Please see our 'links' page for some wedding planners we have worked with and love. If you are not planning on hiring a professional we also recommend using www.weddingwire.com or www.theknot.com to organize and plan your big day. They have a lot of helpful resources, tools and guides. They also have a feature that allows you to create a free wedding website where you can include any additional information about your big day that you would like guests to know, including where you are registered, seeing as it is not proper to indicate that on your wedding invitations. MarthaStewart.com has these great planning worksheets as well which you can download here.

Save-the-dates are typically sent 6-9 months before the wedding. If you are planning to use our services we ask that you contact us 1-2 months prior to your delivery date for save-the-dates and 2-4 months before your delivery date for wedding invitations. Since every invitation is custom and designed from scratch, our process can be a little more time-consuming than ordering mass produced invitations.

Addressing the envelopes: The outer envelopes have traditionally been written by hand in calligraphy, but we have found that preprinting each envelope in matching fonts and style is just as personalized, maybe even more so. We offer that service to anyone that would like it and will provide an excel template that can be filled out with your guests addresses so that we can set up your envelopes for you. We do provide PDFs for your review before printing. The address is primarily centered neatly with the guest name and address on the front. Your return address can be printed on the flap side at the top in the center. We highly recommend that you do not use address labels!

The first line of the address is the title line where the guest name appears. Formal first names should always be used (i.e. Robert as opposed to Bob). A second title line may be used for another guest name, otherwise it contains the street address or post office box. The third line contains the City and State. The zip code can be included on this line or centered on a fourth line. If an apartment or building number cannot fit on the street address line, an additional line can be added between the street address and city/state line for an apartment or building number which should be preceded by the words "Apartment" or "Building". Abbreviations should be avoided. The words Post Office Box, Street, Avenue, Drive, etc. and East, West, North and South should be spelled out as well as the name of the city and state. Single digit street numbers should be spelled out (i.e. One, Two, Three... etc.).

Traditionally an 'inner' envelope was used to enclose the invitation and additional inserts as well as indicate all guests. It is acceptable to use family or first names on the inside envelopes in cases where the recipients are close friends or family (i.e. Uncle Jack and Aunt Jill, or Jill and Jack Jones, or simply Jill and Jack.) Do not include the address on the inner envelope. If you are inviting children, their names should appear on the inner envelope and in the order of their ages, the oldest first. This is also where you would include "and guest" if the name of the guest is not known. We have often replaced the 'inner' envelopes with a separate card that states the names of all guests. Often it is the same size as the rsvp card and sometimes it is smaller and adhered to the enclosure for the invitation. For more detailed wedding invitation etiquette visit Crane.com which has a lot of useful information.

Letterpress printing is a term for the relief printing of text and image using a press with a "type-high bed" printing press and movable type, in which a reversed, raised surface is inked and then pressed into a sheet of paper to obtain a positive right-reading image. In short, this printing process leaves an indentation on the stock with a nice tactile quality.

Thermography, also known as raised ink printing, is also the name of a post print process that is achieved today using traditional printing methods coupled with thermography machines. Thermography machines first applies powdered polymer to the entire sheet followed by a gentle vacuuming to remove the excess powder from the non-imaged and dry ink areas. The sheet is then conveyed through a radiant oven system and exposed to temperatures of 900 to 1300 degrees Fahrenheit. Through conduction from the contact with the paper, the powder temperature rapidly increases and starts filming at the edges of the selected raised printing areas. This has the affect of a 'raised' glossy coating on top of the inks.

Digital printing is the reproduction of digital images on a physical surface. It is generally used for short print runs, and for the customization of print media. The process differs from lithography, flexography, gravure, and letterpress printing in several ways: * Every print can be different, because printing plates are not required, as in traditional methods. * There is less wasted chemical and paper, because there is no need to bring the image "up to colour" and check for registration and position. * The ink or toner does not permeate the substrate, as does conventional ink, but forms a thin layer on the surface. The ink is flat on the paper as opposed to raised or debossed as in letterpress or thermography.