I recently had the grand task of designing print for my upcoming wedding. There is a lot involved – it was one of the hardest pieces of design I’ve ever had to do. I knew that there would be high expectations, given my …sigh… artsy-fartsy nature. So I hope to impress. I’ve been researching wedding print for months (I am kind of obsessed with it). It seems like most wedding print available out there says “this is what everybody does, therefore this is all there is.” I believe weddings are a once in a lifetime opportunity to go all out. I’m all for being “green” but this one time, go nuts with paper! Just… recycle leftovers. Wedding invites are a place where typography, paper and personality totally get in each other’s face. You don’t have to pick an image from a clipart binder from the 90’s! Its true! Wedding print can be ANYTHING. Go crazy with illustration, go beyond a script font and write the content yourself – you’ll be sure to have something original and extra lovely.
Let me introduce you to my finished product. I decided to have my wedding invitations and reply cards letterpressed. Letterpress is an old-fashioned printing method that presses inked, raised type onto paper.The end-product is a beautiful printed piece combining texture, color and dimension. Letterpressing preserves the original craft of printing that began in the 1400’s. Paper is hand-fed into a manual press where the magic happens. An art of printing we still do today that I think would make Goutenberg proud.
With the addition of some locally printed pieces and recycled “brown paper bag” envelopes, I was able to develop an invitation package that truly captures the personality of the upcoming wedding. I would challenge brides-to-be out there to have fun with wedding print. And yes, we would love to help you 🙂