PRESENTS=

And now let us return to the more particular details of the wedding of our
especial bride.

The invitations are mailed about three weeks before the wedding. As soon
as they are out, the presents to the bride begin coming in, and she
should enter each one carefully in her gift book. There are many published
for the purpose, but an ordinary blank book, nicely bound, as she will
probably want to keep it, about eight to ten inches square, will answer
every purpose. The usual model spreads across the double page, as follows:

_Present Date of
received Sender's Where thanks
date Article Sent by Address Bought written_
May 20 Silver Dish Mr. and Mrs. White 1 Elinore Place Tiffany's May 20
May 21 12 Plates Mr. and Mrs. Green 2 North Street Collamore's May 21

All gifts as they arrive should be put in a certain room, or part of a
room, and never moved away until the description is carefully entered. It
will be found a great help to put down the addresses of donors as well as
their names so that the bride may not have to waste an unnecessary moment
of the overcrowded time which must be spent at her desk.

=THE BRIDE'S THANKS=

The bride who is happy in receiving a great number of presents spends
every spare moment in writing her notes of thanks, which must always be
written by her personally. Telephoning won't do at all, and neither will a
verbal "Thank you so much," as she meets people here and there. She must
write a separate letter for each present--a by no means small undertaking!
A bride of this year whose presents, because of her family's great
prominence, ran far into the hundreds, never went to bed a single night
before her wedding until a note of thanks was checked against every
present received that day. To those who offered to help her through her
overwhelming task, she, who is supposed to be very spoiled, answered: "If
people are kind enough to go out and buy a present for me, I think the
least I can do is to write at once and thank them." That her effort was
appreciated was evident by everyone's commenting on her prompt and
charming notes.

Notes of thanks can be very short, but they should be written with as
little delay as possible. When a present is sent by a married couple, the
bride writes to the wife and thanks both: "Thank you for