Back in the Day  – circa 1930′s – 1960′s — diamonds weren’t necessarily  the first choice for engagement rings. He might have waited to buy the engagement ring after he proposed – least the ring didn’t suit her hand.

Diamonds were expensive, so most engagement rings used small solitaire stones — which look best on a small hand.

So what was the hot engagement ring thrilling brides mid-century?

Birthstones!

Brides could choose a much larger semi-precious stone, and the ring would also be much more personal to her. We think this is a really lovely and romantic idea to bring back.  And how romantic if he designs a one of a kind engagement ring, using her birthstone? He is honoring her birth, her uniqueness, which honors her parents. Familial and romantic. Sweet.

Idea: If he gives you an engagement right after the wedding date has been settled on, you may choose the color of your wedding month for the engagement ring, or in some of the colors for your wedding.

For wedding color ideas, you might want to look at these vividly colored  Vintage Wedding Invitations here >>

So, here is a list of Engagement Ring Birthstones:

JANUARY:  Garnet. Deep, rich, red and romantic.  The garnet is found in other colors: orange, green, yellow, blue, purple and nearly clear. A mix of these jewel colors will brighten an already brilliant January Winter Wedding.

FEBRUARY: Amethyst. Violet loveliness. Perfect for the most romantic month!

MARCH:  Aquamarine, or bloodstone. A brilliant aquamarine was a popular engagement stone, for women who were not born in March as a substitute for a diamond.

APRIL: Diamond. Oh well.

MAY: Emerald. The deep rich green of Emeralds can be used beautifully in  May weddings. Especially paired with clean bright white.

JUNE: Pearl. This is a trend waiting to happen. Pearls are just a perfect metaphor for love and marriage. Lemonade out of lemons, and pearls from irritation!

JULY: Ruby. Deep rich ruby red. Use with a lovely pale blue and crisp white. Lovely for summer and both blondes and brunette hair color.

AUGUST: Sardonyx, Peridot, or Carnelian.

SEPTEMBER: Sapphire (an oldtime favorite engagement ring)

OCTOBER:  Opal.  Some say that it’s unlucky to wear an Opal if you are not born in October, but very very good luck if your birthday falls in the 10th month. A pearlescent wedding design, with rustic accents would just be dreamy.

NOVEMBER: Topaz. Brilliant in any color:  from clear to blue, reddish brown or pink.

DECEMBER: Turquoise or Lapis Lazuli.

There is some really great information about various gemstones here.

The Do-it-Yourself Solution to Wedding Invitations: DIY Kits

Can DIY wedding invitations look as good as professionally printed wedding stationery?

Papermaking is an ancient craft. Legend credits Ts’ai-Lun, a Chinese eunuch in the emperor’s court, with inventing paper about 105 AD. Specimens were found in the Great Wall of China which date back 200 years earlier. These papers were made from hemp.

Papermaking was a guarded secret in China for centuries but traveled to Korea then Japan (about 600 AD). It spread westward along the silk trade routes when the Samarkand people gained the knowledge about 750. (The papermakers were tortured to get them to reveal the methods.) India (800-900 AD) and the Arab world adapted the technology to their own materials and uses and soon completely replaced papyrus (which is not paper).

The first mills in Europe were built by the Moors in Spain and Italy during the 11th century. Vellum and parchment (calfskin and sheepskin) were preferred by the church and court scribes. The invention of moveable type and the printing press in 1455 increased demand for paper enormously. Access to ideas and knowledge changed the world. Millions of books (copies) were printed by 1500.

Pulp in the Western World was made from old clothes – hemp, cotton, linen until the end of the 19th century. All paper was made by hand until the beginning of the 19th century when various mechanical paper machines were invented. Large commercial mills have worked steadily since 1840. Paper can be made from about 400 different cellulose fibers, including hemp, kenaf, corn stalk, sugar cane, straw, bamboo, banana, mulberry. Agricultural waste (stalks and husks) from many of our foods can make strong, attractive papers. Paper can be made to be very temporary (newsprint) or can last more than one thousand years. The paper in books printed before the 19th century is still in excellent condition because it was not made from wood pulp.

See a short, related article by William Morris

The Use of Wood for Paper

During the Industrial Revolution fast machines printed books and newspapers. Demand for paper skyrocketed. There weren’t enough rags. The Civil War stopped most cotton production and the war effort needed rags for bandages. The shortage of raw materials after the Civil War was critical. All sorts of fibers were tested for commercial papermaking during the 19th century (including cow dung!) Rag was mixed with straw from about 1840 to 1900.

The first use of paper made from wood pulp was little more than 100 years ago (1872). Printers would have nothing to do with it, causing the first wood pulp mills to go out of business. A desperate New England mill shipped wood pulp paper to a Boston newspaper claiming it was rag and straw. The rag and wood mix was found to work well on the press. Industrial chemical (sulfur) and logging suppliers consolidated during the early 1900′s and “cheap” paper (as we now assume all paper is!) eventually dominated the marketplace.

