Undoubtedly the biggest news in the wedding calendar since 1995 Marriage Act which allowed wedding to take place in any licensed venue, is the Civil Partnership Act. It is clear that the number of gay weddings only represents a tiny piece of 'wedding' cake; however the effect on greeting card design trends and the whole feel of cards and stationery for entire wedding market has had a much more significant impact.



Although many greeting card publishers are happily producing overtly gay cards, it is arguably the subtler changes the Civil Partnership Act has had on the straight wedding card scene that is more interesting. On the design front, there appears to be more room for manoeuvre when it comes to the tone of wedding cards for gay couples, who are considered more likely to appreciate a light-hearted approach.

To play it safe, many greeting card companies are opting to use simple words to spell out the recipient's relationship, for example, ?Mr and Mr? or ?Mrs and Mrs?. On another hand, some greeting card publishers has avoided producing designs with obvious same-sex connotations, and are instead steering its entire wedding portfolio along more generic lines that are not gender specific (such as two hearts or two champagne flutes).

This move towards more generic wedding designs has been a long time coming and it can be argued that the groundbreaking nature of the recent law change is actually just the catalyst for wholesale change in the situation that has been quietly bubbling away for some years. For example, the move away from the church as the top venue of choice for wedding in recent years has sounded the disappearance of traditional icons sach as churches, bells and crucifixes.

One trend that seems to be really influencing the wedding scene (no matter what the sex, age or previous married status of the newlyweds) is the demand on higher priced wedding cards. There is nothing like a wedding to make people to spend more on a greeting card! Firstly, people tend to keep their wedding cards to look back on their years, so you would like to think you'd send a card worth keeping. Also there is a chance that your card will be read out on the top table so you really want it to be just right because a wedding card is seen as a joint gift for two people.

All-in-all, it's been a great year for weddings - the floodgates have opened to a new dimensions of wedding card sending occasion and this has really injected a new feeling of vigour and enthusiasm for this high-value market.