Free design proof on every custom order: no templates, no stock SKUs
Wedding invitations set the tone for the entire event before a single guest arrives. The paper, the print method and the wording all signal something about the day ahead. Choose from flat or folded cards, pocket-style suites with enclosures, or a foil-stamped design for extra shine, in a cardstock weight and finish that matches your theme. Matching envelopes, RSVP cards and detail cards can be ordered as part of the same set.
A wedding invitation carries more weight than almost any other printed piece a couple will order, because it's often the first tangible detail guests see from the celebration. Before the venue, before the flowers, before anything else. The paper stock, the print method, the wording and even the envelope liner all quietly signal the formality and style of the day, which is why couples tend to spend more time deciding on this single piece than on nearly anything else in the stationery suite.
Format is the first real decision. A single flat card keeps things simple and works well for a smaller or more casual wedding, printing all the essential details (names, date, time, venue) on one clean panel. A folded card adds an interior panel for additional wording or a design element that reveals itself on opening. A pocket-style invitation, where the main card slides into a folder-style enclosure alongside an RSVP card and additional details card, is the most elaborate option and suits a wedding where multiple pieces of information (accommodations, registry, dress code) need to travel together without cluttering the main card.
Print method affects both look and budget meaningfully. Standard full-color digital printing covers the vast majority of design styles and keeps cost reasonable regardless of quantity. Foil stamping (pressing metallic foil onto the card under heat) adds genuine shine to names, monograms or borders and reads as noticeably more formal, though it adds cost and works best on simpler designs where the foil element has room to stand out. Letterpress, which presses the design into the paper rather than printing on top of it, gives text a tactile, debossed quality that's become a signature look for higher-end wedding stationery. Cardstock weight typically runs heavier than most invitations (100 lb to 120 lb cover stock or more) since a wedding invitation is meant to feel substantial in hand and often gets kept as a keepsake.
Beyond the main invitation, most couples order a small suite of matching pieces: a response card with a pre-addressed return envelope, a details card for accommodations or additional event information, and envelopes sized to the finished set. Sometimes with a colored or patterned liner visible when the flap opens. Ordering roughly 10 to 15 percent more than the confirmed guest count is a common practice, covering last-minute additions, keepsakes, and the inevitable addressing mistake, without triggering the cost and wait of a second print run closer to the date.
An invitation is judged in the hand before it is read, and weight is most of that judgment. Anything below about 250gsm reads as a flyer no matter what is printed on it. From 300gsm upward the card has a stiffness that registers as an occasion. Textured and cotton stocks add a second signal (a surface that is visibly not office paper) which is why they persist for formal invitations despite costing more.
How heavy is heavy enough? 300gsm is where a card stops flexing when held at one corner. That single physical test is what most people are unconsciously performing.
Full-color digital and offset cover the majority of invitations and handle photographs and color without difficulty. Two traditional methods do something printing cannot: letterpress presses the type physically into a soft stock so you can feel the impression, and foil lays metal onto the surface. Both are chosen for texture rather than for color, and both work best with restrained type-led designs.
Is letterpress worth it? On a soft cotton stock with type-led artwork, it is the most tactile option available. On a coated stock with a photograph, it does nothing you can feel.
The edge is the one surface most invitations ignore and the one guests handle constantly. A deckle edge (torn rather than cut) reads as traditional and handmade. A painted edge in a contrasting color is contemporary and unmissable. Rounded corners soften the whole card and survive handling better. None of these change what the invitation says; all of them change how it feels to hold.
Which edge suits a formal invitation? Deckle for traditional, painted for contemporary, clean cut when the type is doing all the work already.
The envelope is the first thing the recipient sees, so it is part of the invitation rather than packaging for it. A matched or lined envelope signals the contents before it is opened, which is the whole reason invitations survive in an era of email. Enclosures (a reply card, a details card, a map) are ordered with the main card so stock and finish match across the set.
Should I order envelopes with the invitations? Yes. Matching them afterwards is difficult and the mismatch is obvious. Order the set together.
A wedding invitation is rarely one piece. The main card carries the invitation itself, a reply card handles the response, and a details or accommodation card takes everything that would clutter the main card. Directions, timings, dress, a website. Ordering them together is what keeps stock, color and finish consistent across the set, and it is the one job in this family where enclosures are the norm rather than an addition.
How far ahead should these go out? Well before you think, and order earlier still, because proofing a suite with several pieces takes longer than a single card.
Ask for samples before committing. An invitation is judged by weight and surface in the hand, and neither survives a screen.
Metal pressed into the stock under heat. On an invitation it works hardest on a name, a date or a monogram rather than across an area. A single foil element against uncoated stock is the most reliable formal treatment there is.
Type pressed physically into a soft stock, leaving an impression you can feel with a fingertip. It needs a thick, soft sheet to bite into and type-led artwork to be worth it; on coated card it does almost nothing.
