Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Letterpress Wedding Invitations

There’s something undeniably special about letterpress wedding invitations. When your guests open that envelope, they’re not just reading words on paper—they’re experiencing a traditional art form that engages multiple senses. The deep, pillowy impressions in the paper create a three-dimensional effect you can feel beneath your fingertips. The way light plays across those impressions adds subtle shadows and depth that digital printing simply cannot replicate.

Originally, letterpress machines were calibrated to barely “kiss” the paper with ink, leaving no impression at all. What we now consider the hallmark of letterpress—those deep, tactile impressions—was once viewed as a printing defect. Today, these impressions are precisely what makes letterpress invitations so coveted, adding an element of luxury and artistry to your wedding stationery.

Here’s more in depth detail about using letterpress for your wedding invitations including why you should consider letterpress printing for your wedding, what the process entails, timing, and budget considerations.

What is Letterpress Printing?

Letterpress printing is a premium traditional printing method where designs are impressed into luxurious cotton paper using vintage machines, creating an elegant tactile experience that transforms wedding invitations into cherished heirloom pieces. Most letterpress printers still use restored machines from the 17th-19th centuries, combining historical craftsmanship with modern design capabilities.

Why Choose Letterpress for Your Wedding Invitations?

Letterpress invitations make an unforgettable first impression on your guests. There’s truly nothing like it. And guests will immediately know that great care and expense went into creating a special invitation piece. It’s also remarkable enough to create a family heirloom that you’ll treasure for generations. Like selecting a couture wedding gown, or working with a master florist on an archway or other statement piece, choosing letterpress for your invitations signals an appreciation for artistry and tradition.

The handcrafted nature of letterpress printing means each invitation receives individual attention. A skilled artisan carefully sets up each print run, mixes custom ink colors, and ensures every piece meets exacting quality standards. This hands-on process creates subtle variations that make each invitation uniquely beautiful—much like the subtle differences between roses in a garden.

Why do couples love letterpress for wedding invitations?

People love the old fashioned tradition of it. There’s someone special about the idea of your wedding invitations being made by hand isn’t there? And they love the tangible results that letterpress gives – deep pillowy impressions into the paper where the plate has been pressed into it. 

Fun fact – deep impressions were not always the goal of letterpress printing. Originally, letterpress machines were calibrated to just “kiss” the paper with ink and not leave an impression at all. It was seen as a malfunction that needed to be corrected if the machine pressed too hard into the paper. But today, so many modern print makers and customers love the three dimensional effect and feel of a deeper impression that it’s become commonplace to create more pressure on purpose. 

The Letterpress Process

The creation of letterpress invitations is a multi-step journey that combines both artistry and technical precision:

1. Design Phase: Your invitation design is transformed into custom plates—one for each color in your design. Modern letterpress typically uses polymer plates, though some artisans still work with traditional metal plates for specific effects.
2. Color Mixing: Unlike digital printing where colors are created through a standardized process, letterpress inks are hand-mixed to achieve your perfect shade. This allows for beautiful custom colors, including metallics and specialty inks.
3. Press Setup: The vintage press is carefully calibrated to achieve the perfect impression depth. Each color requires its own setup and printing pass.
4. Printing: Your invitations are fed through the press one at a time, with each color requiring a separate pass through the machine. For multi-color designs, the paper may go through the press several times to build your complete design.

Because the process is more involved than modern flat printing, it’s important you choose a designer that has experience designing for letterpress. This is not the time for a DIY approach or a digital template from Canva. You’ll need to work with someone who knows the specifications needed and how to avoid common pitfalls. Otherwise, you could be in for costly reprints or mistakes.

Design Considerations for Letterpress

While letterpress can create stunning results within any theme, certain design elements work particularly well with this printing method:

• Clean Typography: Letterpress excels at creating crisp, elegant text that feels almost carved into the paper. Thicker lines, create more in-depth impressions.
• Delicate Line Work: Finer details and patterns can create beautiful textural elements.
• Limited Color Palettes: Most letterpress designs use 1-3 colors for optimal results and cost-effectiveness. Although they can be combined with digital print for full color results. That’s typically how I incorporate watercolor into a letterpress design.
• Strategic Use of Space: The negative space around letterpress elements helps showcase the dimensional quality of the printing. It’s important to use enough negative space when designing to make sure the elements don’t press together from the plate.

