Evening star., 1940-05-23
Serve Snack
TOBridal
Party
Need Refreshment
Before Reception
After Long Fast
BY EMILY POST.

From time to time I have ex-
planned the importance Of having
the wedding reception follow i'm
mediately after the ceremony-not
only because this is the correct pro-
cedure but because in may opinion
nothing could be more inconsiderate
Of wedding guests than to expect
them to 60 home and change into
ordinary clothes, watch the clock,
dress again in wedding clothes and
go back later to the interrupted
festivity. For out of town wedding
guests, the inconvenience is neces-
sarily even greater. Whether this
custom may be spreading I don't
know but it seems to me that many
readers have been asking what to do
about providing a luncheon between
an early ceremony and a later re-
ception for friends who come from
a distance and can't go home and
back.
The usual answer is that the
reception should follow Immediately.
But really important how-to-
supply-food question concerns the
members of the wedding party who
have tasted midnight before, in
preparation for communion, and will
have to stand receiving wedding
guests for another hour if there is
no intermission between ceremony
and reception. This letter is typi-
cal:
Our wedding ceremony Is being
followed by a mass, which means
that none Of us in the wedding will
have had any breakfast. So how
else can it be arranged except to
ask wedding guests to a reception
later In the day? The wedding is
not until II o'clock in the morning
and by the time the end of the
service has arrived, food has be-
come a very real necessity. We
would therefore like to have break
fast Immediately for the wedding
party. But when and how can we
then begin to receive our friends?"
The answer to this is very simple
since invitations to the reception
generally read half hour after the
wedding. In any case, since the
wedding party leaves the church
at once, and always arrives home
or wherever the reception is being
held little ahead of the guests,
preparations could be made to have
tray of coffee and sandwiches
waiting for them in the room where
they are going to receive. The few
earliest guests, who are certain to
be members Of the family, can very
well hold of any early others at
the door of entrance until the tray
has been carried away and the
bridal party is ready to receive.
This much food should certainly
be enough to tide them. over until
the real breakfast is served.
Dear Mrs. Post: Is the hostess
served first when there are two
men guests at the table and she is
the only woman? My husband will
sit in his usual place opposite me
and one of the men guests will sit
at my right and the other on my
left.
Answer-When there is no woman
guest at her table. then and then
alone may the hostess be served
first. In other words, a lady is
always served before a gentleman.
Correctly. all the courses should
begin with you and the first one go
around the table to your right, your
husband being served in turn; the
next course around the table to your
left. In this way the same gentle
man will not always be proffered
the dish last. II q dish Is brought
In from the pantry already served
on q plate, the first one is given to
you, the second to the gentleman on
your right, the third to the one on
your left and the fourth to your
husband. You understand, Of course,
that If one Of your guests were a
womAn-even very young one-she
should be served first. If she were
not yet grown, then you would be
served first, and she In her turn as
she happens to be seated.