The Wooden Wedding Anniversary

One of the most widely celebrated wedding anniversaries is the wooden one; and now, when so many really attractive presents may be purchased in wood, such an anniversary could hardly fail to be artistic.

A pretty fashion for the invitations is to send them out on small birch-bark cards enclosed in envelopes of wood-colored English paper.

The rooms may be decorated with wooden bowls. Deep chopping with cut flowers and ferns, may be placed here and there. The fireplaces should be banked high with logs.

Wreaths made of shavings twisted about wire rings until they form full round circles may be tied with broad ribbons and hung against the wall in a conspicuous place, and the dates “1909” and “1914” cut from wood and placed in the center of the wreath frames.

Tall candlesticks of wood should hold lighted tapers, which may be covered with shades or not, according to the taste of the decorators. Use asbestos protectors for shades.

If the collation be served from a large table, it should not be covered with the usual fine cloth of linen but be left with the polished surface showing.

Small wooden dishes and noggins, plain or decorated with pyrography designs, may be placed on doilies made of birch-bark or heavy paper tinted to represent the bark, and filled with salted nuts, stuffed olives, bonbons, and fancy cakes.

Larger dishes of wooden-ware may be used for the salads, etc. A wooden bowl arranged as a fernery or filled with flowers or fruit may be used as a center decoration, and wide ribbons of wood-colored satin may nm from one corner of the table diagonally to the other.

Candelabras of wood or candlesticks may be placed at the corners of the board and filled with candles covered with silk or crépe paper shades.

Almost any desirable menu may be served, and if the guests are seated instead of having it a “stand up” affair, small favors may be placed at each cover; little wooden sabots, which are considered lucky gifts, tied with ribbon, for the women, and Indian pipes for the men. Small tables may be arranged in the drawing-room for different games.

At one table j ack-straws, at another dominoes, at a third a fishing party, consisting of a tub filled with sawdust in which small penny toys are sunk; and the guests, by turns, fish with wooden forks. At the ringing of a bell the guests change tables as in almost any progressive game. At the end of the game’s prizes consisting of some pretty conceit of wood may be awarded the winners.

Wooden Ware Cotillion

A cotillion is a pretty form to consider for a wooden wedding. If the size of the house or apartment will allow, it would be pleasant to have a small cotillion the prominent feature of the evening, and an intimation to that effect should appear in one comer of the invitation.

For these, select as many smooth, thin pine shingles, either red or white, as the number of intended guests. Have the shingles cut to about 4x6 inches (you can do this yourself with a pair of sharp scissors), and upon them write the invitations.

A pointed camel’s-hair brush and India ink are the best things to use for this work, as ordinary ink applied with a pen would spread. The shingles can be mailed in heavy paper envelopes between two pieces of cardboard, or in stiff ones such as photographers use.

Taking it for granted that the German or cotillion is to be given, clear your drawing-room of upholstered furniture and rugs. If the wooden floor can be left bare it will be more by the spirit of the entertainment. Next, borrow or hire unpainted white-pine tables, chairs, settees, and stools, and arrange these in as artistic a manner as possible.

Cover a large piece of cardboard with ivy leaves or ground pine, and on this green background have the two dates, also a border in white-pine shavings. Do not sew them on too tightly but let them curl and twist in a graceful fashion. Hang this in a prominent position.

Purchase aa many box-wood salad spoons and forks as there are guests. Paint, print or burn on the handles the dates, and the initials of the husband and wife. Decorate each spoon handle with *a bow of ribbon and adorn the forks to match.

When the guests have all arrived the spoons must be passed to the ladies and the forks to the gentlemen, on big wooden trays. The corresponding colors of the ribbon bows designate the partners for the cotillion. Have at least four favor figures and have the favors all wooden.

Hard-wood plaques and sugar scoops decorated with oil colors or pyrography, Swiss carved paper-cutters and pens, briarwood pipes, golf sticks and canes tied with broad ribbons, and pin-cushions set in miniature rocking-chairs or tubs of pine, would all be suitable and effective for this purpose.

The supper should be served on bare pine tables, only doilies being allowed beneath the wooden platters and plates in which the viands appear. The china or glass receptacles which contain the salads are placed inside wooden chopping-bowls, wreaths of 8milax and shavings decorating the edges. Sandwiches, cakes, and bonbons are piled in little wooden tubs and buckets.

