| The traditional formal wedding invitation is a true | | | | arrived during the Victorian era printed invitation |
| work of art and will certainly stand out from the | | | | cards could be wrapped in tissue and enclosed in |
| bulk of your normal mail. Often bearing a | | | | an envelope which was then hand addressed. As, |
| distinctive franking or special stamps, the outer | | | | however, the postal service would almost |
| postal envelope opens to reveal a creamy white | | | | certainly soil this envelope, a second outer |
| inner envelope elegantly address and invariably | | | | envelope would then be used and, despite |
| penned in calligraphy. This inner envelope in turn | | | | considerable improvements in the carriage of |
| contains, wrapped in tissue, the beautifully printed | | | | today's mail, this practice still continues. |
| and hand written invitation card displaying a style | | | | It was also during the Victorian era that the |
| of wording that has been used for generations. | | | | wording of wedding invitation was defined and this |
| The traditional wedding invitation is said to date | | | | too is still in use today. Invitations in general today |
| back to the Middle Ages when the only people | | | | might, for example, "Request the pleasure of |
| who were schooled in reading and writing were | | | | your company..." while a wedding invitation will |
| monks. Their principal task at that time was to | | | | "Request the honour of your presence..." with the |
| produce bibles and other religious books and | | | | word "honour" retaining the English form of |
| documents in an age before printing had been | | | | spelling. |
| invented and they had developed expert skills in | | | | Printing methods have of course changed today |
| calligraphy for this work. It became common | | | | but the most formal of weddings will still use |
| practice therefore for members of European | | | | tradition engraving in which the invitation is |
| royal families and the aristocracy to engage the | | | | pressed onto a metal plate raising the letters on |
| services of monks to provide the first written | | | | the paper. It is also now common for invitations |
| wedding invitations. | | | | to be printed using thermography, which is an |
| By the seventeenth century metal plate | | | | imitation of the engraving process using a mixture |
| engraving had been developed and it was possible | | | | of ink and powder to create a raised effect |
| to print invitations. The inks used at that time | | | | similar to engraving. |
| were however prone to smudge and so a sheet | | | | For less formal invitations normal offset printing |
| of tissue paper was placed on top of each | | | | can be used and increasingly couples are choosing |
| engraving as it was made and this practice | | | | to print their own wedding invitation using a home |
| remains today with traditional invitation cards still | | | | computer. With the huge range of fonts that are |
| being wrapped in tissue. | | | | now available for home computers and, with the |
| Although it was now possible to print invitation | | | | development of relatively inexpensive and very |
| cards, there was still no postal service or indeed | | | | high quality computer printers, printing your own |
| stationery and these would not become available | | | | wedding invitations has become a reasonable |
| until the nineteenth century. Once fine stationery | | | | simple and very cost effective option. |