Four Things to Consider When You Print Your Wedding Invitations on Your Own Inkjet Or Laser Printer
Wedding invitations can be expensive. The daughter longingly looks to the father for approval in ordering the more expensive announcement in the catalog. In turn, the father of the bride has a smile on his face but inside his head he's adding the growing costs of this special event for the daughter he adores.
Fortunately, the desires of both can be met. The bride is able to order the invitation she wants and the father can save a few dollars.
More companies are now offering high quality printable wedding invitations kits available to the retail market. There was a time when only commercial printing companies had access to the blank wedding paper used for invitations.
If you decide to print your own, here are four points to consider when using blank wedding paper.
1) Your printer – It is important to use a newer laser or inkjet printer with a resolution of 300 dpi or better. Since most invitation stock is heavier paper, you need to be sure that your printer can handle this type of paper without curling or jamming. If your printer has a front load paper tray, it may cause the paper to curl tightly around the drum or feeder rollers. The best option is to have a manual feed path in which the paper can pass straight through.
2) The paper – First, if your invitation paper has a high gloss, the ink from your inkjet printer will take much longer to dry as it fits on top of the shine and does not soak into the paper. Second, be careful with paper that has die cut designs. Make sure the paper has a straight edge to feed into your printer. If not, the rollers will not pull the paper in evenly and your frustration will grow as each sheet of paper jams. Also, keep in mind the larger and heavier the paper, the more postage will cost.
3) Last minute additions and changes – When ordering your invitations from a commercial printer, it is recommended you order an additional 25 sheets to cover the names you forgot to add to your address list initially. But when you do your wedding invitations yourself you have the ability to add people to your list as you go. In addition, commercial printers need plenty of lead time to complete your order, so if it becomes necessary to make a change on your invitations, such as a change in location, you will have to place a whole new order. However, when you print your own, you are able to make changes right up to the last moment before you start.
4) Personalizing your invitations – Printed place cards with your guest's name on the tables at your breakfast or dinner will look more classier than to hand write their names on generic cards. You even have to option to use a mail-merge tool to individualize each invitation with your guest's name. A commercial printer could do this for you but it would be extremely expensive.
When you print your wedding invitations yourself, you have the luxury of having exactly what you want, when you want it, and all for a much lower cost. It really is rather easy to do and you have the satisfaction that you did it yourself.