Although the engraved card is occasionally used for an elaborate luncheon,
especially for one given in honor of a noted person, formal invitations to
lunch in very fashionable houses are nearly always written in the first
person, and rarely sent out more than a week in advance. For instance:
Dear Mrs. Kindhart (or Martha):
Will you lunch with me on Monday the tenth at half after one
o'clock?
Hoping so much to see you,
Sincerely (or affectionately),
Jane Toplofty.
If the above lunch were given in honor of somebody--Mrs. Eminent, for
instance--the phrase "to meet Mrs. Eminent" would have been added
immediately after the word "o'clock." At a very large luncheon for which
the engraved card might be used, "To meet Mrs. Eminent" would be written
across the top of the card of invitation.
Informal invitations are telephoned nearly always.
Invitation to a stand-up luncheon (or breakfast; it is breakfast if the
hour is twelve or half after, and lunch if at one, or one-thirty), is
either telephoned or written on an ordinary visiting card:
[HW: Sat. Oct. 2.
Luncheon at 1 o'clock]
Mr. and Mrs. Gilding
GOLDEN HALL
If R.s.v.p. is added in the lower corner, the invitation should be
answered, otherwise the hostess is obliged to guess how many to provide
for.
Or, if the hostess prefers, a personal note is always courteous:
Dear Mrs. Neighbor:
We are having a stand-up luncheon on Saturday, October Second, at
one o'clock, and hope that you and your husband and any guests
who may be staying with you will come,
Very sincerely yours,
Alice Toplofty Gilding.
Golden Hall
Sept. 27.
A personal note always exacts a reply--which may however be telephoned,
unless the invitation was worded in the formal third person. A written
answer is more polite, if the hostess is somewhat of a stranger to you.
=THE FORMAL LUNCHEON OF TO-DAY=
Luncheon, being a daylight function, is never so formidable as a dinner,
even though it may be every bit as formal and differ from the latter in
minor details only. Luncheons are generally given by, and for, ladies,
but it is not unusual, especially in summer places or in town on Saturday
or Sunday, to include an equal number of gentlemen.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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