Rock Paper Scissors Invitation Guide

Having a circus wedding? No problem, we love stripes!

A formal wedding? Hand lettered calligraphy is the new black, you know.

A destination wedding? Bright colors are so in right now!

Ahh! You’re Getting Married!

You have a big day coming up!

We would absolutely love to help you celebrate that! At Rock Paper Scissors we are passionate about helping you create something gorgeous to introduce & commemorate your happy occasion.

We have the resources & the creativity to create something completely unique!

Our main priority is capturing the personality of you and your main squeeze on every piece of beautifully designed paper. We offer flat, foil-stamped, engraved, thermographed and letterpressed printing from the best designers both locally in Michigan and across the country.

Besides our in house custom design, currently we’re featuring Bella Figura, BT Elements, Crane & Co., Designer’s Fine Press, Dolce Press, Haute Papier, Meant to Be Sent, Printerette Press, Smock, Vera Wang, and William Arthur.

Bottom line, we will work within your timeline and budget to make sure that you leave thrilled with your invitation suite. Now, take some time and learn all about invitations at Rock Paper Scissors.

Print

Style Guide There are so many variables that are factored into the pricing of an invitation: the paper type, number of colors, type of ink, use of foil, die cuts, paper embellishments (edge painting, belly bands, grommeting, scoring), quantity and designer all contribute to the bottom line. But truly, most of the price is controlled by the style of printing.

Letterpress Letterpress involves creating and carving out a metal plate, leaving only your invitation design and lettering behind. The plate is often hand set with the text and pattern and then is pressed into the paper. The letters are indented on the front and slightly raised on the back of the invite creating an amazing texture. Each ink color increases the price of letterpress.

Takes about 3-6 weeks to complete. **Foil is an option with letterpress

Engraving Engraving & Letterpress are the two oldest methods available dating back to the 1500’s. Engraving involves creating a copper or steel plate that’s etched with your invite’s text & design. Ink is smoothed over the plate and pressed into the paper with a machine providing extreme pressure— approximately 3000 lbs, around the letters & design.

Takes about 3-6 weeks to complete.

Screen printing Thermography

Screen-printing is the process of hand mixed ink pressed through a fine mesh screen. This method works best for bright, flat & opaque colors

Thermography is a more affordable alternative to engraving. Ink and resin

creating the whitest of white and the brightest of bright in print.

powder are heated and fused to create raised lettering.

Takes about 2-4 weeks to complete.

Takes about 2-4 weeks to complete.

** If you want Kraft paper with white ink, this is the BEST option

Flat/Digital Similar but a much higher quality result to what you’d get from a at home laser printer. This is an ideal print style for a more casual, funky wedding or couples on a tight timeline or budget. A printer uses thousands of tiny ink dots to form letters & designs on the paper.

Takes about 1-3 weeks to complete. **Ask us about our paper options—we have beautiful savoy stocks that make flat/digital printing gorgeous. ** We can add foil to flat printing!

The Process You’re meeting with us at Rock Paper Scissors, looking at invitations, learning about print styles and ready to make some decisions. So what happens next?

Decide on a style

Create a plan for addressing

We can select from over 40 collections of invitations or we can create

We offer calligraphy*, digital printing & labels to address your envelopes.

something from scratch using inspiration we’ve gathered while meeting.

If you’d like to have your envelopes addressed, please submit the addresses at the time of printing approval.

The quote & wording

*For hand calligraphy, we’ll need to build in 2-3 weeks for them

We will provide quote(s) for your selected invitation(s) within 3 business

to complete the job.

days from the time of your meeting.

If the quote looks good, make the online deposit, finalize wording, and

Day of details

get excited to see your very own personalized proof within the next 5-7

Are you looking to carry paper through to the day of Event? Don’t

business days.

forget to plan for Escort Cards, Programs, Bar Signage, Table Numbers,

Does your invitation contain custom calligraphy? Lucky! Due to the personalized nature of these jobs, you’ll receive your proof within 10 business days. (Keep in mind, proof countdown starts from the next business day after you place the deposit & provide us the wording.)

Proofing tips!

As soon as we provide you that first proof, the proofing process has begun!

Yahoo! Here are some tips to make this process as streamlined as possible:

Tip number

1

Have more than one person look over the proof each round. Different people see different things.

Send one email of edits back to RPS from your entire party. If your entire party responds

Tip number

2

individually with different feedback there’s a greater chance for errors and miscommunications.

Tip number

3

Looks great? Hooray! Print, Sign and Send back!

Welcome Bags, and Seating Charts to name a few! Make a follow up appointment for us to assist you with those!

Policies and

Details

Wording A. We’re happy to help you create the wording for your event during this meeting but we ask that wording be sent in an email or word document for editing purposes.

B. We will not begin proofing without wording. We will not use “dummy” info.

Proofing A. We will not begin proofs without a 50% deposit and your wording.

