the table, to begin with, with delicate green silk or satin and over this place an entire cover of lace, or a fine thread curtain will answer admirably.
The napkins should be edged with lace. This may sound like extravagance, but, as the lace will not be injured in any way, it can be ripped off and used for other purposes.
In the center of the table place a tall, slender vase of crystal or silver and fill it with maidenhair ferns and carry a piece of moderately broad lace from each flat dish to the top of the tall center vase. Cover little pasteboard baskets and trays with green satin, and edge them with lace frills. In these put the bonbons, etc.
If the bonbons are white and green, and the ices of pistachio and vanilla, the dainty color scheme will be still further carried out. Have lace-paper doilies on the plates under the bread and cake and utilize others wherever possible.
Jean Wilde Clark, Ed., "Wedding Anniversaries: The Lace Wedding," in Weddings and Wedding Anniversaries: A Book of Good Form in the Conduct of Marriage Ceremonies . . . with Added Chapters about the Various Anniversaries, New York: The Butterick Publishing Company, 1910, pp. 121-122.
