Here at Smock, we were all thrilled to see our Aberdeen letterpress wedding invitation mentioned as a wedding invitation trend in Brides Southern California magazine by one of our favorite stores, Urbanic Paper Boutique. Urbanic’s owner Audrey writes, “I’m seeing a lot of repeating patterns in the fashion and interior design worlds, and that design treatment is starting to appear on wedding invitations, too…using a repeating, graphic motif is a more subtle way to achieve a modern look than using a single icon or a monogram.” Well said (and thanks for the mention, Audrey!). By the way, Urbanic has a fabulous blog of their own, filled with pretty things, and they’ve also down some terrific guest blogging for the Brooklyn Bride.

(Want to see more Aberdeen letterpress designs? Check out this really cool save the date!)

We were thrilled to print these Spanish language letterpress wedding invitations for a wedding in Honduras. Smock can happily design and letterpress print your wedding invitations in any language, including Hebrew, Chinese, Greek, French, and Vietnamese. This Lashar wedding invitation features the elegant combination of espresso ink + a letterpress blind deboss, paired with spring green envelope liners in the Champlain pattern– crisp and timeless on white bamboo paper. This is definitely a heirloom wedding invitation! Also check out the Lashar program cover below, the perfect accessory to a sophisticated wedding reception. Sent to us by our friends Papery + Cakery in Boca Raton.

This is a vibrantly cool variation of our Cavall letterpress wedding invitation design — and it really showcases how back printing & envelope lining can make an invitation unforgettable. This invitation is for a Valentine’s Day wedding, so the mix of a peacock blue-green ink for the invitation, and raspberry ink for the envelope liner and backing, seemed perfect to us. We love the elegant energy of the patterns at play too (the Seneca pattern for the liner — one of our most popular patterns right now — and the Ledon pattern for the backing). We just couldn’t stop looking at this set! This invitation was sent to us by No Regrets in Newton, Massachusetts.

Here are a few great ideas from Smock’s client coordinator Tiffany Field that will help keep your letterpress invitation costs down, while still giving you a really wonderful letterpress wedding invitations.

Take a 2 or 3 color design down to 1 color
Many of our 2 and 3 color designs look equally impressive when printed in one color. Fewer colors mean fewer runs through the press which equals less expense. Our designer BethAnn is amazing at this – she knows just what to add and take away so that your design looks just as inviting as its more colorful counterpart.

Splurge on a 2 or 3 color design for the invitation and opt for 1 color accessory pieces
If you absolutely cannot live without a multi-color invitation, opt for your other pieces (reply card, directions card, reception card, etc) to be printed in 1 color. You will get the same impact with your invitation while saving considerably on your additional pieces.

Downsize and use a smaller size card (i.e. a reply card size for save the date)
Some budget savvy friends of ours came up with this idea for their clients’ save the dates and birth announcements, and the idea has really taken off. This is one of my absolute favorite cost cutting options – they are such a sweet little size!

Eliminate the reply card all together and put the contact information on the invitations
This idea is becoming more popular with brides who are not just minding their budget but the environment as well. Printing your reply information in the bottom left hand corner of your invitation is an acceptable alternative that can save you money.

Use a “website card” (usually the size of a place card or reply card) instead of a direction and accommodations card
Website cards direct guests to a site that will feature information related to your event – directions, accommodations, weekend activities, etc. This is a great idea, especially for the brides who have a wealth of information on their websites. From a guest’s point of view, I think they would appreciate that one card can direct them to so much information; I know that trying to keep track of so many invitation inserts can be challenging to many people. This allows them to access information about the wedding at their convenience.

Choose a reply postcard instead of a reply card and envelope
Reply postcards are less $, less postage, less bulk (but also less formal).

Pictured below: #1. Our 2 color Chasseral wedding invitation (on right), letterpressed in one color (on left) // #2. The Cavall letterpress reply card postcard (double-sided) // #3. Sweet, small save the dates (these cards are the same size as a reply card). Engadine design on left; Lashar design on right. // #4. Rhon two color wedding invitation (on left), with 1 color reply card and 1 color direction card (on right)