Every bride likes to know what the current trends are in the wedding invitation world. When planning your wedding invitation designs, it is good to know what the up and coming trends are in the wedding invitation arena. To save you the time of scouring the web for all things wedding invitation related, I decided to give you a brief summary of the three most important fall wedding invitation trends:

Letterpress Printing

No surprise that letterpress printing is still on the rise. As our world becomes more digital and ‘flat,’ letterpress wedding invitation designs have been gaining momentum in the hearts and minds of brides all around the world. The deep impressions and understated aesthetic of letterpress wedding invitations cannot be matched by any other printing method, and are the number one trendy item for brides this fall.

Special Offers

In tough economic times, every bride is looking for a way to save a little extra money on their fall wedding plans. That is why spending a little extra time searching for discounts or specials on letterpress wedding invitations can end up saving you hundreds of dollars. Ask the printer you are thinking of working with if they have any discounts on affordable wedding invites.

Foil Stamping

No longer reserved only for the most elite of invitations, foil stamping is entering the mainstream this wedding season. With affordable prices and a whole selection of personalized colors, foil stamping on letterpress wedding invitations is the perfect way to announce your wedding.

Click here to request free samples

Written by Nick

Invitations by Ajalon
View our letterpress wedding invitation gallery.

There is nothing I like more than new Indian style letterpress wedding invitation card designs. Over the past couple months we have been hard at working preparing for the upcoming wedding season. Including letterpress printing, hot foil stamping, blind impressions and many different colors of ink and paper, these 4 new Indian themed designs are the latest additions to our ever growing wedding invitation gallery.

Our Rana 1 Indian wedding card design combines a fun traditional pattern with a unique baronial motif. It is an elegant invitation letterpress wedding invitation card design that is appropriate for any event.

My favorite letterpress wedding invitation card design of all time, Sindhu combines the elegance of gold foil stamping with an almost magical paisley pattern. This Hindu inspired wedding invitation card includes some of the most delicate and intricate printing techniques I have ever seen.

Speaking of paisley patterns, our new Devi wedding invitation card integrates a beautiful blind letterpress impression with a tint varnish that subtly highlights its curves.

If different colors are what you are looking for, then consider our Indian inspired Avani wedding invitation card design. Available either letterpress printed or foil stamped, Avani looks amazing with any color paper.

No matter what you are looking for, we have the wedding invitation card design solution. Our helpful staff and design professionals can mix and match colors, papers, designs and themes to ensure that your invitation is a product of your inspiration.

Written by Nick

Invitations by Ajalon
View our letterpress wedding invitation gallery.

Fall is just around the corner so for all you brides that will shortly be saying “I Do” it is already time to start doing some wedding planning. One of the first orders of business is ordering wedding invitations. Every bride needs them and wants theirs to be extra special and make a strong impression upon their guests.

To help you get the most out of your wedding invitation experience, I have compiled a list of the 3 hottest fall trends when it comes to wedding invitation sets.

Letterpress Printing

Letterpress printing for wedding invitations is a growing movement for obvious reasons. The deep impression and understated aesthetic that letterpress printing provides cannot be duplicated by any other printing methods.

Devi South Asian Letterpress Wedding Invitation

Go Eco-Chic

Going green is no longer a countercultural movement, it is trend that benefits everyone. Ordering your wedding invitations on tree free or bamboo paper makes a great impression on your guests while lessening your impact on the earth.

Bamboo Design on Tree Free Cotton Paper

Unique Stationery

With their eco-chic letterpress wedding invitations, brides are choosing personalized and uncommon stationery to compliment their invitation sets. There are a million and one types of textured, soft, sparkly and thick paper that will set your letterpress invitation set apart from the rest, all you have to do is ask.

Tree Bark Texture Stationery

Written by Nick

Invitations by Ajalon
View our letterpress wedding invitation gallery.

What this movie illustrates, beyond the social and political atmosphere of the 1940’s, is that letterpress printing is a classical, vintage art form. Even today with the all the amazing technology available, the texture and style that letterpress wedding invitations deliver cannot be matched.

By the looks of it, this letterpress printing video was most likely used as a recruitment operation. Like everything made in the 1940’s, there is an element of excitement and enthusiasm in the commentators voice, even for the most mundane of printing tasks.

While many of the technical aspects of letterpress printing have changed with the advent of the computer, some of the same basic principles have stayed the same. The way the image is pressed into the paper, the constant attention to detail and color as well as the need for professional staff to make sure the entire operation is running smoothly.

If you have any questions about letterpress printing, please feel free to ask.

Written by Nick

Invitations by Ajalon
View our letterpress wedding invitation gallery.

After printing one our most popular letterpress wedding invitation designs we decided it was time to start filming a little more of what goes on behind the scenes here at Invitations by Ajalon.

So we brought out the camera, set up the lights and action: Printing the Fleur letterpress wedding invitation design video!

For those of you without sound, I will include the commentary below.

“We recently printed one of our Fleur invitation sets and we wanted to make a video to show our letterpress printing in action.

Once we are done printing the invitation and the RSVP both go into the cutter.

After a few quick cuts your invitation is ready to be sent to your guest.”

I hope you enjoyed the short show!

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to email us or leave a comment below. Click here to request free samples.

If you liked what you saw and want to see more, visit our media library or youtube channel for additional videos relating to printing letterpress wedding invitation designs and DIY bride techniques.

Written by Nick

Invitations by Ajalon
View our letterpress wedding invitation gallery.

