Tip for printing your wedding invitation envelopes yourself

I had hand calligraphy done for my wedding invitations, but anyone who followed my post office saga knows that 7 invitations were returned to me.

I did not have time to have the calligraphy redone on the outer envelopes, so I improvised by printing the outer envelopes in a calligraphy font on my computer.

It is MUCH easier to space the text and play with the font and get it to print correctly through word if you do NOT use the 'envelopes and labels' function. Instead, resize the paper of the word file to be the same size as your envelopes.

If you go to Tools --> Envelopes and Labels, you'll have a hard time spacing the text and getting it to print correctly even if you correctly enter the custom dimensions. Centering is nearly impossible, too!

However, if you go to File --> Page Setup and then select the Paper Size tab, you can enter in the dimensions of your envelope (mine were 7.5' x 7.5'). This makes the page of the Word document the same size as your envelope and you can center and move around the text so much more easily, right in the file. Then just print right onto your envelopes. (Do a test run first to make sure you have the paper going in the right way!)

Oh, and I hate to break it to you, but everything you've heard about printing the lined inner envelopes is true. I have a really good printer and they kept getting stuck and crushed b/c they are too thick. Luckily, the inner envelopes I had hand done were not damaged... so these poor seven guests will be getting late invitations with computer calligraphy on the outside and hand calligraphy on the inner envelope.

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Posted by futuremrsfab

sorry that you had to go through all that--- but thank you so much for posting the tips for the rest of us... i am dreading the inner envelopes- anyone have any thoughts on that? i think i might just do clear labels- but is that tacky (be honest, not polite lol)

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Personally I wouldn't do labels, but desperate times...

I would try the envelopes in your printer to see - I think they do fit some printers. Also, some lined envelopes are thicker than others... so you never know! It's worth trying!

You can always hand write the inner envelopes. I think that would be preferable to labels.

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Posted by futuremrsfab

sorry that you had to go through all that--- but thank you so much for posting the tips for the rest of us... i am dreading the inner envelopes- anyone have any thoughts on that? i think i might just do clear labels- but is that tacky (be honest, not polite lol)

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Depending on which labels and what printer, the clear labels can be a hassle too. We apparently didn't get the right brand of labels, because we gathered my fam together to help us label the save the date cards, and ended up having to wait hours for the labels to 'dry' and not get smudged when we tried to stick them on.

Kara,

good call on the paper sizing. I generally find Word to be not as as effective as we'd like.

and glad to see you soldiering forward. The cane offer still stands.

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Posted by stealthgroom

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Posted by futuremrsfab

sorry that you had to go through all that--- but thank you so much for posting the tips for the rest of us... i am dreading the inner envelopes- anyone have any thoughts on that? i think i might just do clear labels- but is that tacky (be honest, not polite lol)

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Depending on which labels and what printer, the clear labels can be a hassle too. We apparently didn't get the right brand of labels, because we gathered my fam together to help us label the save the date cards, and ended up having to wait hours for the labels to 'dry' and not get smudged when we tried to stick them on.

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Oh wow, good to know! Were you using an ink jet printer? (I did for the envelopes, but I guess that could be a pain with the clear labels!)

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Posted by stealthgroom

Kara,

good call on the paper sizing. I generally find Word to be not as as effective as we'd like.

and glad to see you soldiering forward. The cane offer still stands.

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Thanks

Let's wait until these get delivered and THEN talk some cane!

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Posted by Kara and Todd

Oh wow, good to know! Were you using an ink jet printer? (I did for the envelopes, but I guess that could be a pain with the clear labels!)

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It's one of those officejet print/copy/fax/photoscan/make you a sandwich things from hp. We definitely lost a few save the date cards b/c of that smudging. So to be safe, print early and let em settle/dry.

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Posted by ali120206

If you are printing a number of envelopes, the mail merge function works well too!

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Don't you still have to use the envelopes and labels function to use mail merge?

If you do it the way I suggested, you just add page breaks in between and can print as many as you'd like in a row.

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Posted by stealthgroom

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Posted by Kara and Todd

Oh wow, good to know! Were you using an ink jet printer? (I did for the envelopes, but I guess that could be a pain with the clear labels!)

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It's one of those officejet print/copy/fax/photoscan/make you a sandwich things from hp. We definitely lost a few save the date cards b/c of that smudging. So to be safe, print early and let em settle/dry.

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I could go for a sandwich right about now.

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Posted by Kara and Todd

I could go for a sandwich right about now.

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Sadly, it doesn't fix drinks, because that's what I could go for right now.

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Posted by stealthgroom

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Posted by Kara and Todd

I could go for a sandwich right about now.

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Sadly, it doesn't fix drinks, because that's what I could go for right now.

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I'd exchange it for beer then... after my sandwich, please.

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Posted by Kara and Todd

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Posted by ali120206

If you are printing a number of envelopes, the mail merge function works well too!

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Don't you still have to use the envelopes and labels function to use mail merge?

If you do it the way I suggested, you just add page breaks in between and can print as many as you'd like in a row.

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No, it's separate from the envelopes and labels option. You can import addresses from an excel worksheet and at the end, you have a document with each separate envelope. It ends up being the same as what you did but, it's a little quicker if you are printing like 100 envelopes.