Invitation Printing and Assembling Tips

So you got a fantastic set of stationery designed for your wedding (or other event) through Invites by Andrea - first off, congratulations! Your custom invitations are part of an elite group! ;)

Now comes the decision of how your stationery will be printed and assembled - in short, how you'll get the stationery from Andrea's computer screen into the hands of your guests. The easiest way is to schedule me to print and assemble your invitations for you, but you can always do those steps yourself if you feel up to the challenge! Keep reading for some helpful hints on how to do everything yourself.

1. Know what you need

Before you start, know what tasks you’ll need to perform, how much time everything will take, and what materials you’ll need to purchase. Read through all of these tips and educate yourself on what’s up ahead.

Are you hoping to save money by doing all of the printing and assembly yourself? Look into the costs of all your materials – especially printing ink and paper. It might actually be cheaper to go through me or through another print shop, like Fed Ex Office (formerly Kinko’s), OfficeMax, or Staples.

Here is a list of basic materials you’ll need:
1. Black and color ink (probably several cartridges of each)
2. Paper (make sure you get a little more than you actually need, in case you or your printer makes any mistakes)
3. Quality paper cutter OR exacto knife, extra exacto knife blades, metal ruler with protective lip, and cutting mat
4. Paper scorer or exacto knife (if your project requires folding)
5. Envelopes
6. Address labels (for your return address – saves time on hand addressing! – or for all addresses, if your envelopes are dark in color)
7. Stamps
8. A glue stick or small sponge for sealing envelopes (just run the glue stick over the flap, or wet a small sponge and use that moisture to stick the flap down – so much easier, cleaner, and tastier than licking everything!)
9. Ribbon, extra paper, tape, glue, or any other materials you may need for more elaborate DIY invitations

Do you have enough time to devote to this project? Printing and cutting out invitations doesn’t seem that hard – but it is time-consuming. Make sure you’re not too busy with other aspects of event planning or other commitments that you fall behind schedule and end up sending your invitations out weeks later than you planned!

Are you confident in your cutting abilities? There’s nothing worse than gorgeous invitations with unintentionally frayed edges. Enlist some artistic friends to help, and invest in quality supplies if you’re uneasy about it.

Finally, make all your decisions before you start – what kind of paper you’re going to use, how you’re going to cut your stationary, what envelopes you need, etc. It’ll make your life less stressful if you don’t change your mind on weight of paper halfway through printing everything out.

2. Use a heavier weight, light-colored paper

Typical computer printing/copier paper is 20 lb or 24 lb. Using a heavier paper will help your stationery hold up better in the mail and feel more professional without being too much more expensive. I recommend using something labeled “card stock” or “cover stock” or anything with a weight of 60 lb – 110 lb.

Keep in mind that heavier weight papers may also cost more to send out. I typically use cover stock in the 60 lb – 70 lb range. I can fit two sheets in an envelope and only use one $0.44 stamp – but if I stuff the envelope with three or more sheets, one $0.44 stamp won’t cut it. Take a sample of your complete envelope package to your local Post Office to make sure. Most have a weighing machine you can use to quickly determine the weight (and therefore cost) of your envelope without having to wait in the general line.

Another thing to consider when choosing the weight of your paper is your printer. Not all printers can handle heavier weight paper, but most common printers should be able to handle paper in the 60 lb – 70 lb range. I use an HP Photosmart C3140 All-in-One from 2006, and I’ve never had problems with 60 lb – 70 lb papers. Do a few test prints with different weights of paper to see where your printer may have problems.

Unless you’re going to a screenprinting company, you won’t be able to print light colored words or images on dark paper from your computer printer. If you want a dark background, you’ll need to use ink to achieve that effect on light-colored paper, which could significantly increase your ink costs. Do a test run to see what colors of paper look best with your design. You might be surprised at how purple your blue text looks when printed on red paper.

3. Don't overwork your printer

Your printer probably isn’t used to printing large quantities all at once – especially on heavier stock paper. Be patient. No matter how large an order, I always put only five – ten sheets of paper into my printer at once. It’s easier for your printer to handle 20 five-copy print jobs than one 100-copy print job.

