Unique Wedding Invitation Styles - How Many Do You Know?

Shopping for your unique wedding invitation style can be somewhat overwhelming with all the styles available.  Then there are all the choices for colors, papers, designs, fonts, ink colors, and verses.

In this article we have just one focus…to help you become familiar with some of the most common wedding invitation styles you may encounter in your invitation shopping.

• Self-Mailer – Being more modern wedding invitations, you may want to consider this type which eliminates the typical envelope.  Instead it comes with an envelopment that wraps around all your invitation pieces to seal up and becoming its own mailing envelope.
• Pocket – There are several different pocket invitation designs but all of them incorporate a pocket for holding your invitation and some have a separate pocket for holding other pieces such as a reception card, response card, directions, etc.  A few designs even become their own self-mailing piece.
• Layered – A popular style where at least two papers are tied together, one on top of the other, with decorative ribbon to create your invitation.       
• Recycled – For those striving to be more earthly friendly with their wedding choices, there are now many beautiful wedding invitation designs that are printed on recycled papers.  Recycled papers typically contain at least 30% post-consumer fibers.
• Photo – The addition of your picture is a great way to personalize your wedding invitation and give your guests a keepsake of your wedding.
• Seal n Send Wedding Invitations – Economical and time-saving, these are all-in-one invitations are pre-marked with folding lines and have a response postcard attached at the bottom by a perforation for easy removal by your guests.  They quickly fold and seal up into a self-mailing piece with no mailing envelope required. 
• Wedding Invitation Card – A simple but elegant choice where your verse printing appears on the front of the card since there are no paper folds involved.
• Embossed - The process of creating a raised design on this unique wedding invitation style using a printing method that presses an image into the paper.   Color can be used to accent the embossed design or the design can be left as is which is referred to as ‘blind’ embossing.
• Engraved – A printing process that is more involved and lengthy resulting in a distinctive appearance but also being more expensive.   The process starts with a copperplate that is engraved with your wording. The paper is then pressed onto the copperplate making the letters slightly raised which can be felt on both the front and back of the invitation.
• Thermography – A more cost-effective printing process whereby wedding invitations are printed with ink and then a special powder is sprinkled over the wet ink. The invitation is then sent through a heater which melts the powder and "raises" the ink.

Hopefully these wedding invitation descriptions will get you acquainted with the various styles as well as help you narrow down the choices you may be interested in.  Take your time when unique wedding invitation shopping as you want to find the perfect design and style for your special day.