Recently I was discussing the finer points of the engraving to letterpress wedding invitation comparison with a friend of mine that is getting married soon. These are the reasons that I suggested to her that letterpress printing is a better choice:

It is Less Expensive

Beyond anything else, letterpress printing provides nearly the same quality of product and unique character that engraving does for a fraction of the cost. Unless you really have the money, have a burning desire for engraving, or know someone that is going to give you an amazing deal, the added texture is not worth the increased costs.

Letterpress Has More Flexibility with Art

Engraved images are constrained by size and design limitations. Letterpress printing can provide a larger, more complex or image on an invitation set that gives brides more options for how they want their invitation to look.

Engraving Requires More Time

I do not know of a single engraving press that does not require the paper to be handfed. There are very few engraving printers around the country that are offering high quality wedding invitation designs making the choice, selection and turnaround time that much slower. Engravers simply cannot match the speed of letterpress printing.

As I said to my friend, I do not mean to speak poorly of the quality or say that I am not a fan of an amazingly engraved invitation. Rather, that for brides that are comparing letterpress printing to engraving, I would almost always suggest that letterpress printing is an overall better choice.

Written by Nick

Invitations by Ajalon
View our letterpress wedding invitation gallery. Click here to request samples

Part of the amazing qualities of printing with letterpress is the paper. Cranes Lettra 110# tree-free (100% cotton) paper feels amazing. It has a life and character of its own. The instant you touch a letterpress printed invitation you know that you are holding something special. The thick paper harkens back to an age of parchment and old documents that hold an extra special value in today’s world.

A lot of brides -to-be hold the misconception that this terrific paper can only be used for letterpress printing. But this is just not the case. Traditional offset presses can be used to print on Cranes Lettra paper, offering the same quality paper as letterpress printing. It is a great way to make sure all of your invitation set pieces feel the same even if you mix and match offset or letterpress printing.

So if you want to use letterpress to print your invitation but your RSVP or Map is printed on an offset press, know that you can still use the same quality of 110# Cranes Lettra cotton paper for those parts of the invitation set.

Written by Nick

Invitations by Ajalon
View our letterpress wedding invitation gallery.

To help you make the right choice when it comes to your wedding invitation set, I am going to give you a brief overview of the different methods of printing:

Letterpress

Letterpress printing is a timeless art that harkens back to an age of craftsmanship, elegance and uniquely creative designs. It creates a distinct impression into the paper that no other printing method can provide. Also, advances in the industry allow most letterpress printers to create just about anything that other more ‘modern’ technologies allow.

Rana 1 Letterpress Wedding Invitation Design

Click here for free samples

Offset Printing

Standard offset printing can also be used to make your wedding invitations. The color range is limitless and the end result is a conventional, yet beautiful, invitation. Also, printing other elements of the invitation set such as the RSVP, Map or Thank You card  with offset is a great way to decrease the cost of printing an extraordinary invitation with one of the other, more dynamic techniques.

Sakura Letterpress Wedding Invitation Design

Click here for free samples

Thermography

Thermography printing was created to emulate engraving. Thermography is a method that employs offset printing, and while the ink on the invitation is still wet, powder is sprinkled on and melted to produce the raised effect. This creates a noticeably textured surface.

Foil Stamping

While most brides do not typically create their entire invitation set with foil stamping, I would be lying if I said that has never been done. However, usually foil is used to highlight names, monograms or invitation themes. There are countless colors to choose from (no, you do not have to choose just gold or silver) and the shimmering difference that foil stamping provides is instantly noticeable.

Avani Letterpress Wedding Invitation

Click here for free samples

Digital Printing

The technological advances in the digital printing industry are shocking. The least expensive and fastest way to make your wedding invitations, high speed digital printers produce great results. They are especially useful if you wish to have a photo included in your invitation set. Likewise they work well to bring down the costs of wedding invitation sets by creating amazing RSVP and maps where letterpress, foil or thermography is not necessarily needed.

Jacqueline Wedding Invitation Design

Click here for free samples

Written by Nick

Invitations by Ajalon
View our letterpress wedding invitation gallery.

A bride was asking for advice about gocco and table top letterpress at home printing. While the responses were directed towards different aspects of in home printing process, there was a general warning that everyone voiced.

They said that buying a home letterpress kit with supplies, paper and inks combined with the time and energy that it takes to effectively operate a hand held machine can be costly. One person lamented that after several days of working with an in home printing press, they eventually gave up entirely and went to a professional printer. Another mentioned that there are online letterpress wedding invitation specials from professional printers that are nearly the same cost as the supplies and equipment needed to do it yourself.

Some of the respondents did mention that designing your own invitation and sending it to a printer can be a safe alternative, a process that I whole heartedly agree with. However, before you set your heart on a specific design or idea, check with your printer first. Depending on the printing process you choose for your invitations, there may be specific guidelines you may need to follow to produce printable art.

But just in case you still have any reservations about the difficulties of DIY printing, feel free to see what those that have toiled with the process have to say.

Making portions of your wedding invitations yourself can be fun, creative and self esteem building project, but just make sure you know what you are getting yourself into before you start.

Written by Nick

Invitations by Ajalon
View our letterpress wedding invitation gallery.

During the most explosive portion of the preview, lead typeface letters like the ones traditionally used for letterpress printing flashed onto the screen. They appeared in succession, eventually spelling out the title of the movie, “Sherlock Holmes”. Not only was I excited that I knew exactly what they producers were using as their medium, but also seeing any component of letterpress printing in pop culture always makes me happy.

It is amazing how this traditional printing method is making a resurgence in modern printing companies around the world. People are fascinated by letterpress printing’s unique vintage feel and the quality of product that it produces. For many items from holiday cards to wedding invitations there is no match for letterpresses amazing printing style.

Written by Nick

Invitations by Ajalon
View our letterpress wedding invitation gallery.