Copyright & usage

B. Colors on screen will look different than the colors as they are

The rights granted to Client, by Rock Paper Scissors Shop LLC. are

intended/are printed. The best way to eliminate any question about color

for the usage of the Final Design in it’s original form only. Client may

is to print on copy paper and compare, or select a color value through a

not modify the final design without specific approval from Rock Paper

pantone (not an option with digital printing). We do not provide an

Scissors. Rock Paper Scissors Shop, LLC. retains the right to reproduce,

in-person physical proof.

publish & display the final design in an un-edited format, in Designer’s

C. Proofs take 5-7 business days for the first round of proofs

portfolios and websites, and in galleries, design periodicals and other

(10 days for calligraphy).

media or exhibits for business, marketing, promotional and/or advertising

Additional rounds take 2-3 business days per round.

purposes and for the purposes of the recognition of creative excellence or professional advancement.

License Rock Paper Scissors Shop, LLC owns exlcusive rights to this design; items cannot be resold or used for any reason other than the intended purpose agreed upon.

Design inspiration Client is encouraged to provide any inspirational images or material to help with the design process. However, Rock Paper Scissors Shop, LLC. will not engage in a design project if asked to directly copy the work of another designer.

By signing and approving a proof you are accepting responsibility for the invitation as it is—you are saying that you’ve reviewed, edited and haven’t identified any errors. Your final approval is the last review of the suite.

If an error is found after printing (hey, we’re all human), we’ll split the cost of printing and expedite the shipping to 2 day.

Assembly A. The cost of assembly is not included in your quote unless requested.

B. We charge $25 an hour for assembly. There is no accurate way to estimate how many hours assembly will take.

C. Any additional materials used to assemble will be billed to the client not including adhesive, glue or tape.

Addressing

Postage & mailing

A. For calligraphy, address wraps & guest address printing we require you

A. We have a non-refundable flat mailing fee of $100 regardless of quantity.

use our spreadsheet template.

B. We ask that someone physically approve the invitations & assembly

B. For printed addresses & label wraps, we will create proofs of each guest.

“in-store” before we mail any invitations. We will not mail without a go ahead.

It’s your responsibility to review the addresses for errors. When you

C. All invitations will be mailed from either the West Stadium or Liberty

approve the envelopes/address list you’re accepting responsibility for the addressesas they appear on the envelopes.

C. With calligraphy, if there is a difference between what is written on the envelope and what is on your spreadsheet , we’ll pay for the cost to redo the envelope. If the spreadsheet has the error, you’ll incur the cost to redo.

Post Office. We do not drop them into mail bins.

D. If we’re purchasing the stamps (not custom), we will use the wedding forever stamp available at the post office. If you want something different, you can provide the postage to us.

E. We can provide a quote for postage, but this quote can change up to the moment the invitations hit the mail. Often, and unfortunately, many different post offices have different prices for mailing custom packages and each cost determined by weight, size & shape.

F. Before we print the invitations, the remainder of your balance is due.

Payment A. To get started on proofs we take a non-refundable 50% deposit.

The payment of a deposit is representative of a client agreeing to all terms and conditions in the contract and will substitute as a signature if contract has not yet been signed.

B. A deposit isn’t marrying you to an invitation, but instead saying you’ll do your invitations at RPS. As long as nothing is printed, you can switch style once without a charge. Two changes in styles results in a $100 design fee.

C. We take the remainder of the invitation pay when you approve the proof and send the invitations to print.

D. There are no returns, refunds or exchanges on custom invitations.

I’m on a tight budget but I love your style. Do you have options for me?

Flat printing is an affordable, classic alternative to labor-intensive letterpress, foil, or engraving. If you have your heart set on letterpress, foil or engraving. Heart set on letterpress? Stick with one color and consider fewer enclosure cards.

How long does it take for me to get my invitations? You should order your invitations at least 4-5 months before your wedding. The length of time in the design process varies depending on the response time between proofs and the rounds of revisions. Once a final design is approved, it typically

Frequently asked

questions

takes between 2-3 weeks for flat printed invitations and 4-6 weeks for letterpress, foil or engraved invitations. Adding items like pocket folds, card stock mounting, envelope liners and other embellishments can add anyway from 1-2 additional weeks.

Can you rush my order? A limited number of rush orders are accepted per year and have a rush fee applied. The rush fee may be upwards of $500.

Please discuss this with RPS when meeting.

Do you offer printable files? No I’m sorry, Rock Paper Scissors only provides final printed designs.

Are deposits refundable? Deposits are non refundable.

Do you print the invitations yourself? Rock Paper Scissors works with the best print houses in the world to bring your designs to paper.

My friend’s a graphic designer. Will you print something she designed?

Although we love seeing what other talented designers come up with, we only print/have printed our design work.

Will my invitations come assembled? We’re happy to assemble any invitation suite (even if it means just affixing stamps for you!) for a small assembly fee based on the complexity and time of your job. If your invitations are straight forward (standard sized invitation with envelope & RSVP’s) we will send you your invites unassembled and packed with care.