Wedding Cards Design - How To Choose

Things to consider when choosing your wedding cards design is where the event is taking place and the time of the year you are planning it. Budget is another consideration, usually the budget is around 3% of the overall wedding budget, you need to consider all wedding stationery in this, including postage. Another consideration is obviously the amount of people on your list, you should budget for approximately 10-20% extra stationery, for any unforeseen circumstances.

OK, where to begin, many brides to be, consider making the wedding cards themselves, there are many places you can buy the different paper, cards and other adornments needed, but this is time-consuming and if you haven't attempted it before, starting with your wedding is probably not a good idea, you really don't need more stress. There are many stores that can offer you a template, with the design that you want, purchase the paper etc from them and print the stationery at home, you can add the finishing touches yourself. The added advantage of this is you can word the invitation any way you like, choose different fonts and change the color that they are printed in, this is probably one of the cheaper options available, but still requires your time, make sure your printer is up to it and the paper you have chosen is compatible with your printer.

The next most economical way to choose your wedding cards design is by shopping online and view the many designs available, from here you can pick and order all your wedding stationery. Many will offer wedding card samples, you get a great view of the type of the paper you have chosen and you can see straight away how you invitation will look. Not all paper is created equal and the price does vary, depending on the quality, some printing options are better suited to certain papers, so you need to keep that in mind. Printing options include engraving, this is like the name implies leaves an imprint in the paper that you can see and feel, this is a very expensive option and not widely used.

Thermography is the heating of the ink and powder to give the lettering a raised look, this is good for formal invitations. Lithography or off set printing is when design or text is transferred on to metal printing plates, where rollers then apply ink and the text is transferred to paper. This is method is largely being superseded by digital printing because the capabilities are greater. Digital printing requires no printing plates and as such reduces time taken to produce work, it can cope with high volume and designs are easily modified. Ink jet printer used widely in many peoples homes, do as the name suggests sprays small amounts of ink, line by line, many colours can be achieved and you can use them to print of invitations at home.

You must make sure that the paper stock you choose is compatible with your printer. You need to be aware that sometimes the wording and designs can sometimes have "bleeding" and not as defined as you would like. Laser printing, another form of printing from a computer, works well on plain paper. Go through the many designs available online, keep notes of the designs and colors you like best and then make a decision, you will be spoilt for choice, but keep on track and have fun choosing you wedding cards design.