The card raised or recessed into relief with no ink at all. Blind embossing is the quietest premium finish available, which is exactly why it suits occasions where restraint is the tone.
Deckle edges, painted edges, rounded corners. The edge is handled constantly and noticed unconsciously, and it is the cheapest place to make a standard rectangle feel considered.
Same family, genuinely different jobs. Your current selection is highlighted.
| Invitation | From | Character | Order it when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wedding Invitations | $160 | A suite (card, reply, details) | Several pieces must match exactly |
| Business Invitations | $170 | Heavy stock, restrained finish | Guests must read the formality correctly |
| Religious Invitations | $160 | Textured stock, minimal palette | Tone matters more than detail |
| Birthday Invitations | $170 | Distinct stock and finish | It has to survive the post-sorting glance |
| Party Invitations | $160 | Flat, folded or shaped | The format should suit the party |
| Political Invitations | $160 | Fast turnaround, late changes | The date may move before it prints |
At minimum the invitation and an envelope. A reply card with its own pre-addressed envelope dramatically improves response, and a details card keeps directions, timings and dress off the main card where they would crowd it. Anything beyond those three is optional.
Yes. Matching stock, color and finish across pieces ordered separately is difficult and the mismatch is visible when they sit together in one envelope. Ordering the suite as one job also proofs it as one job, which is how date and name errors get caught.
More than the guest count. Reprinting a short run costs far more per piece than adding to the original. Allow for addressing mistakes, late additions and a few kept as mementos.
On a thick cotton stock with type-led artwork, it is the most tactile option available and guests genuinely notice it. On coated card, or with a photographic design, it does very little you can feel and the money does more on stock weight or foil.
There is a practical minimum rather than a hard one. Every run carries artwork checks, a proof and a press setup, so a very small quantity of wedding invitations prices poorly per unit even though we will still make it. If you are ordering a small batch, ask for pricing at two or three quantities at once: the curve usually shows that a modest increase costs very little more in total.
The clock starts when you approve the proof, not when the order is placed, which is the part most people are surprised by. You get a proof first: a digital proof of every piece in the set, with foil, emboss and letterpress areas marked as separate layers. On textured or cotton stock we will tell you how the finish will behave, because those surfaces do not proof accurately on screen. Turnaround after approval depends on the finish: anything laminated, foiled or die-cut adds a stage that cannot be compressed without causing problems later. Tell us the date you actually need them and we will work backwards from it rather than quoting a generic lead time.
Print-ready artwork with bleed and a safe margin, supplied as a PDF, AI or EPS. Photographic elements should be supplied at the resolution the finished size needs, not the resolution that looks sharp on screen. If your file is not print-ready, say so when you order. We would rather fix it before the proof than after the run.
Yes. The suite, not the single card is the standard build, and the dimensions around it are yours to set. A size that sits efficiently on the press sheet often costs no more than a standard one, while an awkward proportion that wastes half the sheet does. Ask before you commit and we will tell you whether a small change to the dimensions saves a disproportionate amount.
In most cases they are the same product under a different name: the trade uses several terms for it depending on the region and the supplier. What actually defines this one is the build: a suite (card, reply, details). Order it when several pieces must match exactly. If you have seen it called wedding invitations printing elsewhere, describe what it has to do rather than which name you found, and we will match the specification.
Yes. We provide free samples, and on wedding invitations it is worth asking for one, because the difference between smooth card and smooth card, heavy is obvious in the hand and invisible on a screen. Most orders run on smooth card, heavy, but ask for whichever you are weighing up. You also get a free design proof before anything goes to press, so nothing is printed that you have not seen.
The usual choices are foil stamping, letterpress, emboss and deboss. Finish is not decoration on this product so much as a decision about how long it survives and how it reads in the hand, so it is worth choosing against the job rather than the budget. Tell us where the finished piece ends up and we will say which finish is doing real work and which is only adding cost.
Yes, and that is what almost every order here is. Nothing in this catalogue is a stock item: wedding invitations are manufactured to the specification you give us, with your artwork on them. Send your logo as vector artwork where you have it, since that scales to any size without softening. If all you have is a low-resolution file, tell us and we will say what it needs before it reaches the press.
Yes, and a repeat run is simpler than the first one. We keep your approved specification on file, so a reorder skips the setup decisions and goes straight to production. If nothing about the artwork or the specification has changed, there is nothing to re-approve. Tell us the previous order and we will match it rather than starting the specification again.
Yes. Regalo Print has been producing custom commercial print for businesses across the USA and Canada since 2008, and every order ships tracked. The tracking number reaches you the day the job leaves, not the day it arrives. If you are working to a fixed date, say so when you order so the production schedule is built around the delivery date rather than the other way round.
