Handmade wedding stationery by Smudge Design offers a beautiful range of unique contemporary handmade wedding invitations and stationery. All are individually and carefully made by hand with extra attention to detail.

Your wedding stationery is the first glimpse of your special day and can be used to reflect the colours or themes of your wedding. Each design is therefore offered in various colours that can co-ordinate with your colour scheme, maybe reflecting on the colour of your bridesmaids dresses or your flowers. There is no extra charge for tailor making a design to suit your colour scheme.

We are confident you will love our unique designs that are at affordable prices with no extra add on catches and without compromise to quality.

Alternatively you may wish to take advantage of our bespoke service for a totally personal look. We are happy to work with you to create an individual theme or concept. Please contact us for details.

We aim to provide a friendly and professional service using the finest quality of materials. Our online brochure provides all our wedding stationery designs and ranges for your perusal. Details for ordering samples can be found on our sample page. We offer two free samples.

Lastly, we'd like to wish you all the best for your wedding day.

Complete Guide To The History Of Wedding Invitations

In the beginning..
Around 1447 a wedding would be announced by means of a town-crier. A man who would walk round the streets announcing the news of the day to the people of the town. So anyone who heard the news would become part of the celebration. The more noble people, who were more literate, begun the practice of written wedding invitations. They used monks who were skilled in the art of calligraphy to hand-craft their invitations. The wedding invitations often carried coat of arms, or personal crest, of the individual and were sometimes sealed with wax. Today, the use of a crest or seal is still a common choice in society for wedding invitations and a useful way of adding a touch of class.

The Present..
As technology has advanced so have wedding invitations and wedding stationery. At first, wedding invitations were still delivered by hand, due to the unreliable postal system. A ‘double envelope’ was sometimes used to protect the wedding invitation from damage en route to its recipient. During the last century, the emergence of the graphic design trade and the arts has led to millions of designs of wedding invitations and stationery in all different forms and colours, becoming available to everyone at an affordable price.

Wedding invitation from National Master.com

A wedding invitation is a letter asking the recipient to attend a wedding. They are typically mailed out six weeks before the wedding date. Wedding invitations can sometimes have fancy writing on them known as calligraphy. Other types of printing include engraving, thermography, letterpress printing and sometimes blind embossing. Most of time, they are mailed in double envelopes. The inner envelope can be lined in a matching color, is not gummed, and fits into the outer envelope. The outer envelope is gummed for sealing and addressing.

Along with the wedding invitation, the ensemble may also include a response card or folder and envelope. The respond card or folder is traditionally used for gathering totals for the caterer and getting a general number of guests attending. The recipient is asked to mail back the respond card or folder roughly two weeks before the wedding or by the date indicated. The envelope is pre-addressed and pre-stamped by the wedding party for ease.

Other pieces often included in the ensemble are the reception card or folder, map or direction card, and accommodation information. The reception card simply lists the addresses and times of any post-wedding events, such as a cocktail hour, dinner or dance. Map or direction cards provide details about the location of the wedding and reception. The accommodation information gives helpful tips about airfare, transportation or hotel arrangements for out-of-town guests. Local attractions may be featured as well. Oftentimes the accommodation information is sent in advance with the save the dates.

A save the date is similar to an invitation and is mailed up to one year before the wedding date. Save the dates simply announce that the wedding date has been set and encourages recipients to plan for the event. It is not used as a substitute for the wedding invitation and typically mentions that an invitation will follow.

In countries that issue them, the envelope may be franked with love stamps. In the United States, the postal service issues a love stamp each year specifically denominated to cover the double weight of the invitation and reply (a rate slightly less than the cost of two regular stamps).