The countdown to the royal wedding is on: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have finally sent out wedding invites to 600 lucky guests, Kensington Palace has confirmed.
‘Invitations to the wedding of Prince Harry and Ms. Meghan Markle have been issued in the name of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales,’ the Palace stated on its official Twitter account, before providing further details of the itinerary for May 19th.
‘Guests have been invited to the service at St George’s Chapel and to the lunchtime reception at St George’s Hall, which is being given by Her Majesty The Queen,’ the statement continued. ‘Later that evening, around 200 guests are being invited to the reception at Frogmore House given by The Prince of Wales.’
It’s thought that the guest list for the latter part of the celebrations will include Meghan and Harry’s closest friends and family.
According to the Palace, the invitations themselves follow ‘many years of Royal tradition,’ and are the handiwork of Barnard & Westwood, a London-based printing company that has held a royal warrant ‘for printing and bookbinding by appointment to Her Majesty the Queen’ since 1985. They can also boast a second royal warrant from the Prince of Wales. Managing Director Austen Kopley said he was ‘thrilled and honoured’ to be making them for the couple.
‘The wedding of Prince Harry and Ms. Meghan Markle will be a truly special occasion and we are thrilled to be able to create equally special invitations for their guests,’ he added. ‘We are incredibly honoured to continue our longstanding work for The Royal Family, and to be involved in such an important moment for the couple and their family and friends.’
Perhaps in a nod to Meghan’s Californian roots, the invites have been printed in gold and black using American ink on English card, then burnished for shine and gilded around the edges. At the top of each card is the three-feathered badge of the Prince of Wales, printed in gold ink.
The invites are the work of Lottie Small, who recently completed her apprenticeship with the printers, using a process known as die stamping on a 1930s machine she has nicknamed ‘Maude.’