If you do smaller sets, it’s also easier to catch other problems, such as low ink. You don’t want to set your printer to 100 copies, walk away, and come back thirty minutes later to see that the last 50 copies printed without black ink! If you check the quality every five copies, you’ll only ruin a few copies instead of tens or hundreds.

Don’t print everything on the same day. If you’re planning to print 200 invitations, 200 save-the-dates, and 200 RSVP cards (for instance), break the project up over three days. Print 200 invitations the first day (broken down into 40 five-copy print jobs), and then give your printer a nice long break before you attempt to print out the next batch.

4. Know how to print double-sided

If you’re planning on printing double-sided invitations, make sure you know how to place the paper in your printer so that it will properly print the second side on the back. Every printer is different. Do a test run first.

Also check on that test run how well the front and back designs line up. My HP printer does a pretty good job, but the front and back are still off by 1/16 - 1/8 of an inch from each other. An easy way to fix this is to apply bleeds to your stationery. A small margin is added along the outside of every edge of the invitation, and the design is carried outside the borders of the invitation to ensure that no matter where the edge is cut, the design will still go to the edge. If you let me know that you’re planning to print double-sided, I can set an appropriate bleed for your stationery before I send you the digital files.

The black line is the border of your actual invitation, and the red line shows the extra margin added around the sides. The black line won't print - it's just part of the digital file. So if your cut is a little off, your pattern will continue to wherever you cut, and none of your guests will be the wiser!

Another thing to keep in mind with double-sided printing is the weight of the paper. If you’re using a thicker paper in the 60 lb – 70 lb range you shouldn’t have any problems with dark ink from one side showing through to the other side – but if you use a thinner paper, this may be a problem.

5. Don't write off print shops

It’s not necessarily cheaper to print your stationery yourself. Printer ink is expensive and can really add up with large print jobs, especially if you’re printing dark backgrounds or stationery that is heavy in one color. If you have a very blue invitation, for instance, you might go through your cyan-magenta-yellow color cartridge a lot faster than you normally do – since when the cartridge is out of cyan, it can’t print your invitations, regardless of how much magenta or yellow it has left. Estimate how much paper materials and ink will cost before you make your decision. You may find that going through me, or going to a Fed Ex Office (formerly Kinko’s), Office Max, or Staples is actually cheaper than what you’ll end up spending on ink.

If you’re planning to print double-sided invitations and you don’t have a printer that can do so easily, it might be worth it to go to a print shop just for the headaches you’ll avoid. Many print shops have printers that automatically print double-sided, which makes the whole tedious process faster and easier.

Of course, there are other reasons besides cost, time and resources to print your own invitations. I always feel more confident if I can oversee my project through the entirety of its printing process, and it adds a greater personal touch to what are already personalized invitations! Just do your research before you make your decision so you know what all of your options are.

6. Don't cut with scissors

None of my invitation designs are 8.5” x 11” (first, because it’s not a very attractive dimension for invitations and stationary, and second, because there are no good envelopes to package such a large size). This means that no matter what size your stationery items are, you’ll have to do some cutting to get them from the 8.5” x 11” size your printer spews out to the appropriate dimensions.

There are two easy ways to cut out your invitations – by using a quality paper cutter, or by aligning a metal ruler with a protective lip along the edge of your design, and using an exacto-knife to cut a straight line. If you’re using the exacto-knife method, you’ll also need a cutting mat to place underneath your project to protect your table and help ensure a perfectly straight line.

Alumicutter makes great metal rulers with protective lips. Make sure to always use the lip side (the taller side) to line your exacto knife against to protect your fingers.

Heavier weight paper is more difficult to cut, and your blades – whether on your exacto-knife or your paper cutter – will need to be sharp. If you use dull blades, or don’t press down hard enough, the paper will not cut all the way through.

Don’t use scissors. You can’t make a perfectly straight cut with scissors, and you don’t want the edges of your invitations to have uneven, wavy lines. What’s more – you’d have to either print a straight line or use a ruler and pencil to make a guide for yourself, and no matter how hard you try, some invitations will be cut just off of the line. Then you’ll either be stuck with thin black lines on the edges of your stationery, or you’ll have to go back and spend time erasing all the visible pencil lines. It’s more work for yourself, and it’s less attractive than getting a perfectly straight line every time with a quality paper cutter or an exacto-knife.