Can you letterpress print watercolor artwork?

For invitations featuring watercolor artwork or complex illustrations, I recommend combining letterpress with other printing methods. For example, a custom watercolor venue illustration might be digitally printed, while the text is letterpress printed in a complementary ink color. This hybrid approach gives you the best of both worlds—the ability to incorporate detailed artwork while maintaining the luxury feel of letterpress.

How long does letterpress printing take?

If you’re following along, you can imagine that it also takes a lot longer to print the same piece of paper three times instead of printing all of the colors at once like on a digital printer. You also have to wait for plates to be made after your design is finished. 

Due to the handcrafted nature of letterpress printing, these invitations typically require about 4 weeks for production after your design is finalized. This is longer than digital printing, which usually takes 1-2 weeks, but the result is well worth the wait. When planning your wedding timeline, we recommend starting the letterpress invitation process at least 6 months before your wedding date.

A typical letterpress timeline for custom wedding invitations is 3-4 months working with me at Cotton & Bow. While a typical flat printing timeline for the same project is 6-8 weeks.

How much do letterpress wedding invitations cost?

Letterpress printing is a premium option that reflects the value you place on your wedding stationery. The process requires specialized equipment, skilled artisans, and multiple steps to achieve its distinctive look. While the investment is higher than digital printing, many couples find that the lasting impression these invitations make—both literally and figuratively—justifies the additional cost.

As I’m sure you can imagine by now using a giant machine made in the 1800s that uses individual plates for each design is quite time consuming, even with some modern enhancements to make the process more automated. You need a person to set up each job and run it which adds to your labor costs. You also need to mix the ink color to the right specifications. And create different plates for each ink color you’re using. That means if you want to have a design that has text in one color, artwork in another color, and a blind embossed (aka no ink) border, you’ll need to create three different plates, and run the paper through the machine three separate times (cleaning the machine in between each one!) And if you’re adding watercolor artwork then you need to digitally print the artwork before running it through the press. 

It can get quite costly. The price of printing alone is often 2-4x the cost of digital printing. And the more colors you add to your design, the more expensive it gets in both labor and material costs. 

I recommend a budget of $5,000+ for custom invitations with letterpress printing. This allows for multiple plate colors and full-color flat printing within your design. It also covers custom design and illustration costs.

If you’re looking for letterpress or embossing on a smaller budget, I would recommend looking into semi-custom options or ready-made customizable designs. It will still be more expensive than digital flat printing. But you can get away with a smaller budget of $1,000-2,000 for 100 invitation suites.

When is it not a good idea to use letterpress?

If you’re looking to save money or time, then letterpress is generally not recommended as it is more expensive and time consuming than digitally printed items. 

There are a few other design choices that are not a good fit for letterpress.

• large patches of full color like a large area for the background or other shape is not recommended. Larger areas tend to be patchy or inconsistent in coverage. So designers typically design smaller areas of ink coverage.
• Really thin lines don’t work well either. If there are thin lines or small gaps between lines, the press might not register those areas. So really thin lines might get lost entirely or lines that are too close together might bleed into each other. It’s really important to pay attention to the details when designing for letterpress.
• Multiple colors can get really expensive and time consuming. Generally letterpress designs are created with limited palettes of 1-4 colors. A really intricate design might use more than that but I typically see designers sticking to 1-2 colors or passes (e.g. a solid ink color for the text and a blind or sculpted emboss for texture or a border.) 

Watercolor artwork generally does not work well for letterpress because it typically requires thousands of colors. That’s why I always use a digital printing method for any painted artwork. Minimally you’re looking at each piece being printed on twice if you want to add letterpress to an invitation with watercolor  artwork. Once for the watercolor and a second time for the text. 

In Summary

Your wedding invitations set the tone for your entire celebration while creating a lasting keepsake of your love story. Letterpress printing elevates this important piece of your wedding beyond mere paper and ink, transforming it into an heirloom that tells the story of your wedding day to future generations.

Whether you choose a classic design with a single color of letterpress printing or opt for a more elaborate suite combining multiple techniques, letterpress invitations make an unmistakable statement about the care and thought you’ve put into every detail of your celebration.

Ready to explore how letterpress printing could enhance your wedding invitations? Contact me to discuss your vision and discover the possibilities this timeless technique offers.