Half of all trees felled each year are used for paper, and some estimates cite remaining old growth rest worldwide to be only 2%. The sulfite (wood chip) paper process creates downstream dioxins and the resulting paper doesn’t hold up over time, most cannot be recycled if it is glossy or coated. Uncoated woodpulp paper can only be recycled once or twice, whereas hemp, kenaf and cotton can be recycled many times.

Four Periods of Chinese Paper Making

Early Period. (206 BC – 220 AD) West Ham Dynasty to East Han Dynasty.

Silk was already availabe for writing and hemp & silk paper was invented in China at this time and produced from fabric scraps. Paper was not yet a popular medium.

Development Period. (265-581 AD) West Jin Dynasty to Sui Dynasty.

The papermaking industry flourished and paper surpassed silk and bamboo as the preferred medium for art and calligraphy.

Leap Period (618-1279) Tang and Song Dynasty.

Varied styles of Chinese paper emerged to suit the needs of the artist.

Peak Period. (1271 – 1911) Yuan, Ming & Qing Dynasties.

After generations of constant development, the technique of making art paper reached its summit. During the period of Shuen-De (1426-1436) in the Ming Dynasty, the excellent art paper made from the fibers of the Qin-tan bush and Sa-Tan rice straw became highly valued for calligraphy and art.

So what does desire for a fabulously modern wedding invitation have to do with Oscar Wilde?

Isn’t it delicious that the growing trend for highly creative wedding invitations has its roots in the Aesthetic Movement of the early 20th century?

Beardsley Illustration to Solome by Oscar Wilde

Beautiful papers (inspired by the opening of Japanese design to European artists), fine letterpress printing (the Fine Presses of the Arts & Crafts movement), theatrical graphic design: all reached a zenith in the late 1920′s. Many of us have seen the dramatically graphic poster art from the turn of the last century (Beardsley, Toulouse Lautrec, Bradley), but few of us have seen the incredible illustrated books from the early 20th century. These books were laboriously produced in limited editions of a few hundred or so. The Great Depression put an end to these amazingly beautiful book productions.

Commercial printing and graphic design went through a series of upheavals through the mid century; the ascendance of the offset press over letterpress, for example. (During the 60′s, 70′s and 80′s letterpress equipment was phased out and junked.)

But none of these changes were as profound as when Computer Graphics and computerized prepress took over in the 1980′s and 1990′s.

Art schools and Graphic Design schools underwent an utter revolution. Design technology was completely decoupled from the previous technologies and printing equipment. Proofpresses, drawers of type, were left stranded. What happened, in effect, is that the outmoded printing equipment could be used exclusively for artistic expression.

Fine printers, typographers and graphic design professors all have a great sense of history, but many of their students didn’t have a clue about anything that came before computer generated fonts and graphics. More and more graphic design teachers began to offer classes in handset type and the old printing techniques. (Previously, this was only taught to as a trade class in high school!) Art Center, The Center for the Book, many other schools became an important influence on the re-introduction of letterpress as a craft. Book Arts became an important movement again, with beautiful limited editions and unique books as objects becoming quite popular to produce. These books are really beautiful, but it is near impossible to make a living producing them. The techniques that people developed began to move into invitation design in the 1990′s and really took off in the past few years.

Contrary to what the wedding magazines tell you, most invitations from the late 19th century through the 20th century were letterpress printed, not engraved. The invitation stock may have embossed borders and decorative elements, but the invitation itself was usually printed letterpress with handset or linotype. (We have a large collections of early invitations from about 1840 – 1940.) The printing quality wasn’t always great.

What has changed, is that modern wedding invitations have become artistic expressions of high craft and aesthetics.

Bella Wedding Invitation : Letterpress : Art after Chagall

Oscar Wilde would be charmed.

“Artists’ books are books or book-like objects, over the final appearance of which an artist has had a high degree of control; where the book is intended as a work of art in itself. They are not books of reproductions of an artist’s work, about an artist, or with just a text or illustrations by an artist.”

From: Artists’ books: the book as a work of art, 1963-1995 by Stephen Bury

In other words, the book as a stand alone object.

Parents of the bride or groom or the couple themselves may choose to send a wedding announcement after the wedding to friends and family. Here is an example of wedding announcement wording:

Mr. and Mrs. Carl Redd Verde
have the honour of announcing
the marriage of their daughter
Violet Blue
to
Mr. Albe Gooden Tuxed
on Saturday, the twenty-first of June
two thousand and eight
Ringfinger, California

Browse InviteSite’s wedding announcements and invitations

Sometimes couples choose to have a smaller, private wedding ceremony or a civil ceremony and invite a larger crowd to the wedding reception. Here is one way to word your reception only wedding invitation.

