A Brief History of the Wedding Invitation
Prior to the establishment of the Printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in 1447, weddings in England were normally announced by the Town crier, who was a gentleman employed to walk through the streets shouting the news of the day. Customarily, anyone hearing the announcement of the wedding could become part of the celebration. Illiteracy was widespread in the Middle Ages, so the practice of sending written wedding invitations was limited to the educated Nobility. A wealthy would commission monks, skilled in the art of Calligraphy, to hand-craft their notices.
Despite the appearance of the printing press, the ordinary printing techniques of the time produced too clumsy a result for the invitations to be considered. The tradition of announcing weddings in the newspaper was established at this time. Announcing your engagement in local newspapers may seem like an old-fashioned tradition, but it's actually one of the best ways to share your news with friends, family and people in the community.
In 1642 Ludwig von Siegen invented the process of metal-plate engraving which brought higher-quality wedding invitations within the reach of the enlarging middle class. Engraving requires an artisan to carve the text in reverse onto a metal plate which was then used to print the invitation. The engraved invitations were protected from smudging by a sheet of tissue paper placed on top - a tradition that remains to this day.
Lithography was invented in Germany by Alois Senefelder in 1798. Lithography allowed the production of very crisp and distinctive prints without the need for hand engraving. This led the way for the emergence of a genuine mass-market in wedding invitations.
At the time wedding invitations were still delivered by hand and on horseback, due to the unreliability of the nascent postal system. A 'double envelope' was used to protect the invitation from damage en route to its recipient. This tradition remains today, despite advances in postal reliability.
Steve Collins is an author and Journalist. Recently married, he understands the importance of Wedding Invitations. Read more about the history of Wedding Invitations in this article.
categories: weddings,brides,wedding etiquette,marriage,history,history of printing,stationery,relationships,love and marriage,love,home and garden,women
