History

The history of wedding invitations is long and ever changing. Invitations can probably be traced back a couple hundred years when the tradition actually started. In the 18th century Europe's upper class would use invitations for social events. Nobility would invite each other to these events with hand written invitations. During that time period writing showed evidence of schooling. Even when invitations could be printed with the press, nobility would still hand write their announcements to show their good taste and breeding.

Surprisingly a beautiful writing style was developed in those times due to the crude writing utensils. the quill of a feather was cut on an angle to create one of the first pens. due to the angle, the writing style was very ornate with both thick and thin lines throughout the script. this style developed into what we call calligraphy.

After the invitation was written it was placed in a handmade envelope. Names would be written on the envelope and a hot wax seal would be attached to the envelope with the family crest on it. At that point invitations were always hand delivered by a servant regardless of weather conditions. In order to protect the invitation from mother nature an outer envelope was used. Delivery directions were also written on the outer envelope. When the servant arrived at his destination he would remove the outer envelope and deliver the invitation. he would then wait for a response before returning.

Europe in the mid 13th century brought the printing press into fruition. it seem that it took a while for the press to catch on. The printing of invitations did not begin until the early 20th century. the rich began using printed invitations as a sign of wealth. We actually started using commercially printed wedding invitations in the United States after World War II. Fortunately, the printing press made having quality invitations achievable for a reasonable price. Now the wealth are not the only people enjoying printed invitations.