Mr. and Mrs. Carl Redd Verde
request the pleasure of your company
at the Wedding Reception for their daughter
Violet Blue
and
Mr. Albe Gooden Tuxed
Saturday, the sixth of September
two thousand and eight
eight o’clock in the evening
The March and Vow Hotel
450 South Raymond Avenue
Ringfinger, California

Browse InviteSite’s wedding invitations for receptions

Many couples like to include a deceased parent in memory of their loved one.

Wording for a deceased parent of the groom:

Violet Blue Verde
and
Albe Gooden Tuxed
together with their parents
Mr. and Mrs. Carol Redd Verde
Mrs. Filomina Gretchen Tuxed
and the late Mr. Alvin Lester Tuxed
request the honour of your presence
at their marriage
Saturday, the twenty-first of June
two thousand and eight
one o’clock in the afternoon
First Church of Religion
Ringfinger, California

Wording for a deceased parent of the bride:

Violet Blue Verde
and
Albe Gooden Tuxed
together with their parents
Mrs. Ruth Rosado Verde
the late Mr. Carl Redd Verde
and
Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Lester Tuxed
request the honour of your presence
at their marriage
Saturday, the twenty-first of June
two thousand and eight
one o’clock in the afternoon
First Church of Religion
Ringfinger, California

Wording for a deceased parents of the bride:

Violet Blue Verde
and
Albe Gooden Tuxed
together with their parents
the late Mr. and Mrs. Carl Redd Verde
and
Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Lester Tuxed
request the honour of your presence
at their marriage
etc.

Browse InviteSite wedding invitations

Here are examples of wedding invitation wording when one or both sets of parents are divorced:

Invitation issued by bride’s mother:
If mother has not remarried she uses a combination of her maiden name and her married name.

Mrs. Charlene Verde Brown
requests the honour of your presence
at the marriage of her daughter
Violet Blue
to
Mr. Albe Gooden Tuxed
Saturday, the twenty-first of June
two thousand and eight
one o’clock in the afternoon
First Church of Religion
Ringfinger, California

Invitation issued by both parents, mother has remarried, father has not:

Mrs. Charlene Brown Rosa
and
Mr. Carl Redd Verde
request the honour of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter
Violet Blue Verde
to
Albe Gooden Tuxed

Both of bride’s parents have remarried and invitations are issued by both sets of parents:

Mr. and Mrs. Charlene Brown Rosa
and
Mr. and Mrs. Carl Redd Verde
request the honour of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter
Violet Blue Verde
to
Albe Gooden Tuxed
etc.

Both sets of parents are divorced and both are issuing the invitation:

Mr. and Mrs. Heiromynus Serviet
Mr. and Mrs. Carl Verde
Mr. and Mrs. Clotilde Alister
and
Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Tuxed
request the honour of your presence
at the marriage of their children
Violet Blue Verde
and
Albe Gooden Tuxed
etc.

Both sets of parents are divorced, Bride’s parents are issuing invitation and groom’s parents are being included:

Mr. and Mrs. Heiromynus Serviet
and
Mr. and Mrs. Carl Verde
request the honour of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter
Violet Blue Verde
to
Albe Gooden Tuxed
son of
Mr. and Mrs. Clotilde Alister
and
Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Tuxed
etc.

Browse InvitesSite wedding invitations

Here is an example of wedding invitation wording when the grooms parents host:

Mr. and Mrs. Carl Redd Verde
request the honour of your presence
at the marriage of
Violet Blue
to
Mr. Albe Gooden Tuxed
Saturday, the twenty-first of June
two thousand and eight
one o’clock in the afternoon
First Church of Religion
Ringfinger, California

Ceremony at Home of Friends

Mr. and Mrs. Carl Redd Verde
request the pleasure of your company
at the marriage of their daughter
Violet Blue
to
Mr. Albe Gooden Tuxed
Friday, the twenty-seventh of June
two thousand and three
seven o’clock in the evening
at the home of
Mr. and Mrs. Fanny Farthingale
Ringfinger, California

Continue browsing InviteSite’s wedding invitations

Church Ceremony

Mr. and Mrs. Carl Redd Verde
request the honour of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter
Violet Blue
to
Mr. Albe Gooden Tuxed
Saturday, the twenty-first of June
two thousand and eight
one o’clock in the afternoon
First Church of Religion
Ringfinger, California

Ceremony at Home of Friends

Mr. and Mrs. Carl Redd Verde
request the pleasure of your company
at the marriage of their daughter
Violet Blue
to
Mr. Albe Gooden Tuxed
Friday, the twenty-seventh of June
two thousand and three
seven o’clock in the evening
at the home of
Mr. and Mrs. Fanny Farthingale
Ringfinger, California

Continue browsing InviteSite’s wedding invitations