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Enticing Invitations
Vintage with lace, contemporary with metallic, formal damask with elegant script, or a sunny beach theme: the possibilities are endless, and limited only by the imagination of the customer. It’s a favorite trend in invitations, available locally.
About seven years ago, Valley Printing of Fargo saw a wonderful opportunity to help many of their wedding customers by creating a new type of all-inclusive wedding invitation. The multi-panel card stock folds up into a self-mailer, but when unfolded, includes all the invitation information, along with directions and handy tear-off reply card.
“Our customers love the convenience, plus they can customize it to make it exactly right for them,” said Valley Printing graphic designer Megan Elgin. “They’ve really taken off in the last few years, in part because people like having everything on one piece, but also because each invitation can be totally customized from the words to the colors to the paper.”
In addition to using the invitations for weddings, Elgin noted that the invites have been used for corporate special events, sales and recognition dinners, plus bar mitzvahs, graduations, class reunions and other specialty occasions.
“Customers often bring swatches in that they want to match,” said Elgin. “We have over 1000 different ink colors to pick from, so we can match any color you select.” Last year’s hot color? Purple. This year? “We’re seeing a lot of guava, yellow and green,” she said. In addition to the ink choices, Valley Printing also offers a wide variety of paper stocks from which to choose, including metallic, various textures and recycled papers.
“Each invitation is custom,” Elgin said. “Everyone’s event is different, and usually the invitation is the first impression for that event, so you want to give people an idea of what to expect. All the text is totally customized for your event. If we don’t have a design in-house already that you like, we’ll create a custom design―at no additional charge.”
Elgin can also incorporate any photographs, logos or other graphic elements the customer wants into the design. If the customer wants a certain look or feel to the invite, Elgin can help make that happen as well. “We had one person who wanted a zebra-stripe effect with pink and black, so we created their invitation using that motif,” said Elgin. “Another wanted an Old West theme, so we created something that looked like a ‘Wanted’ poster. Others have chosen a formal look with elegant script on a damask-texture background or lace. One wanted two little pig caricatures, one dressed in a tux and the other with a wedding veil, so we created those. Of course, flowers of all types and trees are always popular.”
Brides and corporate planners from the area come to Valley Printing, but so do customers from across the country, as well as Canada, Ireland and Scotland. “We even did the map with driving directions for the wedding in Ireland,” recalls Elgin.
Valley Printing’s graphic designers work closely with each customer to create the right invitation. Usually once an order is placed, it takes two to three business days to get the invitation designed and ready for the customer to proof. Another advantage is that there is no minimum or maximum order, so the customer can choose exactly how many invitations they need.
Eclectic, fun, formal or simple, the invitations created at Valley Printing are as varied as the events, but the customers’ reaction is always the same: “They are beautiful!” “Thank you for all the time you spent so that it turned out just right!” “They are amazing!” “We can’t wait for our family and friends to receive them!”
For more information on the invitations, please stop by or visit their website:
Valley Printing 3045 Main Avenue Fargo, ND 58103 701-237-6408 www.sealandsend.net or valleyprinting@ideaone.net
Milestones
Scherling Photography