As part of preparing my designs into digital files that you can print and assemble, I add print marks outside of the edges of your stationery. Just line the paper cutter blade or your metal ruler with those marks to get a straight cut every time!

7. Cut out only one or two items at a time

Though it may be tempting to cut several pieces at once when you have such a large stack of items to get through, resist this temptation. Especially if you’re using heavier stock paper (such as the 60 lb – 70 lb I prefer), the more items you try to cut at once, the more likely some items will not be cut correctly. You wouldn’t want some of your edges to not be straight, or for some invitations to be a good 1/8 of an inch narrower than others, or for your cuts to not slice all the way through the paper. It doesn’t look professional. If you’re using a paper cutter, don’t try to cut more than two items at a time (though one is still ideal), and if you’re using an exacto knife, definitely stick to only one item at a time.

And, as always when you’re dealing with sharp objects, be careful. Don’t rush yourself. It is a time consuming task, often taking several hours, and you just need to be patient. Break the job up over several days. Keep your fingers away from your cutting blades. And if you do injure yourself, don’t be afraid to seek medical assistance. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

(Personal anecdote time: I’ve accidentally given my poor fingers several surface cuts working with exacto-knives on various graphic design projects, but one particularly careless evening, I was in such a hurry that my exacto-knife went over the protective lip of my steel ruler and into my index finger. It was a deeper cut than any others I’d received, but I still figured it would heal just fine, and did nothing more than put a Band-Aid on it. Four hours later, the bleeding hadn’t stopped, and I finally decided to go to an Emergency room. There, my finger was tightly taped up and made a full recovery within a few days (though I do still have a thin scar), but I’d waited too long to receive stitches. I was told that to be successful, stitches really have to be put in within three hours of the injury. If I’d just gone to the Emergency room sooner, I could have gotten stitches and my cut would have healed even faster.)

8. Score paper before you fold it

Scoring paper means creating a slight indentation in the paper before folding. It helps you fold your stationary straight and accurately every time. It may seem like just another step in an already long and tedious process, but trust me, it really helps your invitations look as attractive and professional as possible. Especially if you’re using a heavier weight paper (such as the 60 lb – 70 lb range I recommend), you’ll need to score your paper before you fold it.

If your invitation design requires a fold, I will include scoring marks on the digital file that I send you. Don’t use a paper cutter to score, unless you have a fancy machine that has a scoring/creasing option. The easiest and cheapest way is to just use a ruler and either an exacto knife or a paper scorer. You can get a cheap paper scorer for less than $3 at any arts and crafts or scrapbooking store – they’re often bone or metal, and have a rounded point at the end to crease paper without cutting it.

Line the ruler up with the scoring marks and use either the back of your exacto knife blade or your paper scorer to make a straight line on your stationary. Don’t press down so hard that you cut the paper, but hard enough that you leave an adequate crease. Then, just fold on the crease later for a perfect fold!

9. Avoid glue whenever possible

If you have grandiose DIY ideas for your invitations – such as multiple layers of paper or ribbon – keep in mind that the more stuff you add to your stationery, the more it will cost to ship it, and the more it could get damaged in transit. Ribbons may get creased or flattened in unattractive ways if they don’t lie flat enough in their envelopes. For my own wedding stationery, I left anything that was being mailed out (save-the-dates, invitations, thank you cards, and RSVP cards) perfectly flat, and added multiple layers of paper and ribbons to things that wouldn’t be stuffed into envelopes (ceremony programs, reception menus, escort cards, and table markers).

Whatever you add “extras” to, however, I find that it is always best to avoid glue whenever possible. It’s so hard to get just a dab of glue to hold a ribbon in place without your gorgeous invitations suddenly looking like an elementary school project instead of a professional set of stationery. Double-sided tape works better and keeps things flatter than glue for attaching second layers of paper to your invitations – and why not just use ties in the ribbon to attach it to your stationery instead of glue? It’s easy enough to get a single hole punch and thread ribbon through the hole to hold paper together – and it looks so much classier.

