Traditional Wedding Invitations in the U.K.
Weddings are a way of following family traditions. This is done by incorporating little touches of long-held traditions in wedding attire, décor and in the invitations. Invitations set the tone for events and there are basics to follow behind sending traditional British wedding invitations.
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Traditional Wording
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Text in the invitation should convey who is inviting who, who is paying for what, plus all necessary details about the ceremony. If the wedding is being hosted by the bride's parents, for example, it should read "Mr. and Mrs. Lancaster cordially invite you to the wedding of their daughter, Alexandra, to Mr. Robert Frost." If both parents are shouldering the cost of the wedding, both parents' names should appear in the invitation.
Using British English
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Spell out all numerical figures (including the time of the ceremony), all street names and words that normally are abbreviated. This includes words such as boulevard, street or avenue. Follow British English for the invitation, which means spelling "favor" as "favour", "honor" as "honour" and "color" as "colour." Replace "a.m." to denote time with "in the morning" and "p.m." with "in the afternoon" or "in the evening."
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The Design
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Traditional British wedding invitation designs are minimalistic. If patterns are used, a damask (after the rose variety) image often appears in backgrounds or to accent invitation cards. Stylized letters sometimes are used. Celtic influences also are can be represented in font choices and graphics on the invitation. Typically, traditional wedding invitations are square cards that hold different types of information, from the invitation itself to maps.
Calligraphy
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Finish invitations by asking an expert calligrapher to write names of the recipients on the outermost envelope. Traditional British wedding invitations use two envelopes. The outer envelope is where the recipient's address and name are written. An inner envelope reiterates whom it is for, with a more casual approach on inviting recipients to the ceremony. Check the prefixes and spellings of all names and make titles are correctly written before sending.
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References
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