digital printing: a q& a with delphine press

Last week I had the opportunity to hang out with one of the wedding industry's best, Erika Firm of Delphine, and talk shop, specifically digital printing. Delphine is a leader in the letterpress community and known their trend-setting style and trademark charm. Even better, they have an online customizer tool which allows you to experiment with the layout, design and wording of your individual invitation suite pieces before placing an order. (The tool is way addictive and pure genius!) When Delphine announced that they would be offering digital printing in addition to everything else they offer, I knew I had to get the inside scoop as to what exactly "digital" meant and where I could get my hands on some of this good, good stuff.

Luckily, Erika agreed to a little Q& A about digital printing. She also graciously offered to give away 50 free Delphine digital cards, save the dates or invites to one lucky Perfect Bound reader. Just leave a comment below letting us know which Delphine digital invitation design you like best. They are all featured here so have at it. Thanks Delphine!

Q. What do you mean by "digital printing?" How is this different from what I can do at home with my own printer?

A. Digital printing is the latest evolution in print technology. Its primary advantage is that it doesn't require a printing plate, which makes it ideally suited to short run, personalized designs. Digital printers are designed to print rich, beautiful colors on a wide variety of papers, many of which simply couldn't run through a home printer. It's more than just printing though: cutting, scoring and folding are equally important to the finished look and feel of a card. Home printers just can't achieve the same depth of color.

Q. Is digital printing suitable for formal invitations?

A. The design, ink colors, typography and print method all influence the formality of the invitations. The very most formal invitations are usually letterpress or engraved, but as long as the style and typography of the invitation are formal, a digitally printed invitation is suitable for a formal event. The invitation is the very first peek a guest has, so it's important that it reflects the tone of the event.

Q. What kind of paper do you use for digital printing?

A. All Delphine digital invitations (ordered through our website or through Cardstore.com) are printed on 100 percent post consumer waste recycled stock.

Q. Does digital printing make it easier to print extra pieces later on?

A. Digital printing makes it easier to print extra pieces later on, like direction cards (last minute we get a lot of requests for direction cards to leave at the ceremony location to guide people to the reception location), menus, programs, etc. When you're ordering your invitations months before your wedding day sometimes little details like the drink menu haven't been ironed out yet. So being able to order menus just before the Big Day is really convenient.

Q. Am I limited in any way to just one or two colors? Is there a minimum amount of invitations I can get printed digitally?

A. Digital printing is essentially a 4 color process. Colors are fairly unlimited! One of the things I love about digital is the ability to flood the background of an invitation with color. And we can also print on the back, which can add a nice pop of color to your invitations.
At Delphine our minimum for all custom orders, letterpress or digital, is 50 qty. But our collection at Cardstore.com is more flexible: you can order a single invite if needed!

Q. Can my place cards, menus, table numbers and so on also be digitally printed?

A. Absolutely. It's not really cost effective to put each guest's name on the place cards (that would be 100 press setups for 100 guests), but we print cute "blank" (i.e. no text) place cards all the time, as well as menus, table numbers, etc. At Delphine each of our wedding invitation suites has pre-designed components to match the invitation, from save the dates to menus to place cards to thank you notes and program covers.

Q. I've noticed a lot of companies are going digital. How does Delphine do it differently?

A. The biggest difference is our online customizer. We love it when our customers make our designs their own! Our customizer allows you to change fonts, inks, background colors, envelopes, and, of course, your text and preview it instantly online, all on one page. No clicking around. It's really fun and allows you to place your order with confidence. Of course before we print anything the customer gets a professional, typeset proof by a Delphine graphic designer. All of the other companies that offer digital invites have pre-set color combinations. We wanted to make sure that our brides can get exactly what they have in mind!

The contest winner will be announced on Monday. Thanks again to Delphine for making us smarter and making our mailboxes feel prettier on the inside!