Should Your Wedding Invitations Be Professionally Printed

Are you considering printing your own wedding invitations to save on costs?

Many professionally printed invitation styles are really quite affordable but there’s actually so much more than just the dollar cost to consider.

Purchasing your wedding invitations from a printer, especially online, provides many advantages.

• A large selection of unique designs along with top quality papers, a variety of colors, styles and trendy sizes.
  
  
• Beautiful raised lettering when a printing process called thermography is used creating elegant wedding invitations.
  
  
• Many selections to choose from when it comes to font styles and ink colors.
  
  
• Other options available such as having your return address printed on your mailing envelopes and having a colored lining for your inner envelopes.
  
  
• Additional matching items such as response cards, map and direction cards, reception cards, thank you notes and wedding programs can be easily printed at the same time you order your wedding invitations from the printer.

As a bride planning your wedding, your time is at a premium and printing your own custom wedding invitations could be a time-consuming project. Letting a professional printer handle your wedding invitation printing will save you precious time and possible frustration. Let the professionals do what we do best…provide superior quality resulting in gorgeous wedding invitations.

Beach Wedding Invitations

More and more couples are planning beach or tropical weddings. If this is also your theme, it's a great opportunity to be creative and have some fun with your wedding invitation design.

Beach wedding invitations can feature palm trees, seashells, tropical flowers, beach scenes, etc.






How about an invitation in a special shape such as these flip flops shown here.



If you are having a destination wedding, be sure to send out your wedding invitations at least 6-8 weeks ahead of time so guests will have plenty of time to make their travel arrangements. In fact, it might be a good idea to send out Save the Date Announcements months in advance giving guests even more time to prepare.





If you are having a small destination wedding, you may be having a post-wedding reception back home at a later date for your family and friends. You can then send those guests invitations announcing your recent marriage and inviting them to your post-wedding reception. Depending on the type of reception, these invitations may be more informal.

How to Reflect Yourself in Your Wedding Invitations

Today, more than ever, couples are doing everything they can to make their wedding day uniquely personalized. Your wedding invitations are the first piece of your wedding that guests will see so make sure they introduce your wedding and reflect your very own personal style.

When choosing your wedding invitation design, there are several things to consider that can make them uniquely yours.

• Everyone has a favorite color so why not use it on your wedding invitation, especially if that color will be used for your wedding. Your special color could be reflected in the invitation paper, the printed design or the ink color used for your wording (make sure it looks good on your chosen paper color).

• Do you and your fiancee have any special interests or hobbies that will also be visible in your wedding planning? Use special theme wedding invitations for extra emphasis.

• Proudly celebrate your ethnic or religious heritage with specially designed invitations.

• Display your favorite flower which you are probably also showcasing in your wedding bouquets.



• Provide your guests with a cherished photo of you and your fiancee on the front of your invitation.





• No doubt the location of your wedding means something special to you so why not reflect it with your wedding stationery design.



• Celebrate your married name by featuring your monogram in your invitation design.





• Another creative idea for your custom wedding invitations is to include a favorite line of poetry, a beloved quotation, a cherished Bible verse, or words from a special song. Many times the printer of your invitations will also have a large selection of special add-on verses to choose from. Just be sure your chosen style has enough space for these extra lines of printing.

Your wedding invitations should be uniquely personal to match your wedding. With all of today’s gorgeous choices, you are sure to find exactly the perfect design for your special day.

Wedding Invitation Folds

When it comes to wedding invitations, there are several types of folds that you may come across while shopping for your style.

Here are explanations of some of the more common folds.


An invitation folder has one fold down the center of the paper. The fold can appear either at the top or on the side making it a folder. Your wording may appear either on the front of the folder or inside as shown here.





A french-fold means the paper is folded twice creating a four-paneled invitation. This fold is most commonly used with parchment invitations.





A short fold style is created with one fold that is off-centered from the middle of the paper so the invitation has a short front panel and longer back panel. The part of the back panel that is visible may show a special design or be printed with your first names.





Tri-fold occurs when the paper is folded twice either vertically or horizontally to form a three-panel invitation. Both outside panels are folded inward so they cover the middle panel.