Hot dishes, such as creamed oysters or patties, must of course be served in silver receptacles, but these can be hidden, like the salad plates, in others of wood. Little sabots hold the individual ices, a tiny wooden spoon accompanying each.

So many wooden presents will suggest themselves that it seems almost a superfluous task to give a list here. Any kind of wooden furniture would be appropriate; in smaller articles there are Swiss clocks, various kitchen appurtenances, picture frames, brackets and other wooden decorations.

At a wedding of this kind recently given, two of the gifts were matches and toothpicks, a sufficient supply of each to last a life-time, almost, in prettily carved boxes, bearing the monograms of the husband and wife.

A Wooden Wedding Supper

A charming wooden wedding was one where no cloth was used upon the table, the highly polished surface of which gleamed handsomely in the light. Down the center was placed a long, narrow mirror surrounded by a broad band of grey moss edged with a narrow string of smilax. The moss was sprinkled with blue violets, the delicate fragrance of which filled the room. Any favorite small flower could be used with equally good result.

On the silvery surface of this simulated lake was a miniature birch-bark canoe banked with green moss, upon which the dates “1909” and “1914” were formed with blue violets, one date being on each aide of the bank.

Instead of doilies, pretty Indian birch-bark mats decorated with bright-colored quills were used. The first course was raw oysters served on the half-shell. The shells were arranged on beds of seaweed spread upon wooden platters, and the oysters were eaten with small and daintily carved wooden forks. Celery salad, half a lemon and a large square cracker were presented to each guest.

The second course was also served on wooden platters, and consisted of beef croquettes, chicken salad, cheese wafers, sardine sandwiches, and lettuce salad served in half an egg, the yellow of which was mixed with the lettuce. Large wooden forks accompanied this course.

Next came a Maraschino sherbet, served in quaint little wooden piggins and eaten with wooden spoons. Both the forks and the spoons were of Swiss manufacture and were gifts.

The last course was composed of Malaga grapes and sliced bananas and oranges and was presented on pretty little Japanese wooden trays. A delicious substitute for this course would be strawberries, with their hulls, served in small wooden bowls.

Of course, the immense variety of useful and ornamental articles that come under the general head of wooden-ware allows the guests at such an entertainment to consult both purse and inclination in choice of presents.

Outdoor Afternoon Tea

The wooden wedding anniversary may also be effectively celebrated by an informal outdoor “afternoon tea.” Especially is this desirable if the happy pair are living out of town and are the possessors of a lawn and shade trees. The refreshments should be of the simplest description, consisting of fruit, chopped tongue, tomato jelly and lettuce sandwiches, fresh strawberries and cream, strawberry ice cream and home-made angel cake. Iced tea, chocolate and lemonade should also be provided.

If the day be a perfect one, with no possibility of a shower, arrange the tea-table on the lawn, place in the center a large birch- bark canoe or huge wooden bowl, heaping it high with pink moss-rosea (if these are not obtainable, small Boston rosea may be used with charming effect).

An ordinary chopping bowl can be fitted with handles made from barrel staves and filled with luscious strawberries, the handles being concealed under windings of pink satin ribbon, tied in a large bow on top, through which is thrust a cluster of roses. Wooden platters are supplied for the sandwiches and small wooden dishes for the relishes and confections.

The iced tea and chocolate should be served from opposite ends of the table by two friends of the hostess, the tea being poured into thin crystal tumblers from a slender cut-glass pitcher, and the chocolate served from a tall pink and green chocolate pot into small sherbet glasses, a tablespoonful of sweetened cream being added to each portion.

Smaller rustic tables, each decked with a profusion of pink moss-roses, should be supplied for the lemonade and ice cream, and should be attractively arranged either on the piazza or in a small arbor or summer-house.

Serve the lemonade in a cut-glass punch bowl, adding a generous amount of fresh strawberries to the beverage, and pour it into small lemonade cups; the strawberry ice cream also should be placed in a large punch bowl and served in Bohemian-ware sherbet glasses. Both tables should be in charge of friends of the hostess.

Two well-trained maids should be in attendance to replenish the different dishes and bring out fresh relays of china, silver and glass.

Jean Wilde Clark, Ed., "Wedding Anniversaries: The Wooden 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. 101-102.

Jean Wilde Clark, Ed., "Wedding Anniversaries: Wooden Ware Cotillion," 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. 102-103.

Jean Wilde Clark, Ed., "Wedding Anniversaries: A Wooden Wedding Supper," 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. 103-104.