What Determines Stationery Costs? Part 4: Design Method

In the final part of my four part series, I'll discuss how your invitation design factors into the cost of your overall invitations.

In general there are two different ways you can purchase invitations.

First would be to purchase from a studio, designer or stationery shop a pre-made design of which you have your own information inserted into it. For example, if you go to a local wedding shop they might have catalogs of invitation samples in which you can choose a design you like. This will always be less expensive because most of the work (i.e. the main components of the design, which is the most time consuming) is already completed. All that's left is inserting your info and producing the invitations for you. These invitation designs are usually purchased in a pre-fixe manner. For example, each invitation costs $3/ea so 100 invitations would run you $300.00

Custom invitation design would be your second option and will always come at a higher cost. Using this option, the design is completely customized to your own needs and standards. So with this in mind, many hours go into creating this design for you from scratch, hence the higher cost. Depending on how the designer works, they may offer pre-fixe pricing or may charge a separate design fee aside from the cost of production. All designers work differently so check with designers you like for a pricing information or a price quote.

Hopefully this four part series was helpful to learning what cost factors impact the price you are quoted on your event invitations and stationery. Don't forget no matter what your stationery budget may be, there are always creative ways to create exactly what you are looking for by simply prioritizing which of these four elements are most important to you and working from there.

Spooky-Elegant Halloween Party Invites

One of my best friends decided to throw a Halloween Party at the Norwood Club in New York City, and contacted me to create her invitations for her. One thing that excited me designing these is it was one of the first parties besides my own wedding that I'd actually get to attend the party I'm designing the invitations for. Yay!

Mariana has a fantastic sense of style, especially when it comes to fashion. So it was really important to me to create invitations that I felt suited and reflected her and her sense of style as well as the venue (which is pretty ritzy). Also being they were for a Halloween party, I wanted to be sure they were still sort of quirky and spooky at the time. My favorite elements of these invitations was the torn edge black backer and the great handwritten script font used to highlight the important details.

What were you for Halloween? I love hearing people's creative Halloween costume ideas, so be sure to leave a comment!

What Determines Stationery Costs? Part 3: Printing Methods

In part three of this four part series, I'll discuss how the way your invitations and stationery are printed affects your overall cost.

There are lots of different ways invitations and stationery can be printed. The following are several examples of what is most popular right now, how they work (a very generic overview as I am not a professional printer) and the costs involved in using the methods.

Home Printers (Ink Jets and Lasers):

Home printers (or even office printers if your boss will allow it) can work great for DIY party hosts. The main thing to remember is to be sure the stocks you decide to produce your invitations on is designated as being ink jet or laser printer compatible prior to attempting to print on it. Many stocks can't be used on home printers because they jam the machines. Also, you'll want to be wary of what colors you are trying to print on what paper. For example, you would not be able to print white text on blue paper on your home printer being most home printers do not have white ink. This method works best for folks printing darker inks on light papers and on thinner card stocks. Home printers would be the most economical option out there.

Offset (Lithography):

Offset is a popular printing method for invitations. You can have your invitations printed using either a traditional offset method or nowadays you could also opt for digital offset printing as well.

There are pros and cons for both methods depending on what your needs are. For example, traditional offset is usually less expensive than digital for very large runs (500+ pages). In many cases invitations are not printed in that quantity so it may not be the most economical option. Also, traditional offset printing also uses pantone colors (PMS) so the colors can be matched to be an exact shade/hue dependent on the pantone matching system. Traditional offset also does a better job of printing on darker papers because the inks are a bit opaque.

Digital offset is great for smaller printing runs which makes it great for invitations. Also, based on the way the machines are set up, they can print a full spectrum of colors (i.e. no need to choose from PMS though it may not be an exact match) for a generally lower price. Some machines are also set up to immediately crop, score and finish items immediately after printing, whereas with traditional offset the finished pieces would have to dry and set and then potentially be coated. Variable data (such as escort cards, envelopes, etc; any items where you would have a different name or information on each piece) are also available on digital offset, which is a huge plus.

I typically offer digital offset printing to my clients being it is a cost effective, reliable and produces beautiful results without breaking the bank.

Letterpress:

Letterpress is very popular right now in the invitation world and it's easy to understand why. The finished product is beautiful and as artisan as one can get.

The way letterpress works is an image is burned onto a plate (or typeset using pre-made type blocks) creating a raised image on the plate, of which the ink is rolled onto. The inked plate is then pressed into the paper to create an impressed image. Letterpress can be designed to use one ink or more, with the more inks used the more intricate the design.

Due to the handmade nature of letterpress, expect to pay a bit more for this printing method. It takes considerably more time to set up and print each individual item than it does for other printing methods. Also know most letterpress printers will charge per ink color used, so the more colors you want the more expensive it will be.

Thermography:

Thermography creates the opposite effect as letterpress. It creates a raised text. The way it works is the paper is coated with a special powder and is then the areas featuring text and graphics are inked. The paper is then heated and there is a chemical reaction when the ink starts to dry which then causes the inked areas to raise. Thermography replicates the same effect as engraving (see below) but is typically less expensive. Expect if you want more than one color ink for it to cost you a little bit more money. It's a popular printing option for wedding invitations.

Engraving:

Engraving would probably be considered the most formal printing method for invitations. It creates the same effect as thermography (raised text) but is a bit more expensive due to the process. Similar to letterpress, engraving starts with a plate. Instead of the plate being treated so the designs/text are raised on the plate, engraving instead uses a plate where the images are more or less etched into the plate creating grooves. Then the plate is inked and pressed to the paper, and the plate then presses into the paper where the negative areas are and the inked text and graphics become raised. As is the case with thermography and letterpress, the more inks used the more expensive it will be. Engraving is a beautiful printing option for invitations, and will come at a higher cost than other methods.

What is your favorite printing method and why?

Fall Inspired 50th Birthday Invitations

I love working on birthday invitations being you can always have a bit more fun with them, compared to more formal events like weddings. So I was excited when Terese contacted me to design invitations for her big 50th birthday celebration!

Being Terese's birthday is in October, she wanted to do something with not necessarily a a full out fall theme, but fall colors like rusts, copper, orange, yellow, crimson and more. Fall is my absolute, favorite season (which is why I got married in the fall) so immediately all sorts of ideas filled my head of beautiful ways to capture the season on paper. Terese also loves anything Tuscan, so using the fall colors also falls really well into that theme as well.

The invitation I designed for her incorporated all these elements. I included a fall-themed scroll design in the corner, and used a fun script font for the important details. The stock colors she chose were beautiful and went so well together. I especially loved the burnt orange/copper colored backer card which matched the envelopes, which to me perfectly reflected the fall season.

Happy Birthday Terese!