Invitations
​​
Inviting relatives and friends had always been a sticky affair. Close relatives must, at any cost, be invited by the father or guardian personally. In the case of relatives living away from the place, and where the father or guardian was unable to travel for some reason, a responsible male member, a son or brother, of the family could be delegated, with offers of apologies and salaams, to make personal invitation on his behalf. Where a physical approach was decidedly impractical personal hand written letters could be substituted. Printed and incognito invitation cards were not existent and never accepted. Even a handwritten postcard was valued higher than an impersonal printed invitation. With the advent of invitation cards it became a fanciful extravagance on one hand while people started demanding cards in addition to personal invitations, on the other. Close friends also expected similar personal invitation, from any member of the family, including the bridegroom.
​​
It was a time when almost all the members of the Memon community lived close to each other. The Dhami of the Jamaath concerned was engaged to invite the members, irrespective of whether related or not. Two conditions applied. First, personal invitations should have been completed before Dhami could commence his work. Second, the Jamaath Setth should have been personally invited and his permission obtained to engage the Dhami.
Interestingly, the bridegroom, his parents and members of the household had to be compulsorily invited by the bride's parents or guardians, if they were to attend the Nikah, despite the fact that both sides were involved in deciding on the alliance. The mother-in-law to be and all the ladies of the house must be invited personally by a lady having delegated authority. The usual invitation was addressed to the senior most person to attend the Nikah and the refreshments and Seerani along with their friends and relatives.