Wedding invitation cards

[somegroovychick]

@TLK

When you say they are not printable, are you talking about printing them off your home laser printer? In that case, answer is yes. If you are in north america, go to your local Kinkos. They can help you in what cards are printable and all.

@~desi.girl~

I suppose that makes sense. I was hell bent on buying them online. But I see where your coming from. However I found out that some types of card are not printable. I figured it had something to do the weight of the card? Like the heavier it is, the harder it is to print? Or am I just entirely wrong?

@TLK

Desi, you need to visit your local office supplies store to look at the different grade of papers and printable cards. You need to touch and feel what you want.

@~desi.girl~

Hello there people,

I’m creating my own invites. I’m designing it myself and will get them printed professionally. No letterpress, no embossing, mines will simply be printed flat.

However I’m unsure what sort of cardstock to use? They are weighted in different sizes, its so confusing! Which do I use? I want to use good quality card, not the flimsy thin papery kind, since I won’t be backing it up against a thicker card! Most importantly, it should be printable.

Can anyone help, or even comprehend what I’m going on about? I confuse myself sometimes.
xx

To my knowledge a home office supply store like Home Depot or Kinkos will not have the paper weight appropriate for printing invites. You want a 100 lb or a 130 lb Double Thick Cover paper ideally. If you are going with a professional printer, then they will be able to show you paper samples and provide you with the right paper. Most paper companies don’t deal retail at all unless you look online. Strathmore is a good brand for invitation paper as is Classic Crest. Also yes you are right- the heavier the paper, the thicker it is, so it will not run through your home printer but since you are going to a professional printer, this should not be an issue. If you still want to buy them online, check out www.minted.com - they have lots of invitation options and they’re not super pricey, but again, it depends on your budget.

Also for flat printing- you have two options- you can print digitally which means it prints on a specific weight of paper, like a postcard, and can be glossy or matte in finish. You can use as many colours in a digital design as you like and your files can be created in Photoshop or Illustrator and sent to the printer as a high quality jpeg. Digital printing is basically accomplished with a glorified colour copier and its ridiculously cheap but it may not be suitable for a formal occasion like a wedding.

Offset printing is your other option- for this you would have to find a commercial printer. Offset costs more but you get a better result as you can also choose your paper. Offset is usually limited to 1, 2, 3 or 4-colour printing. The fewer colours you use, the less the cost. This is where you would be able to use 100 lb, 130 lb Double Thick, or even thicker paper if you so wished it. Keep in mind, the heavier the paper, the higher the cost. In offset printing, you can also use metallic ink which is a nice touch- its not super glossy but more subtle and you’d need to get your hands on a Pantone Metallic Swatch Book to see your colour options. Offset designs need to be created in Illustrator or InDesign and output as high quality print pdf’s using vector graphics.

Where are you located? If you’re in Toronto, I can likely show you all these things from what I have and recommend a printer to you.