Suggestions for paper?

[jocelynilla]

Hi, I need suggestions for wedding invitations!

I helped a friend design her wedding invitations. They want to print these on their own inkjet printer, so I lent them my paper swatch books from work to select a paper. It never occured to me that we would have trouble finding it outside commercial printers.

Well, they like the 100# Domtar feltweave, but when I went to the local paper store, they hadn't even heard of it before. I didn't think feltweave would be that specialty. I guess it's only really used commercially? (Noob!)

So what would be similar to that heavy feltweave that we could find locally (they want to be able to feel it before they buy it) and print on an inkjet?

Thanks guys!

[morea]

It might be fun to go to your local arts & crafts stores (or even office supply stores) and have a look over what they have available in stock. You could make an afternoon of it, and I'm sure that you could find something that you like at a place like that - which would save you the hassle of ordering special stock that could easily have a minimum order of 1000 pieces or more. :)

I'm hesitant to make a recommendation, since stock that is carried locally here might not be available in your area, and you might have some really great options there that are not carried here.

[jocelynilla]

Thanks, Morea :) Unfortunately I haven't seen anything they like so far, but we'll keep hunting. The groom seems pretty adamant on a heavy weight, which is the main limitation. But the right paper is out there, I'm sure of it!

[garricks]

Check to see if your paper suppliers have outlet stores in your area. We have an XPEDEX retail outlet in town, and they have quite a selection.

Or if you have a good relationship with one of your commercial printers maybe they could order it for you? I've never tried that, but you never know!

[jocelynilla]

Check to see if your paper suppliers have outlet stores in your area. We have an XPEDEX retail outlet in town, and they have quite a selection.

Or if you have a good relationship with one of your commercial printers maybe they could order it for you? I've never tried that, but you never know!

HMMM I do see a Xpedx location here, and I will definitely check it out. If it doesn't work out there, I will contact our printer and see if they will hook me up. Thanks for the great suggestions!

[garricks]

YW...Let us know what you come up with! :D

["Technical" Terry]

If you want some odd ball paper, you better get some samples first. Most commercial papers you are familiar with may not run as expected through a consumer ink jet. You may spend quite a few frustrating hours adjusting the ink flow. If you get some samples first, you can play with those before spending the bucks to find out you can't get it to print correctly.

[budafist]

If you want some odd ball paper, you better get some samples first. Most commercial papers you are familiar with may not run as expected through a consumer ink jet. You may spend quite a few frustrating hours adjusting the ink flow. If you get some samples first, you can play with those before spending the bucks to find out you can't get it to print correctly.

I agree. Buy 2 sheets of each fancy paper you come across for testing purposes. Make sure you write down (on the sheet) the name of the paper and the store you got it from. Price would be handy too. Or else you will end up with a stack of paper that you can't remember the names of, how much or where from. Not cool!

[Virgo Nightingale]

French Paper Company (http://www.mrfrench.com/) is one of the only major paper mills to sell direct to the customer at reasonable volumes. They don't have much (or rather anything) as far as textured paper, but they do have 100# cover stock in many colors, as well as matching envelopes. I bought all the paper for my wedding invitations through them.

[emucru]

I'm guessing cost is an issue as they will be printed it themselves. Once they find the paper they want they should do a mock up with everything that will be mailed out. (Invite, reply, envelopes, maps, etc.) Cut to size and go to the post office and find out how much it will cost to mail each one. Different sizes and weight adds up and you don't want to have to pay double postage on everything. (Just thought I'd make that suggestion.)

Scrapbooking stores are everywhere and their paper selections are pretty good. It can get fairly pricey though.

Good luck.

[jocelynilla]

Well this is an old post but this project really dragged. In the end, the couple was not happy with the results they got on their inkjet printer, so we took it to a local offset printer to do a 1-color job on their invite and RSVP card on 80# felt finish cover stock. They had wanted to go even heaver to 110# plus, but apparently that weight is only available at big commercial printers.

They will be done tomorrow (fingers crossed) but of course we were only able to see a digital print sample, so hoping for the best. Thanks for all your help!

[budafist]

Oh cool, I always prefer offset wedding invitations.

Although I did see a really nice invite done on our colour copier. They ran the job on Curious Metallics silver card but there wasn't much printing on it lots of white space. That stock takes away that solid glossy toner layer and it makes the print seem to sit in the stock rather than on top.