FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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IN-PERSON DESIGN CONSULTATIONS:
If you’re able to make it to our studio in Puyallup, Washington, we think a design consultation will be worth your time. We constantly hear feedback that ordering invitations is a more detailed process than most people expect, so it definitely doesn’t hurt to let us walk you through it! That being said, if you’re not from around here, or simply know what you want and prefer to just place your order through the website or via email, that’s perfectly fine as well!
About 50% of our orders are fulfilled directly through online proofing and shipped out-of-state or overseas without the need for an in-person consultation. So while we do think you’ll find it beneficial to meet with us in person, if you can’t make it in, don’t let that discourage you from completing an order online. We’re always happy to send samples or color swatches by mail, or schedule a phone consultation to answer any questions you may have.
Once an order is placed online, it continues through the exact same proofing process as you would experience if you had started with an in-person consultation. The only difference between scheduling a design consultation vs. ordering online is just the way we gather the details to begin your proof. We either gather it in person, or you submit it using the online forms.
A 1-hour invitation design consultation is complimentary! We’ll simply discuss all of the design details for your invitation suite and then email you an itemized price quote and concept proof for you to review in private after your consultation. When you’re ready to proceed with ordering, you’ll pay a design deposit online to continue the proofing process, and the remaining balance is due upon print approval. No payment is collected on the day of your consultation, and no payment is required if you decide not to move forward with ordering.
During your design consultation, we’ll spend some time discussing your event details, exploring samples and color swatches, and answering any questions you may have. We keep the vibe of consultations fun and laid back! There’s no sales pressure! We just want to learn about your event and help you find an invitation that works within your budget. Our goal for the consultation is simply to gather all the details needed to create a concept proof of your invitation set, which is emailed to you with an itemized price quote after your consultation so you can review and decide in private if you’d like to proceed with ordering.
Invitation design can begin fairly early in your planning process, especially if you’re wanting to send save the dates. Before beginning invitation design, you should have a date secured with your venue, a rough estimate on guest count, and a general idea of colors/vibes/style you’re wanting. But other than that, you do not need to have much else figured out to get started with design. A lot of our couples let the invitation design guide some of their planning, so consider getting started sooner rather than later.
Most consultations times average from 45-60 minutes.
We have a maximum of 4 seats reserved for studio consultations, but recommend only 2 people whenever possible. The more people who need to weigh in on each design decision, the longer it will take for us to get through all the details. To give you an idea, 2-person design consultation average about 45-60 minutes. 4-person design consultations often approach 2 hours, so please choose your attendees carefully. It’s always a great idea to get more eyes looking over your proof later on, but for the initial design consultation, please limit your company the person whose opinion matters most to you. None of the decisions you make in your consultation are final, and we’ll send you home with samples and ideas to share.
Realistically, the person whose opinion may be the most helpful isn’t always your partner. If your partner doesn’t care about colors, fonts and paper goods, they will probably be bored and offer little help in making decisions. If a parent, sibling, or friend would be more excited to help you make design decisions, bring them along instead and then get your partner’s opinion after we’ve put together a personalized proof that you can review with them later.
Our design studio is not child-friendly. There are a lot of things to touch and grab, so children will need to be closely supervised at all times. While children are not unwelcome, it does make it harder complete your consultation in a timely manner. Whenever possible, we do prefer to conduct consultations without children present, but we understand that sometimes that’s not possible.
If you have color swatches you’re trying to match, bring those with you too. If you already sent save the dates prior to your consultation, please bring a copy. Any inspiration photos or samples that you have already received can be helpful in narrowing down options.
Prior to scheduling a consultation, please explore our website and familiarize yourself with the options we offer and our pricing to ensure that our product fits within your budget. Have a basic idea of what you’re interested in for your invitations.
One-on-one consultation times are reserved specifically for you. Our work day and even weekends are scheduled around your consultation time, so please be respectful of that by giving at least 24 hours advance notice if you need to cancel or re-schedule your appointment time. We are more than happy to accommodate if given enough notice.
Traffic happens but please communicate with us! If you are running more than 5-10 minutes late, please call, text or email to let us know that you are still on your way. If you are more than 15 minutes late without contacting us, your appointment time will be cancelled and considered a no-show appointment.
