Cheap Wedding Invitations

A wedding is the ceremony in which two people are united in marriage or a similar institution. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of wedding vows by the couple, presentation of a gift (offering, ring(s), symbolic item, flowers, money), and a public proclamation of marriage by an authority figure or leader. Special wedding garments are often worn, and the ceremony is followed by a wedding reception. Music, poetry, prayers or readings from Scripture or literature also may be incorporated into the ceremony. Prior to the invention of the Printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in 1447, weddings in England were typically announced by means of a Town crier: a gentleman who would walk through the streets announcing in a loud voice the news of the day. Traditionally, anyone within earshot became part of the celebration. In the Middle Ages, illiteracy was widespread, so the practice of sending written wedding invitations emerged among the nobility. Families of means would commission monks, skilled in the art of Calligraphy, to hand-craft their notices. Such documents often carried the Coat of arms, or personal crest, of the individual and were sealed with wax. Nowadays cheap wedding invitations are also available. Even today, the addition of a crest or seal is popular for "high society" wedding invitations, adding a touch of class. A wedding invitation is a letter asking the recipient to attend a wedding. It is typically mailed six to eight weeks before the wedding date. Wedding invitations may be printed using one of the following methods: engraving, lithography, thermography, letterpress printing, sometimes blind embossing, offset printing, and more recently, on laser and inkjet printers as many do-it-yourself brides are printing on their home computers. Invitations can be ordered from an artist, or vendor specializing in invitations. For the artistically inclined, they can be handmade. Traditionally, wedding invitations are mailed in double envelopes. The inner envelope may be lined, is not gummed, and fits into the outer envelope. The outer envelope is gummed for sealing and addressing. In countries that issue them, the envelope may be franked with love stamps.