Did this help? I hope so! I’m going to go through each of these terms and give you a little more info so you know exactly what you’re looking at and what the possibilities are! Don’t see something listed that you’re interested in? Send me an email and we can still make it happen!

Backer - Many times on an invitation, you’ll see two layers of paper. One with the information printed on it and another one with a contrasting color that it is mounting on. If you like this double layered effect for extra thickness and to stand out a bit, ask for a backer!

Belly Band - A belly band is a strip of paper, vellum, leather, etc that wraps around all of your cards to hold them together when they’re in the envelope. Some will use this to secure their cards and then put something such as a vellum wrap over it, or some will use it to keep the vellum wrap closed. You can choose for your belly band to be solid or use any print techniques on them, and they can be done as simply bands or with different shapes incorporated to add an extra touch. Reach out if you’re interested in seeing more options!

Blind Embossed Border - A blind embossed border is a great way to add an elevated touch to your wedding suite, and helps frame your information in a beautiful way.

Blind Letterpress - Blind Letterpress can be used for type of designs, and adds some beautiful but subtle texture to your invitations. The shape or text is pressed into the paper, creating an indent in the shape of whatever you are printing on, and doesn’t use any ink. So the effect is subtle and doesn’t stand out too much against your paper.

Details Card - Your details card is going to give your guests any additional information that they might need. You can have one card or split this up into a few different ones depending on your wedding events and what you prefer. Splitting these up is a great way to customize who gets invited to what event. These cards are a good way to showcase your hotel/accommodations info, any travel info you want to include, if your reception is at a different location than your ceremony, morning after brunch, rehearsal dinner information, etc.

Die Cut Card - The possibilities with die cutting are truly endless. The shape pictured is just an arched invitation, but die cutting allows us to make your invitation truly any shape that we want.

Embossed Printing - Similar to the blind embossed border, embossed printing has your letters raised up on the page for an extra special touch.

Envelope Liner - An envelope liner is the extra piece of paper that goes inside of your envelopes. You can have solid colors/metallics, a design/print, a venue illustration (we offer this too!), and truly anything you can think of! It is not required but it definitely takes your envelope from ordinary to special.

Grommet Fastened Overlay - This is most commonly used for a vellum overlay, but can also be used if you want any of your pieces of paper secured together.

Handmade Paper & Envelope - Handmade paper and envelopes adds an extra special touch to your invitation suite. The paper is a lot more delicate and typically has a deckled edge (natural not cut edge), but there are many different kinds of handmade paper to explore! If you want handmade paper, you can use a regular envelope as well, these two do not exclusively need to go together.

Inner Envelope - This is entirely optional, but some people will put their invite suite in an envelope, and then inside of another envelope for mailing. When people do this, they tend to line their inner envelope and reserve any calligraphy or special envelope printing for the inner envelope, and use just a basic print on the outer one. This helps ensure that your envelope stays perfectly intact and arrives in its intended beautiful state.

Letterpress Printing - Letterpress printing is going to be similar to your blind letterpress, but with ink. You will still have that indented pressed in feel with your text or designs, but ink is applied to the indenting as well to give it a printed and engraved feel.

Outer Envelope - Your outer envelope is going to be the envelope that is addressed and your stamps are on.

Printed Vellum Overlay - Vellum overlays can be used in so many different ways. Some will choose to have them with no print on them just as a nice overlay touch, some will print designs on them. You can have any color and design printed on them. You can print text on these as well. You can have something simple on them such as “save the date”, “you’re invited”, etc, or print your entire invitation on them! When people print their invite on them they tend to overlay them on an image of the couple or a fun colored card.

Response Card & Envelope - Your response card is how your guests are going to let you know that they can or can not attend your wedding. The envelope is only necessary if you want your RSVP cards sent back to you. If you are interested in doing a QR code rsvp or website to RSVP at then you can forego the envelope.

Ribbon - Ribbon can be used so many different ways in an invitation suite! It can be used the same way as a belly band to hold everything together, you can have a beautiful piece of ribbon tied to the top of your invite, or anything else you can think of!

Tassel - Tassels aren’t as common, but are a beautiful touch. They can be put through a grommet where multiple pages are being held together, or we can put a small hole punch in your invite card that it hangs off of.

Vellum Wrap - Vellum wraps are such a beautiful touch to add to your wedding invitations. They can be completely customized and designed to match your invitation suite and serve as a little jacket to hold all of your items together inside the envelope. These are often sealed closed with a wax seal, ribbon, or belly band, but that isn’t required!

Wax Seal - Wax seals add a special handmade touch to your invites. We can create a custom wax seal, or you can choose from a number of decorative options. We will work together to design a wax seal that matches your invitation suite perfectly! There are a ton of colors to choose from to best match your invitation suite, and each one will come with an adhesive backing to easily apply. Wax seals can be used on the outside of your envelope to adhere your envelope closed, can be a special touch on your invitation itself, or can be used with a vellum wrap on the inside!

Wedding Invitation - This is going to be your main piece of information and will include all of the most important information. Who’s getting married, when you’re getting married, where the wedding is, and what time they need to be there!