Episode 511 - Hats at the Table
Your Awesome Etiquette podcast episode for the week. Plus your weekly etiquette challenge, the Monday joke, and an etiquette extra straight from the writing room of Bridgerton.
On today’s show, we take your questions on how to address a wedding invitation when the bride has already taken the groom’s last name, whether ladies should wear hats in a restaurant, and saying thank you too much when dining out. For community members, your question of the week is about whether shower hosts should be invited to the wedding. Plus, your etiquette salute and a postscript segment where we interview one of the show writers from Bridgerton.
Etiquette Extra - Bridgerton Courtship
In keeping with the Bridgerton theme from this week’s podcast interview, we wanted to share the incredible article These were the real rules of courtship in the ‘Bridgerton’ era from National Geographic. If you find old-world manners interesting, and we know this audience does, this is one not to miss. The article covers everything from entering the marriage market to diamonds to avoiding scandals.
Gifts were a crucial part of courtship and ranged from books and perfume to highly symbolic presents like rings.
One of the most cherished gifts? Hair. “A lock of hair was an incredibly intimate physical gift because you’re literally giving part of your own body to another person. Hair never decays, so it’s a symbol of eternal love,” Holloway says.
“People talked in their letters about taking locks of hair to bed with them, kissing them, talking to it as if it was the absent lover.”
It was important that gifts were timed to the correct stage of courtship. “You can’t open a courtship by giving someone a lock of hair,” Holloway says.
TEST YOUR SOCIAL SKILLS With the first-ever Emily Post Mind Your Manners trivia game! Based on the etiquette from Emily Post’s Etiquette, The Centennial edition. Both of these are available signed via Bridgeside Books. Get yours today!
Weekly Etiquette Challenge
We’re working our way through our five magic words, and this week’s is “I’m Sorry.” I’m Sorry, it can be used for mistakes large and small. It helps us take accountability and responsibility, and it can be used to express sympathy. Do your best this week to look for ways, big and small, to deliver a good apology or express sympathy with this common phrase. The more you use it, the easier it gets
Rain or shine, as the summer rolls on, we thank you for spending a few minutes with us thinking about good behavior. We look forward to seeing you on Thursday. Until then!
All the best,
Lizzie and Dan
Happy-Monday Joke
"What do you call a pony with a sore throat?"
"A little hoarse."