Thursday, January 20, 2005
Printing Your Own Wedding Invitations, Wedding Programs, and other Wedding Stationery
Some of our visitors are a little intimidated with the mechanics of actually printing their own wedding invitations, wedding programs, RSVP cards, place cards, Save the Date cards, or other wedding stationery, so we thought we would put a few observations here. The biggest question is: can it be done at home? We would like to say a resounding YES--even if you don't have a lot of experience with computers or printing!
We do a lot of printing at Thinkwedding, and we have a lot of printers, both inkjet and color laser printers, so we've had a chance to see what problems there might with various printers.
Obviously, you want the invitations that are to set the tone of your wedding to look well, and it's quite possible to do it, but there are a few tricks. You will need to make some preparations, if you want your project to turn out well.
Let's face it--the easiest thing to do would be to go to a stationery or party supply store, pick out a style, hand what you want to say to the clerk and pay up--but that's the catch. You can save quite a bit of money by printing your own invitations, but it will require some input on your part.
You are also going to gain flexibilty. If you are printing your own invitations and in particular, wedding programs, if circumstances change, you can change your template. For instance, what if someone has to drop out of the wedding at the last minute--you have the ability to change your wedding program. What if the invitations come in from the printer--and they're not right? Remember My Big Fat Greek Wedding, when the mother of the groom's name was misspelled Harry instead of Harriet--and it was too late to correct? If you have your programs or invitations printed, you generally can't have very much color--and that means pretty bland artwork.
Your first step is to cut regular paper to the size of the stationery you are planning to print on, for test prints. For instance, if your blank wedding invitations measure 5.5" wide and 7.75" high, you will need at least 10 sheets cut to 5.5" x 7.75".
Next, if you have a Word template, the size has already been set up for you; simply type the words that you want to say in the box. The font, or lettering style, is probably not the one you want to have. Using your mouse pointer, highlight the words you have just typed, then right-click and select Font. Each font that you highlight in the box that comes up will show you a preview of the font style. Click on the style that you want. You should also select a font size; start at 14 point. There is also a Font Color box. Click the arrow next to it, and select a font color you like; the default is black.
Take a look at the words that you have typed. Are they centered, both from right to left and top to bottom? If not, click on the words and make adjustments. You are now ready to print your first test print!
The first thing you'll want to determine is if the printer prints on the top or bottom side of the paper as it sits in the feed tray. Most Hewlett Packard printers print this way. Place an X on the upper left-hand corner of the paper you cut and place it in the feed tray, making sure to keep it the same way you marked it. In Word, select File, then Print. Specify the page number, or you will print out all the pages in the document, and there may be multiple pages.
Take a look at it when it has printed. Where is the X? If the words are on the other side of the paper from the X you placed, you will need to place your invitations upside down in the feed tray. Is the X on the same side as the print? You will need to make sure that the invitations are right-side up. Most top-feed printers, such as Canon and Epson printers, need to be feed in the printer with the right side up, or facing you. Most HP and laser printers need to be fed in with the front side facing down.
If you have an invitation with a defined top and bottom--that is, either an invitation whose design is different on the top than it is on the bottom of the page, you will also need to find out where it prints the top of the page. Look again at your X; you placed it on the upper left hand corner. Where is it in relation to the printing?
If you are planning to print your invitation on both sides, or you are planning to print a wedding program which is usually printed on both sides and may even have an additional page, you will also need to have this information--if you don't the printing will be upside down on one side!
When you are satisfied with the word placement and you have done your test prints and are confident that you know how to feed the paper in, you are ready to start!
Make sure that the guides on the feed tray have been adjusted to fit the paper size you are using. You may get away with not adjusting it for pieces of paper, but when you are printing on heavy invitation paper, the paper can skew sideways 1/2 way through printing if the guides have not been set properly.
In the beginning, feed your invitations in the print one at a time; that is, put only one invitation in the feed tray, and then print, until you feel confident with your printer. Then try two at a time and gradually increase the number of invitations or programs. It is best, though, not to feed more than 10 at a time; some printers start to jamb.
If you are printing your invitations or wedding programs on both sides, in the beginning print one side, then the other to make sure that you have the correct orientation. As you gain confidence, you can print several sheets of Side 1, then feed the printed paper in again.
With a little time and patience, anyone can print their own invitations, programs, and other wedding stationery at home!
