The History of Reading Telegrams To Announce Your Vintage Wedding Day

Are you planning a vintage wedding? Telegrams. STOP. Always used to be read at weddings. STOP. Better than a ‘With Regret’ card. STOP. Were a great, fun part of the speeches. STOP. Could be quite cheeky. STOP. Looked beautiful. STOP. Sort of miss them. STOP. Today is World Post Day, so we wanted to acknowledge the great forms of historic communication that were once used to announce weddings!

(first published 2014)

Telegrams were common forms of correspondence for various special occasions right from the time the first message was sent in 1844. The development of the telegram offered a convenient way to send information very quickly, making it ideal for wedding correspondences. People readily embraced this mode of communication to offer messages of congratulations and to announce special occasions. Lots of different designs and versions existed, some handwritten and some typed. Unfortunately, the telegram became the bearer of bad news during wartime, as this type of correspondence informed families that their sons and husbands serving in the military were killed or missing and gradually, the telegram fell from favour. By the early 1980s with the advent of mobile phones and better telephone communication, they were all but obsolete.

Wedding telegrams were treasured by the couple for their entire lifetime as a piece of history to look back and reflect upon. Generally, you would find the telegrams sent to them on the first page of their wedding album or kept with their cards, a reminder and a keepsake of the day they spoke their vows. They also sometimes conveyed saucy jokes and rhymes and became part of the Best Man’s speech. We’d like to share some of the example telegrams we found but they are WAY too rude for this blog! Regardless of the sauce, it was still a great way for people not at the wedding to be remembered and send their best wishes.

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Western Union stopped sending telegrams in 2006 and the last telegram in the world was sent in July 2013 when India’s state-owned telecom company shut its telegraph service, the last of its kind in the world. However, if you still want to create one there are plenty of internet companies that will produce a replica for a wedding you can’t attend, try Telegram Stop for a great retro-looking version as seen below…