A z-fold is created in accordion fashion when the paper is folded twice in opposite directions creating an invitation with three panels.




Of course not all wedding invitations have folds, but now you will be familiar with the various types of folded styles you may happen to see.

Seal n Send Wedding Invitations

If you are looking for an economical and time-saving wedding invitation, a seal n send style might be the answer. Seal and send wedding invitations are all-in-one invitations with pre-marked folding lines for quickly sealing up into a self-mailing piece so no envelopes are needed.


The response card is conveniently attached as the bottom panel of the seal n send with a perforation so guests can easily remove the card for return mailing. Being a postcard size, the response card requires no envelope and therefore only needs a postcard stamp which you provide as a courtesy to your guests.




Prices for seal n send wedding invitations usually include both the return address printed on the outside panel and also the return mailing address printed on the response postcard.




Being true to their name, seal and sends are all-in-one invitations that are easy to fold, seal and send to your wedding guests.

Who Receives Your Wedding Invitations

When you are putting together your guest list and figuring out how many wedding invitations to order, make sure you consider the following:

• Gather everyone's guest lists (bride's, groom's, bride's parents', groom's parents').
• Make sure all those involved in your wedding are on your guest list - bridesmaids, groomsmen, ushers, etc.
• Only one (1) invitation is needed per married couple.
• Order a few extra invitations to allow for last-minute guests and for keeping at least one in your wedding album as a momento (including more in your original order is less expensive than ordering a few more later).
• If you send out Save the Date invitations, make sure all those guests also receive your wedding invitation.

Here are a couple of tips related to your final guest list.

1. Be sure to keep your original guest list so you can mark off each guest's name as you receive their response card back. This will help you to know who didn't reply and who you may want to contact by phone to make sure they received your wedding invitation.
2. Be sure to also make a copy of your original guest list for using when recording your gifts and writing thank you notes.

Finalizing your guest list is just the beginning when it comes to completing your wedding invitation checklist.

Wedding Invitation Embellishments

One of the most popular embellishments for 'dressing up' wedding invitations is ribbon. Ribbon wedding invitations can be simply decorative or the ribbon can be useful in assembling your invitation ensemble.


This invitation design ('Letter of Love') uses the ribbon as an accent to highlight your monogram.






This 'Bound by Love' style uses the ribbon (available in different colors) to actually tie all your enclosures together and then attach them to the inside of the invitation. The response card is perforated at the bottom so your guest can easily remove it without untying the ribbon.





A whole new invitation look is created with this 'Paisley Perfection' design where the ribbon actually attaches the smaller invitation card to the patterned base card.








Two colored ribbons are used to wrap around this 'Tied Together Forever' wedding invitation to create a unique look.



There are also other embellishments that can be used to make your wedding invitations look a little more elegant.



This classic-looking invitation style ('Classically Wrapped') features a floral border wrap. A final touch would be adding a clear rhinestone to the border wrap.







This handsome invitation ('Long on Style') happens to use a thin black cord to tie together its layers.




Please keep in mind that some embellishments might be more bulky and therefore add weight to your mailing envelope resulting in added postage costs.

Flower Themed Wedding Invitations

If your wedding theme is centered around a certain kind of flower, you may consider also using that as part of your wedding invitation design.


Within the category of flower wedding invitations there are several popular themes.


Calla lily wedding invitations
Calla lillies make beautiful wedding flowers especially since they represent majestic beauty.




Daisy wedding invitations
Fitting perfectly as a wedding theme, daisies stand for gentleness, innocence and loyal love.





Rose wedding invitations
Different rose colors have different meanings. For instance, the red rose symbolizes love and passion while the white rose stands for reverence, humility and innocence.




Tropical wedding invitations
If you happen to be having a beach or destination wedding, a tropical flower design would be very appropriate to your theme.






Maybe you don't have a specific flower wedding theme but are looking for a unique wedding invitation, there are many whimsical floral designs to choose from such as the dandelion invitation pictured here.

Another option to having an actual floral design on your wedding invitation is to simply choose a paper color that matches the color(s) of your flowers.