Of course, sometimes using glue is unavoidable for what you want to accomplish. When all I need is a little dot of glue, I use an old exacto knife blade or toothpick to transfer a bit of glue from the container to the stationery, instead of trying to get just a little bit from a larger container. I always find it way too easy to use too much glue – but maybe that’s just me!

UPDATE (Aug. 2012): Long after I finished my own wedding stationery I discovered the wonder of "glue dots" - clear adhesive dots that come in small, medium and large sizes. They're super easy to use and infinitely less messy than struggling with glue. If you'd rather have a thin line of glue rather than a dab, they also make "glue lines!" I've linked to my favorite brand, but several other companies make similar products. Check out your local Michael's or other craft store to see what your options are.


10. Dress up the outside of your stationery

Just as important as what is inside the envelope is what’s on the outside. The size and color of your envelope, the way the envelopes are addressed, and the stamp are the first impressions guests will get of your event. Mail is so boring and white – I love saturated, colored envelopes that really pop. It will instantly draw attention to your invitation and set it apart from the bills in the mailbox with it. Envelope Mall and Paper Presentation have great selections of colored envelopes in all sizes.

Of course, with dark colored envelopes, it becomes a more difficult task to address them. An easy and professional solution is to print address labels with lighter colored backgrounds from your computer. You could also find a white or light-colored gel pen or paint marker to use to hand address your envelopes. I used white Sharpie paint markers for my wedding stationery, and though several envelopes were wasted while I practiced using the liquid paint and getting the ink flowing, the end result was beautiful. As with everything else, it just takes time and patience.

Another fun thing to consider is personalized stamps (like the ones on Zazzle). Though more expensive than the typical American flag or Liberty Bell stamps you can purchase at your local Post Office, they can make a custom invitation even more customized, and instantly set the tone for what your guests will find inside of their envelope. The U.S. Post Office also has several fun designs to choose from that are more festive than the typical stamps.

11. Figure out how many stamps each envelope will need

Unless you’re just sending one or two flat sheets of 65 lb paper or less, don’t assume that one $0.44 stamp is going to cut it. $0.44 only covers one ounce of weight – so if it’s more than that, or if your envelope is square or oversized, you’ll need to pay more per envelope.

Take a sample of your complete envelope package to your local Post Office to find out how much each envelope will cost to ship. Most have a weighing machine you can use to quickly determine the weight (and therefore cost) of your envelope without having to wait in the general line. You can also buy stamps from these machines – though if you need a lot of stamps, you won’t be able to purchase all of them at once. The machines have a limit where you can only spend a certain amount of money per credit card you insert. When my fiancé and I went to purchase 280 stamps for our wedding and rehearsal dinner invitations, even using two different credit cards wasn’t enough, and then we had to stand in line to get more stamps from the counter, as well.

And when you’re purchasing stamps, don’t forget the self-addressed stamped envelopes for the RSVP cards!

12. Give yourself plenty of time

Printing and cutting stationery and stuffing and addressing envelopes are all time consuming tasks. Don’t rush the process, but don’t be afraid to be efficient. If you can, get more than one printer going, or call your family, friends, or wedding party up to help you cut and assemble your stationery.

Assuming 100 flat (no folds) single-sided, single-sheet invitations, here are my time estimates:
1. Printing: 30 minutes – 2 hours (depending on the speed of your printer)
2. Cutting: 2 hours – 3 hours (cutting out each individual item with an exacto knife is time consuming and tedious work – but they look so professional when all is said and done)
3. Stuffing, sealing, and stamping 100 envelopes: 10 – 50 minutes (depending on how many helpers you have)
4. Hand addressing 100 envelopes: 1.5 hours – 4 hours (depending on how speedy and confident you are in your handwriting, how many helpers you have, and whether you have inside and outside envelopes)

Total time: 4 hours 10 minutes – 9 hours 50 minutes – And that’s just for 100 invitations!

I hope all of these hints were helpful to you! If you have any more questions, feel free to email me. Good luck, and have fun!



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Shameless plug time: These helpful hints are intended for the DIY customer who has purchased designs from my customized invitation and stationery website - Invites by Andrea. Check it out and let me know what customized invitations I can create for you! :)