Many of my clients and friends come to me and ask the same things, so I thought I would share a little behind the scenes about our custom design process here at Blush Paper Co.  You can read about our design process here.

After the design process is over, but before you mail your invitations, we have to print your suite.  So, how do we go from digital proofs to prettiness on paper?  Let’s walk you through the steps.

 

 

Do you print your own invitations in house, or do you work with a printer?
This is another wonderful question that I am often asked!  While many stationers do offer in-house printing, I do not.  I’m completely transparent, so I’ll be honest and tell you that I am an artist, not a printer.  I’m not trained in the skills of printing and stationery production.  It’s part of my job to ensure that all of my clients work is printed in the highest quality paper and ink possible, so I’ve sourced the best of the best.

I work with an incredible production team who I’ve had a partnership with for the last few years.  I’m able to call them 7 days a week and speak to the same team each time I have a question.  We have an integrated production schedule and are able to turn around orders swiftly.

We stock over 100 different colors in our specialty lines, including an exclusive offering of 25 colors in Japanese linen card stock.

Think of us like a one stop shop:  we offer digital printing, letterpress, foil stamping, embossing, die cutting, edge painting, ribbon typing, eyeletting, book binding, wax sealing, mounting, laser cutting, gilding… oh, the list could go on.  (If you’re wondering what any of these things mean, hang tight — we’ll go over all of these in another post soon!)

Pink and Black Letterpress Wedding Invitations

How do you prepare your files?
Boring, technical speak:  We design in everything in CMYK with full bleed, then send PDFs to our production team who pulls inventory and prints.

Do I get a proof?
Oh yes, you sure do!!  We’d never want you to get your invitations without seeing the work before hand.  Before we go to full production, and after you’ve approved your digital proofs, we’ll have a hard copy proof produced for you.  You’ll get one copy of your suite printed on your chosen paper, along with your envelopes (addressed, if you’ve selected addressing!) and an envelope liner (if you chosen one!) shipped to you.  We inspected it for quality first, but then it’s put directly in your hands where you get to ooh and ahh over it.  This is usually the part where our brides call or text us and say OH MY GOSH! and send a bunch of heart eye emojis, and then we get teary and do a happy dance.  Have I mentioned how much I love what I do?

Watercolor Digital Print Invitation

 

Then what happens?
We leave buffer room in our production schedule for the digital proofing process, hard copy proof production and the full production so we can take care of any revisions that may pop up — and that includes after you’ve received the hard copy proof.  Remember, anything you view on your computer screen is going to look different than what you see in print.  That’s why we come to every consultation with our trusty pantone decks.  We color match everything, including our envelopes.  The bright red you see on your computer screen might look a little bit more muted in print, so don’t panic when you get your hard copy proof!  But if you want something reprinted, don’t sweat it.  We’ve got time, and we’ve got your back.

If everything is perfect and you’re ready to roll, we are too.  Sit back and relax, and we’ll have everything shipped and ready to go in about two weeks time.  Hooray!

Greenery Wedding Invitations

I’ll be exploring each individual print method later, but today I wanted to share our custom printing process with you all!

If you’re interested in being a #blushbride, we’d love to hear more about you and your wedding!  Please contact us and we’ll be in touch shortly.  We want you to la-la-love your invites as much as we do!