Most of us are not too familiar with the world of fine stationery these days.
As people have become accustomed to communicating via email, text message, and Twitter, many have lost their knowledge about how to create something elegant in print.
When you are shopping for your wedding stationery, you may feel like a fish out of water.
Here is a glossary of the wedding stationery terms that you will need to know to make choosing the perfect invitations a snap.
Engraving: This refers to a printing process in which a copper plate is engraved with your wedding invitation wording, inked, and run through a press to print the lettering onto the stationery.
Engraving is easily identified by its raised lettering.
The back of an engraved invitation will have an indentation behind the words, which is an easy way to distinguish it from thermography.
It is true that engraving is costly, due to the step of making a unique etched copper plate for your order, but it is also the most elegant form of lettering.
For a formal wedding or traditional wedding with the bride in a classic gown and pearl bridal jewelry, engraving is the best choice.
Letterpress: This style of printing has been around for hundreds of years, but it has only become popular for wedding invitations in the last decade or so.
Letterpress is a technique in which moveable pieces of type are hand arranged in a printing press, and then the paper is rolled over it with a heavy roller.
It is perhaps not quite as labor intensive as engraving, but it is close, and the pricing is fairly comparable as well.
Letterpress invitations are very popular with brides who want a chic and contemporary look for their stationery, while still having the fine craftsmanship that has made engraving the gold standard for generations.
Thermography: Another technique in which the wedding invitation wording can be transferred to the paper.
Thermography consists of an ink being printed over a fine powder to give the lettering a raised look.
It is intended to mimic engraving, although anyone familiar with fine stationery will immediately know the difference.
The telltale signs of "fake engraving" include no indentations on the reverse of the paper, shiny ink, and some subtle unevenness of the lettering.
Being a machine made process, thermography is considerably less expensive than engraving or letterpress, although for a discriminating bride, that may not be reason enough to cut corners on her invitations.
Old-fashioned etiquette mavens will say that if you want to save money, simple but honest flat printing is better than trying to mimic engraving with thermography.
Cotton rag paper: This is actually just what it sounds like: paper made from cotton fibers instead of wood pulp.
Cotton rag is as traditional a part of weddings as classic pearl bridal jewelry.
Brides love it for its soft and luxurious texture, and the nice weight that it has when held in the hands.
This is the paper most frequently chosen for engraved or letterpress wedding stationery.
Another nice thing about paper made from cotton is that it is a renewable resource.
Brides who are interested in choosing an environmentally friendly wedding invitation can look for paper made with organic cotton, or bamboo paper stationery printed with non-toxic soy inks.
These are the basic terms that you will need to know when sifting through those massive books of invitation samples.
When you find the invitations that you would like for your wedding, it is a very good idea to invest in a proof.
The proof is a sample that will allow you to make sure that you like the way the font, colors, paper, and wording all work together, as well as to inspect the invitation for typos.
Now that you are an expert on wedding stationery, get out there and start shopping for those perfect invitations!
As people have become accustomed to communicating via email, text message, and Twitter, many have lost their knowledge about how to create something elegant in print.
When you are shopping for your wedding stationery, you may feel like a fish out of water.
Here is a glossary of the wedding stationery terms that you will need to know to make choosing the perfect invitations a snap.
Engraving: This refers to a printing process in which a copper plate is engraved with your wedding invitation wording, inked, and run through a press to print the lettering onto the stationery.
Engraving is easily identified by its raised lettering.
The back of an engraved invitation will have an indentation behind the words, which is an easy way to distinguish it from thermography.
It is true that engraving is costly, due to the step of making a unique etched copper plate for your order, but it is also the most elegant form of lettering.
For a formal wedding or traditional wedding with the bride in a classic gown and pearl bridal jewelry, engraving is the best choice.
Letterpress: This style of printing has been around for hundreds of years, but it has only become popular for wedding invitations in the last decade or so.
Letterpress is a technique in which moveable pieces of type are hand arranged in a printing press, and then the paper is rolled over it with a heavy roller.
It is perhaps not quite as labor intensive as engraving, but it is close, and the pricing is fairly comparable as well.
Letterpress invitations are very popular with brides who want a chic and contemporary look for their stationery, while still having the fine craftsmanship that has made engraving the gold standard for generations.
Thermography: Another technique in which the wedding invitation wording can be transferred to the paper.
Thermography consists of an ink being printed over a fine powder to give the lettering a raised look.
It is intended to mimic engraving, although anyone familiar with fine stationery will immediately know the difference.
The telltale signs of "fake engraving" include no indentations on the reverse of the paper, shiny ink, and some subtle unevenness of the lettering.
Being a machine made process, thermography is considerably less expensive than engraving or letterpress, although for a discriminating bride, that may not be reason enough to cut corners on her invitations.
Old-fashioned etiquette mavens will say that if you want to save money, simple but honest flat printing is better than trying to mimic engraving with thermography.
Cotton rag paper: This is actually just what it sounds like: paper made from cotton fibers instead of wood pulp.
Cotton rag is as traditional a part of weddings as classic pearl bridal jewelry.
Brides love it for its soft and luxurious texture, and the nice weight that it has when held in the hands.
This is the paper most frequently chosen for engraved or letterpress wedding stationery.
Another nice thing about paper made from cotton is that it is a renewable resource.
Brides who are interested in choosing an environmentally friendly wedding invitation can look for paper made with organic cotton, or bamboo paper stationery printed with non-toxic soy inks.
These are the basic terms that you will need to know when sifting through those massive books of invitation samples.
When you find the invitations that you would like for your wedding, it is a very good idea to invest in a proof.
The proof is a sample that will allow you to make sure that you like the way the font, colors, paper, and wording all work together, as well as to inspect the invitation for typos.
Now that you are an expert on wedding stationery, get out there and start shopping for those perfect invitations!
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