How announcing your wedding and inviting guests first began:

In the old days weddings were traditionally announced by the town crier. A town crier is a person, usually male, who would walk through the town shouting at the top of his voice the news of the day. Anyone who heard this would become part of the celebration.

It was more common that people could not read or write rather than the other way around in those days and so people who would employ skilled people in the art of calligraphy to create plaques with their names on them and sealed with wax. A similar thing known today as a coat of arms.

How printing began:

Later on history it became more and more common to announce weddings in the newspaper. Printers for the general public were not of the best standard and quality and the cost was quite high and so people still did not have their own invitations sent.

It was in 1642 that the invention of the metal-plate engraving was created by Ludwig von Siegen which allowed people, generally from the middle class, to have their own invitations printed. This involved scribing the wording on to a plate and then covering the plate in ink and stamping it on the paper. Tissue paper was then placed on top of the paper to stop the ink from smudging, an approach still used today.

Nowadays printing is very common

After the Second World War and the industrial revolution printing became a lot more accessible to the everyday person. Nowadays it is the done thing to have your invitations designed and sent to the printers for a reasonable fee.

Over the years the modern style wedding invitations have changed in style and size. Years ago the formal wedding invitation tended to be quite large, usually white or cream, usually written in very formal English and perhaps penned in calligraphy.

These days the modern wedding invitation can be a little more non-traditional and there are a lot of different styles and designs to choose from. You can even create your own to make it that much more personal to your own wedding.