The elaborate nature of wedding invitations is nearly as long as the traditions of weddings themselves. In this article, I'll briefly cover the history of wedding invitations as we know them, and in doing so hopefully reveal some of the reasons why our invitations are constructed the way they are.
During the middle ages, weddings were often announced by a town crier to all and sundry; anyone who heard the news was generally invited to join in the party. After the invention of the printing press, however, it became common practice among the nobility (since the common folk were largely illiterate) to deliver written or printed invitations to their wedding guests. These invitations were often enclosed with a protective piece of tissue to prevent the calligrapher's writing or the primitive printed ink from smudging. This is a practice which survives to this day, for example, invitation kits that use tissue paper or the substitution of a piece of elegant, translucent vellum.
Often, the nobility would affix or emboss their crest, seal, or coat of arms onto these invitations to lend them legitimacy and a sense of class. This is yet another tradition that is still observed in modern times with the faux wax seal.
Lastly, these invitations would often include a small "response card" and envelope, which were used by the invitees to RSVP and allowed the wedding planners to determine roughly how many guests to plan for.
Hopefully this brief overview has helped to equip you with knowledge of the traditions of the past, so you can move forward with confidence into your future! Subscribe to the blog so you won't miss my next article, History of Traditional Wedding Invitations Part 2, where I'll focus on the history and practical uses of double wedding envelopes.
