Wedding Invitations Vellum Overlay

Wedding invitation suites that incorporate layered and fixed or eyeletted translucent overlay sheets are currently trending at The Love Press. We’ve just had so many requests this year.

Speaking of translucent overlay sheets, I just thought I would clear up one thing. Social media seems to have collectively decided that translucent paper is called 'vellum'. Fun fact - this paper is not 'vellum'. Vellum refers to any paper that is made from or synthetically imitates animal skin. Now correct me if I am wrong but I have never seen jellyfish paper before, so please social media stop using 'vellum' to describe this paper. In Australia we use Ball and Doggett‘s Curious Translucent (that name makes way more sense right?).

Small text tends to get lost on translucent overlay sheets, so a hot tip for designers is to avoid using tiny text. It just becomes too difficult to read once combined with the main invitation that sits beneath it.

When using an overlay sheet avoid small text.

Instead, use the overlay sheet for a graphic or bold text element. This invitation is a great example. It features the date in a block large enough to etch the date into peoples’ memories.

We really love the rest of the finishes that complete this piece. The invitation is white printed both sides and everyone loves the lofty feel of white printing. One side features the invitation and the reverse side doubles as info card, a clever cost saving idea.

The paper is 300gsm Curious Metallic Nude which has a very elegant yellow shimmer to it. Too much glitter would be trashy but just the right amount of sparkle is classy. It reminds me of pink champagne, toasts and celebrations…. perfect for a wedding in other words.

Say it out loud ... NUDE

The paper's colour is 'nude' which always makes me grin - go on say it with me - "nuuuuude" - tee hee). The paper boffins could have called the colour 'blush' but I guess that happens anyway after you say the word 'nude' out loud. Nude (or blush) is bang on colour trend this year.

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Watercolour Wedding Invitations

One of the spin-offs from the blossoming boutique arts and crafts markets is the renewed interest in watercolour inspired art and design. Digitally printed on the textured card, water colour botanicals make wonderful event invitations for those who desire full colour but still wish to retain a vintage craft appeal.

Erin and Steve decided to have their wedding ceremony in a natural setting at Attunga Park, Nobby's Creek with their reception to follow at Mavis' Cabins, Mt Warning. Both locations have been gifted with beautiful natural surroundings and gardens, so a watercolour theme was the perfect fit.

Erin and Stephen printed 2 kinds of invitations and an event map on Mohawk's Superfine Eggshell card. Even the map was rendered using water colour textures to match the summery botanicals in this design. It's pretty special and we can create maps to suit any of our design templates.

Erin and Stephen's design can also be found in our Wedding Template Menu. Besides what you can see here, we have a large collection of water colour botanicals that we have not posted yet. There are wreathes, flowers, leaves, buds, fruits and berries to suit any season.

Besides costing less than letterpress, digital printing allows us to personalise your invitations with your guests' names as well.

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Fluoro Wedding Invitations

Designers often ask us if we will work with them if they supply the design. Even though we are a fully fledged design & letterpress studio, we don't exclusively provide a combined service. Sometimes we design & print and sometimes we letterpress print only. So the answer is a resounding 'Yes - we love working with your designs.'

When we first saw this amazing wedding invitation design we knew we had a winner on our hands. It is hands down, one of our all-time-fave letterpress jobs and a fantastic example of what can be achieved when a graphic designer works with a letterpress printer to create something bigger than both of us.

"Yes - we love working with your designs."

Cat approached us with her absolutely cracking wedding invitation design. Her font combinations and typesetting walk that fine line of balancing the informal and formal simultaneously. Her design imparts a sense of movement, fun and frivolity and yet still manages to capture the importance and gravitas of the occasion. Not an easy feat to achieve.

Cat mentioned that she wanted to achieve a two-tone result. This is actually a problem for the letterpress process. Letterpress cannot print tones or tints very well on the cotton papers required for a wedding invitation. Letterpress is best at printing 100% solids colours.

To try to explain that a little better in non-printer terms, the letterpress process is more like house painting. You mix up a paint colour you like and you paint that onto your walls. You cannot all of a sudden make that paint 50% lighter - you can only paint in 100% of that colour. So it would be impossible to paint your walls in 100% orange and 100% red and have those colours blend together seamlessly.

And so how did we achieve that result? We incorporated a seldom used printing technique called split duct printing. What is actually happening is that we have placed two inks in the ink reservoir (duct) on the press at the same time. This ink has to travel down a series of rollers in order to reach the printing plate with the design on it. As the ink travels down the ink train, the ink is gently mixed together to create the effect of one colour blending smoothly into the other.

You can see it in action in this video below.

And just to make the blend a little trickier, we used a fluorescent orange and fluorescent red ink. Traditionally, fluorescent inks work best on gloss papers because the surface is smooth and shiny enabling the ink to sit evenly on the surface creating maximum impact on the eye. However, when we try to print onto a textured uncoated paper like our Gmund 100% Cotton (featured in the photos), the uneven surface diffuses the light reflecting from the ink into your eye, which makes the ink look dull rather than vibrant.

But it just so happens that we know a mad cap ink chemist who is a bit like 'Q' from James Bond - white lab coat donned and always creating experimental things for testing. He had been working on a new type of fluorescent ink and we jumped at the chance to road test it. And the results speak volumes for his genius. The colour leaps from the page! And we love the way the light and shadow interact when the typework is impressed into the paper creating that depth and dimensional effect. Just a wonderful project to work on overall.

Note: We get so many comments from designer about this font stack - it is proving to be a real trend-setter. We can put you in touch with Cat if you would like to know more about her design.

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