Weddings have been a tradition that has lived longer than time memorial. Every religion and race of the world has their own set of cultures to bind two partners in the holy bond of love. When we talk about weddings, it is not only the ceremonies or the fun and celebration that comes to our mind, there is also the harder part of it, the planning, management and the stress that comes along.

With the ever-growing trends and the changing cultures, the hype and show of having a grand celebration with several pre-wedding and post-wedding functions, the pressure on both the families has increased along with their expectations and wishes.

A very important and hectic part of the whole wedding planning is deciding the wedding invitation, selecting the design, theme, content and then the distribution. It takes a lot of effort to get the perfect card with the theme and style that you wished for. The cost and timely distribution is another big challenge. With all the other transforming trends, wedding invitations have also gone through that with people wanting more exclusive and intricate designs.

Importance of Wedding Invitations

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Once the wedding is fixed and dates have been decided by both the families, it is time to start the planning and arrangements. There is a whole list of things that need to be managed. From the booking of suitable venues to finding the right decorators and caterers, from shopping for the gifts and the clothes for all the functions to buying the right jewelry and other gifting items, the list goes on till the very last day. One such important work is getting the wedding invitations printed for inviting all the guests.  All near and dear ones and known people are invited to give their blessings to the new couple. For this purpose, it is a trend to give all of them a formal invitation. It mentions all the dates along with venues and time of the events. Then cards are distributed according to who has to be invited in which function.

In a few religions, it is a tradition to invite people for the wedding with a pack of sweets or dry fruits. Some people give gifts as a mark of sharing their happiness with others. Most people believe that inviting people through an invitation card is a mark of respect. As the card is mostly given in the name of the eldest member or the head of the family, it means inviting the whole family with the mention of “with family” along with the name.

History of Wedding Invitations

The wedding invitations are very different as compared to what they were many years back. Before 1447, when the movable printing press was not invented, the town crier was used.  A man who walked in the streets announcing the marriage, invited people of the town. Anybody who would hear him would become part of the festivities. After a few years, in the Mid Age, most of the population was still illiterate, so only the members of noble families hired calligraphers. With their help, beautiful handcrafted cards were made.

Then came the period of 1600’s where the printing press was available but the technique was poor. It produced poor-quality printed invites and so invitations started to be published in newspapers. Later in 1642, metal-plate engraving became popular among the people for getting their invitation cards made. It created elaborately-crafted content with the name of each guest. Before modern technology came into use which started with the development of thermography and letterpress printing, Lithography was used. It meant printing by mixing oil and water in all proportions while the invitations were still distributed by men on horseback. 

Changes in Trends

As the wedding invitations have seen so many transformations since the very beginning, they still are in the constant process of transformation. It helps to get something better with each passing wedding season. Earlier the cards were simple with all the details of the events, having names of family members.  It had a printed picture of a holy symbol or any God or Goddess on the top of the card or the envelope. They came in bright colors associating it to the celebration of the event. But as the buying capacity of the people grew, the wedding became the epitome of luxurious living and a matter of showing off for the people with constant inspirations from social media, invitations changed too.

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Owing to the shift to an environment-friendly lifestyle, few people like to get the cards printed on recyclable paper, costing more the usual. Few families like to get their invitations printed in lighter colors or according to the theme of their events instead of the common bright colors. Some partners wish to get their photos printed on the top or anywhere in the card, designed to make it look unique and memorable. These days there are even cards in big gifting boxes, containing a combo made of the invitation card along with sweets or other items. People even like to break the stereotype and get exclusive cards printed with animal figures symbolizing Gods. Other items related to the wedding being printed on the top is also popular. Few of them are with a floral design, special font or printing style.

Every day there are new ideas and concepts coming up in this area of wedding planning too and more and more people are shifting towards it to get a natural and unique touch to their invitation cards.

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