Considerations About Invitation Paper

The invitation paper you choose for your handmade or printed wedding invitations can make or break them. The paper is the essential foundation for your invitations, so you’ll want to put some thought into picking the perfect paper. It’s not as simple as picking the right color, either! You have to also choose the right texture and weight for the look and feel you want to create. Here are some tips on picking the right paper for your invitations.

Start with color

Even though it isn’t the only thing to think about when you’re choosing invitation paper, color is probably the most important consideration. Whether you want to match your wedding colors or pick colors that represent your personality, the colors you use for your invitations will really set the tone.

When it comes to color, lighter is better. You don’t necessarily have to go with stark white or a traditional cream color, though. In fact, when you choose a lighter color, you’ll actually have more shades and tones available to you. Check out the paper aisle at your local craft shop, and you’ll see what I mean.

Besides having more choice, though, you’ll also create more beautiful and readable invitations with light paper. Sure, silver or white words on black paper can look lovely, but they’re also hard to read, not to mention expensive to print! Printing dark lettering on a light background makes everything look cleaner, simpler, and more legible. If some of your wedding colors are dark, you can always work them into the lettering, accents, or even envelopes.

Texture is important, too

Another thing that will really help your invitation paper set the tone for your wedding is texture. It can be really tempting to buy rough, handmade papers for your invitations, but this might not be a good idea. These papers look beautiful, but they also cause ink – from a pen or a printer – to bleed.

Instead, a paper with a tight, smooth finish will work best, especially if you’re printing your invitations at home. You can sometimes print well with a lightly textured paper, which can add personality. If you want, you can always print on a smooth paper and use a beautiful handmade paper for accents.

Don't forget about weight

The paper at your craft shop will probably be organized partially by weight. You can buy everything from feather-weight vellum and tissue paper to heavy weight cardstock. For the most part, you’ll be better off if you use something in between. Lighter weight papers will look cheap, and they’ll tear easily. Heavy weight papers won’t fold neatly and will be really bulky. Plus, very light and very heavy papers are difficult to run through a standard printer.

Weight will affect more than just how your invitations, look, though. It will also affect how expensive they are to post. Even a slight difference can add up to quite a few pounds when you’re sending fifty or more invitations!

Try before you buy

One mistake that many brides-to-be make is falling in love with a particular paper and buying two hundred sheets of it without testing it. Sometimes this works, but sometimes they have just wasted a lot of money on paper that isn’t going to work with their printer or their DIY invitation design. Before you buy more than a few sheets of any invitation paper, run a couple of tests with your printer to make sure it’s going to work perfectly every time.

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Image credits:
Set of vintage pink paper for congratulation: © Loraliu | Dreamstime.com