AlwaysStationery.com offers the finest personalized wedding invitations, raised print stationery, embossed stationery, memo squares, tablets, napkins, wedding napkins, thank you cards, notes & many other personalized stationery gifts at affordable prices.

The History of Wedding Invitations

Early wedding invitations were typically announced by a town crier. Town criers were gentlemen that walked through the streets announcing the news of the day. He was so loud that anyone that heard the announcement of the upcoming nuptials was invited to the wedding celebration.

By the Middle Ages literacy was prevalent. The practice of sending written wedding invitations started with nobility. These documents carried a Coat of Arms that were sealed with wax. Even today this practice is still used by high society to add a touch of class.

Families of nobility often hired monks that were very skilled in Calligraphy to create a beautiful handcrafted addressed wedding invitation. This then was dropped off to the attended guests as a splendid work of art.

During the 1600’s the emergence of the printing press brought a new technique to the invitation world. The quality was very poor as the process was simply stamped onto the paper using lead type. This made the tradition of announcing the wedding in the newspaper an established new practice.

Metal plate engraving brought higher quality wedding invitations to the middle class. Engraving requires an artisan to hand write the text in reverse onto a metal plate using a carving tool. This plate was then used to print the wedding invitation. A tissue was then placed on top of the wedding invitation to prevent smudging. This tradition is still used today.

Lithography was invented in 1798 by Alois Senefelder. The need for engraving became less and less as lithography produced very sharp and crystal clear inking. This was the start of the mass market production for wedding invitations.

The postal system was not very reliable and invitations were still hand delivered. This is the double envelop tradition came to be. It was used to protect the invitation from any kind of damage while enroute to the recipient. Today this is still a tradition that is kept even though the advances in the postal system have greatly improved.

Following World War II, rapid industrial growth lead to the common man being able to have the same materialisms that high society was able to afford. Two prominent figures, Emily Post and Amy Vanderbilt emerged on the scene to help the ordinary people with the appropriate etiquette for these and many other formal occasions.

Thermography also was part of this industrial growth after World War II. This process was not as distinct as engraving. It is a less expensive method of achieving raised type and is often called the poor mans engraving. The method produces shiny raised lettering without impressing on the surface of the paper. Wedding invitations whether printed or engraved became affordable for all.