Professional Printing Saves Time And Headaches

Even with modern technology like email, printed invitations and announcements continue to be the most popular and effective way to let people know about your upcoming celebration or event. Ordering custom invitations and baby announcements can be expensive, especially for large celebrations, like weddings and some baby showers. But always remember, the goal is to create a professionally printed piece to convey a favorable first impression of your event and to tell your potential guests the essential information about your big day. For this reason, it is frequently more convenient and cost-effective to enlist the services of a professional printer as opposed to attempting to print invitations and announcements yourself at home.

Reasons Not to Print Your Invitations and Announcements at Home

The following is just a sampling of some of the reasons you might choose to opt for professional printing:

1) Time

The last thing you have enough of before getting married or giving birth is time (especially if you already have children). And printing invitations or announcements is much more time consuming than it may initially seem. Naptime Productions partner, Kerri Brimmer explains, "It's going to take a lot longer than you think--everyone thinks it is going to take a lot less time than it actually does." There's actually a lot of planning and research involved in printing invitations and announcements yourself, and unfortunately, a lot can go wrong in the process.

2) Convenience

To design and print your own invitations and announcements, you will first need to design your card. Next, you will need to find the proper card stock or stationary to print them on. You will then need to insert text boxes using your word processor and experiment with the fonts and text color. Then, you will need to locate the appropriate clip art files and insert them in the desired location. If you use a background image, you will need to ensure that it does not obscure the text on the card. If you need a catchy poem or verse, you will once again, need to search the internet for related verses. Finally, you will need to save a master copy of the finished card and print out a sample copy on plain paper to proofread the text and design, and make sure it will print properly onto the invitation card size.

Alternatively, if you choose to go to a professional printer, you can completely customize your invitations but all you need to do is simply select a design, color scheme, and message and let the printer do the rest.

3) Equipment and Supplies

Even if you own a color printer, do you have the type of equipment that is necessary to produce cards as important as your invitations or baby announcements? Is your printer reliable? What about all the ink you're going to need—do you have an adequate supply of ink cartridges? Printing invitations is tough on any machine and may lead to fuzzy type or unwanted stripes and shadowing. Printing invitations at home also requires advanced knowledge of page setup and working with small paper sizes.

On the other hand, a professional printer will have all of the equipment and supplies available to produce polished, professional invitations and announcements suitable for important occasions like weddings. When you choose a professional printer, you simply select the design you like best and do not have to worry if the envelopes will be the right size.

4) Professional Print Quality

Beyond simply achieving consistent, sharp prints from your home printer, you also need to deal with the issue of type size, style and placement. Nothing can ruin the impression of a formal announcement faster than poorly placed, off-center, or overly decorative type. Using a professional to set and arrange your type allows for a polished look every time. All you have to do is select the sample you want your type to look like, and check the proof!

Brimmer notes, "We have 10 years of happy customers because we only send quality invitations. Every piece of our stationary is consistent and checked for flaws before you are sent a perfect set of cards."

5) Design

Unless you are a professional graphic designer, the design you select from a professional printer will, undoubtedly, be more aesthetically pleasing than one you design yourself. In addition, a professional printer offers matching items like thank you cards to coincide with your overall theme, and that will ultimately add value and class to your invitations and announcements. A professional printer can retouch photos with special effects, like Naptimecards.com's black-and-white photo cards, which convert your color snapshot into a soft, almost painterly image. Further, experienced artists can eliminate baby acne, un-cross eyes, remove background objects and consequently, produce one of the most stunning photographs of your child you'll ever have.

This level of expertise cannot be duplicated at home, and the minimal amount of money you might save by doing it yourself will be more than compensated for in the time and energy expended. Spare yourself the headache, and leave your next invitation or announcement job to the professionals.

The Bottom Line

You know your printer and computer. If you do feel up to the challenge of printing your invitations or announcements at home, be sure to consider Naptime Productions printable line where you can save by doing it yourself. We provide all the necessary paper supplies and the following are some helpful hints to consider before you begin:

- Follow our photo tips and wait for the good picture

- Familiarize yourself with your printer

- Give yourself a few days to complete the cards

- Always print some extras

- Good luck and have fun!