Weddings come with a big price tag. There’s the venue, the food, the entertainment, the dress— not to mention all the printed materials you’ll need. That’s where a local print shop and design studio like YellowDog can help! No, we won’t be going dress shopping with you, but we can offer some advice on how to save money (and stress) when it comes to the printing part.
Wedding print hack #1: Think in black and white.
Here’s a little printing secret: black ink is dirt cheap! This means you can lower your printing budget just by embracing a modern, clean look. Plus, black-and-white doesn’t need to look “plain”, especially if you put it on the right paper. By cutting down on ink costs, you can spend more on luxury papers, like metallics, eggshells, or linens. These papers don’t just look good, they feel good. With the right combination of fonts and paper, your guests will think you spent a fortune.
Wedding print hack #2: Embrace your inner accountant.
Spreadsheets may scream “boring business accounting”, but they will go a long way in getting you organized. You’ve got a lot of information that’s going to change a lot over the next few months, and you, your mom, your planner, your S.O. — your whole wedding planning posse — are going to try and deal with all of it. Not only is a shared spreadsheet going to keep you guys on the same page, but it’s also going to save you hours of labor when it comes time to send the save the dates and the wedding invitations.
If you’ve got a spreadsheet with your guest addresses, YellowDog can lay out all of those addresses for you and print them on your envelopes. Tada! No more carpal tunnel syndrome from writing out addresses all day. We can even stamp and seal your invitations, postcards, and mailers for you and use that same spreadsheet to layout your place cards and thank you notes.
Wedding print hack #3: Know what to ask when DIY-ing
A lot of brides come to us after purchasing designs from Etsy, working with a family friend, or DIY-ing their designs. This is a great way to save money so here is what you need to know BEFORE you start that design:
- Printers need PDF files. AIs and other file types can be converted to a PDF before printing but sometimes that conversion process can lead to the file being downgraded in quality and/or there may be missing fonts and links. Make sure you request “print ready” PDFs at the size of your piece with bleed and crop marks, 1-up on the page.
- Do not use Etsy “fillable templates”. These usually are laid out with multiple images on one page and often times the information will be lost when we try to break up the page into the single file we need for printing.
Your file should have a resolution of 300 DPI so it won’t look fuzzy or pixelated. - Check for bleed. If you don’t want white borders around your design, make sure your file has ⅛” of bleed on all four sides. What is bleed, you may ask? Good question. Basically, it’s the white space around your graphic that allows a printer to cut the image down so that the ink can reach the very edge.
Wedding print hack #4: Be wary of Pinterest.
Social media has given us all access to the most beautifully curated wedding materials. While they’re amazing, they come with a big price tag. Foil stamping, embossing, custom cuts, and elaborate assembly are everywhere online but creating those features are costly and time-consuming. Over the years, we have learned a few “shortcuts” to get that premium look without the premium price tag.
- Go metallic without using foil. To get the look of foil, you can choose a metallic stock paper and flood the paper with ink everywhere except where you want the “foil” to show. Alternately, we can use our amazing Iridesse metallic ink printer to give your invites a touch of shine.
- Get modern with straight angles. If you want a custom cut, stick to straight angles. In order to prevent having to purchase a die (a metal “cookie-cutter” for paper), we can use our in-house equipment to make straight cuts. So, go ahead and slice off the corners of your invitation to give it a contemporary, unique look.
Wedding print hack #5: Always get a proof
Here at YellowDog, we’re all about proofing. We offer free proofs because even though you have looked at your design a thousand times, a second and third set of eyes on the printed proof never hurts. We have seen brides miss that the year in their wedding date was off and no one noticed until the maid of honor picked up the proof. Yes, we all love surprises but not when it comes to your wedding invitations!
Now that you are armed with some real-world information, you might be asking, what’s next? We are happy to sit down with you to discuss your wedding, inspire you with samples, and let you feel paper choices. We can even help you realize your vision with our full-service design team at YellowDogLab. Give us a call at 303.765.2000 and we can set an appointment.
If you already have a design and are looking for pricing, email it to info@yellowdogprinting.com and let us know specifications including the size of all your pieces, quantities, and turnaround time. We will get back to you with a quote right away.
Congratulations on your wedding. We know your wedding checklist is long, so trust YellowDog to help you mark off your list!
by YellowDog.