should you print your own wedding invites?

If you are thinking about going down the route of letterpress printing your own wedding invites, the first question you should seriously consider is: Do you WANT letterpress or do you want to PRESS your own invites?

If you WANT letterpressed invites, you should go with a vendor who has experience with the demands and requirements of letterpress printing—do you really need extra stress during this time?

Letterpress IS expensive, the equipment and expertise necessary drives this, but some things to think about when you are deciding on your invites...

1. Do you need the entire package? Instead of an overindulgence of paper and envelope, a simple (but elegant) card and response postcard would reduce the press time and the price.

2. Do you need multi-colors? A 1-color job is half the time on the press than a 2-color job and no registration needed!

3. Do you need your own design and colors? Wedding letterpress printers will have house designs that they print in bulk and add your information on to their already pressed stock.

4. Do you need your invites to be printed by a commercial letterpress printer? Letterpress is picking up steam and many small, but experienced printers have less overhead, give you a better price and work with you on your design.

If you want to PRESS your own invites, and say "I did this!" Then go for it! Do keep in mind that it will not necessary be "cheaper", you will need to take classes, rent/buy equipment, and have some trial and error (i.e. time).

***As mentioned by "Right Out Loud", if you are looking for "perfect" letterpress, go with an expert—graphic designers looking for exact alignment will not get that on a first try—think "organic" for your first letterpress project, perfection comes with lots of practice!