Life…interrupted.
If we were going to assign a tagline to 2020, I think that sums it up.
While much of our current daily lives have been on hold, planning for the future still goes on—and that includes weddings. Despite the uncertainty surrounding circumstances today, if you’re a future bride or groom, you know you have to make decisions about those upcoming nuptials, including your printed materials.
At Callender Printing, we want to make planning for the big day as stress-free as possible. With all the things you have to be concerned about, the invitations, place cards, thank you notes and other printed materials shouldn’t be on the list. That’s why we’ve gathered some helpful tips for designing and printing those items.
Know what you need
The size of your wedding, the formality of it and your own personal preferences will be the determining factors for how much printed material you’ll need. The following is a list of items many brides and grooms have professionally printed:
- Save-the-date cards
- Invitations
- Invitation inserts
- RSVP cards
- Envelopes
- Programs
- Escort and place cards
- Menu cards
- Directional signs
- Thank you notes
How many of these you need for your wedding is entirely up to you. Some couples choose to include all of these things, while others limit their printed collateral to invitations and ceremony programs.
Invitations
Invitations are the most popular item to have printed. Gone are the days of poring through books of invitations and ordering the one you like best. In the digital age, you can have a custom invitation created for you or you can even create one yourself. While customizing your invitations may seem easy, there are some important things to take into account.
- Choose the right size for the mail. If you plan to mail your invitations, you’ll probably want to keep them between 3.5 x 5 inches and 6.125 x 11.5 inches. Otherwise, they’ll cost more to mail.
- Decide if you want to use standard-size envelopes. Custom envelope sizes can also increase your cost.
- Extras like embossing, foil and metallic inks are fun and glamourous touches, but they may add to the cost—so keep your budget in mind.
Stick with one style
Choose a style for all your printed items. Wedding website The Knot recommends the following:
“You should have an idea of the type of event you’re throwing – classic and elegant, casual and relaxed, or glam and modern – before you start shopping for stationery.”
You’ll want to keep fonts and colors consistent across all your printed materials. That doesn’t mean you can’t use the colors in different ways on different pieces; just be consistent in the colors you use.
Don’t get fancy with the font
It’s a good idea to stick with a highly readable font—you want your guests to be able to read what you printed. While novelty fonts can be fun, you want the printed pieces at your wedding to be useful and beautiful.
Graphic designer Grace Fussell recommends timeless fonts like Caslon or Allura and advises against a funky font:
“Unless it’s a themed wedding, this might not be the time to experiment with a novelty font. Stay well away from grunge, marker-pen, and distressed fonts that might look cool, but will make your designs look too informal and flyer-like.”
Another consideration when it comes to legibility is to avoid light-colored fonts on a light background and dark-colored fonts on a dark background.
Avoid crowding the page
Whether you’re creating an invitation, a ceremony program or a save-the-date card, only include the necessary information on the page. Too much type can give your printed piece a crowded feel and will reduce the ability of your guests to get the information they need. A crowded invitation or program will also lose some of its elegance.
Know your budget
Printed pieces can look amazing with added touches like embossing, foiling, metallic inks and coatings, but all those things may add to the cost. If you’re on a budget, decide which special finishes are a must have and use them sparingly. Another option is to go all-in on the wedding invitation and keep the style similar without the extras for the other printed items.
Order extra
Always order a few more items than you think you’ll need. It can be expensive to go back and print invitations or thank you notes after they’ve already been printed once. Consider that you’ll probably want some invitations for keepsakes, and you might need a few extra in case you add people to your list. Work those into your final count to keep your costs down.
Ease the wedding stress
Don’t let printing items for your wedding add to your stress. We know planning a wedding is a lot of work, and it has been made even more difficult by the current uncertainty. Despite the interruptions to “normal” life, our staff is ready to do our best to reduce your wedding worries and help give you the wedding day you’ve dreamed of.
Dan Woehrman is owner of Callender Printing, offering full-service printing capabilities – including letterpress, offset and digital – with union craftsmen quality. Share your thoughts on Facebook or on Twitter @CallenderPrint.
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