These "New Orleans" invitations, from The White Aisle, are incredible, letterpressed and wonderful. They are also so far outside my budget that they really don't count as options. Nonetheless, I found them inspiring. And they set me on a hunt to find letterpress on a budget. The White Aisle actually has competitive pricing for letterpress, along with more affordable options (including DIY) but what I really wanted was outside the budget. But it was fun to dream!
This Vintage Postcard Invitation is from Golden Rectangle Press, located in Brooklyn and which I found on etsy, of course. It was hands down the most affordable letterpressed option I found, and in two colors too. The way they keep costs down is by screen printing a portion, and letterpressing the rest, and you can even do components of the suite in just one color to further cut your costs. Golden Rectangle Press sent me a gorgeous sample to think about, along with a hand-written thank you note, and they seemed lovely to work with. Still, the price for these invitations was too far outside the budget to make them a serious contender. I tried really hard to come up with a good lawyerly argument for why I should buy these, but I failed. Sad but true.
My next contender came from an unlikely source- Costco. Yes, Costco does letterpress. Yes. Really. The pictured invitation is their Art Nouveau invitation, and something about it really struck a chord with me. Unfortunately when I got the sample, the paper was pretty thin, and the letterpress quality was a bit shallow. Also, the price for these was not as good as you'd think for Costco. Oh well, at least I can say I tried! At this point, I abandoned the letterpress dream and started considering digital printing instead. As soon as I did, the prices dropped considerably, and I found some really good options!
My first favorite was this Classic Cedar Branch Invitation from Papeterie. What a gorgeous image for a Christmas wedding! Even though it wasn't fully vintage, I loved the botanical look of them. Which is why I was SO disappointed when I received the sample and saw the glossiness of the paper and the flatness of the printing. There seemed so much potential, and so many great color options. But in person, they just looked a little unimpressive to me. Shocking, because they actually cost more than the ones I ended up with. Having seen the way digital looked on this invitation, I decided to also consider thermography, since the text would be raised- giving me texture (a la letterpress) but also affordability (a la digital printing).
I considered options like this Calligraphy Swirl invitation from Wedding Paper Divas. Pretty! Good paper! But something was missing. I filed this option away but kept looking in the hopes that I would find something with more of a vintage, holiday look.
I then found Rexcraft, and spent lots of time looking at their goodies! Rexcraft has some ideal invitations for the budget minded, because they have nice pricing, frequent sales if you sign up for email, and the quality is quite good! This Cameo invitation in particular caught my eye because I loved the cutout detail in the band, but ultimately I didn't go with it because it seemed too modern in person.
I also liked this Filigree invitation from Rexcraft. It definitely had a festive, art deco inspired look. And the presentation in the folded card was really unique and pretty. This became a top contender, but it didn't make the final cut.
What did I ultimately choose? To be continued after I send the invitations in 3 weeks!!
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