No-show appointments cannot be re-scheduled without a pre-paid design deposit of $200. All deposits are non-refundable but can be applied towards your order as long as you show up to your re-scheduled consultation. Repeat no-shows will forfeit their deposit and will not be eligible to re-schedule an in-studio design consultation but can still place an order online.
PLACING AN ORDER:
We’re happy to schedule a phone consultation to discuss the details of your order and answer any questions you may have. To ensure accuracy, after the initial phone consultation, we require all correspondence to occur via email. This allows us to keep a written record to refer back to throughout the order process so that no details are overlooked.
For the best service, begin your order as soon as possible. If you know what you want, we can get started whenever you’re ready, even if you don’t need your stationery for several weeks or months. At a minimum, please begin your order at least 2 months before you need it in your hands. The printing and production time is 3-5 weeks from the day you approve your proof for print. If you need your order sooner, please contact us to discuss rush options, we can usually accommodate.
Yes. In order to keep printing costs low, the minimum order for most items is only 25, with the exception of laser cuts, foil stamping, letterpress, thermography, wood cards, and acrylic cards, where the minimum is 50. You can order in any increment for each piece as long as it is over the minimum.
Absolutely! We highly recommend ordering an invitation sample pack before ordering your customized stationery. All of our sample packs are available in our Etsy shop at
www.impressink.etsy.com.
PRODUCT DETAILS & CUSTOMIZING
Pretty much anything can be customized! The photos in our galleries are from real past clients and a great jumping off point for customizing your own invitations. We can change colors, fonts, wording, shapes, and components.
Contact us with your ideas and we can let you know what’s possible!
Within reason, we don’t limit the number of revision you’re allowed*. We’re pretty relaxed about this because we want you to feel confident in the proof you approve for printing and not stress out about how many free revisions you have available.
However, we do ask that you review your proofs carefully and submit all changes to that given proof at the same time so that we can make all the changes at once. Since proofs are digital, we must re-format and upload them for web-viewing each time you have a revision so the less often we need to do this, the quicker the proofing process will go. After you give us print approval for your proof, no further changes can be made; your order will immediately go to print.
*Please note: even though we have not set a limit on the number of revisions you’re allowed to make, if we feel that an excessive amount of changes are being made or there is a loss of direction with a project, we reserve the right to implement a proofing fee with adequate warning. This is not something that happens often but may be necessary to prevent an un-ending proofing process.
If you don’t see the color you’re looking for, please ask! We work with many different suppliers for envelopes, cardstock and pockets. It would be overwhelming to display all possible color choices in our color repertoire so we have limited our standard color charts to those which are the most economical and the widest range of choices.
We work with a variety of printing partners who house commercial-grade presses and finishing equipment, operated by skilled printer-people who are expertly trained in their craft. Impress Ink is a stationery design company, not a professional printer. Because print quality is one of our top priorities, we’ve found that partnering with professional printers who are skilled in their trade yields better results than printing in-house. The exception to this is variable data printing, like envelopes and place cards, where we are printing from your list of names or addresses. Envelopes are printed in-house.
We offer digital proofs because they allow us expedite the order process and make revisions right away, and are incredibly accurate concerning the final look of your stationery. In the event that you would like to see a physical proof, and have allowed the time to do so, we’re happy to offer a price quote for a printed personalized proof. Not all options are available for proofs. Please be aware that specialty print methods like letterpress and foil imprint, which require a die to be made, may have very high proof costs for an individual personalized sample.
We do offer complimentary ink color charts and swatches of our paper and cardstock options, which work well to bridge the gap between an online proof and printed proofs.
Each item in your order will be bundled separately so some assembly is required to get your invitations ready to mail. Items that require adhesive or mounting like backing layers, envelope liners, pockets, etc. will arrive to you assembled. All you’ll need to do is collate cards, apply RSVP postage, and stuff and seal envelopes prior to mailing. Assembly and mailing options are available for an additional cost.
More details here.
In an effort to uphold a certain level of quality in how our designs are presented, Impress Ink does not offer digital files. We only sell printed products.
We understand that once you see your proof, you may change your mind about certain options you’ve selected during consultation. Color and font changes rarely effect price but let’s say you wanted to add another card or a component that affects price; you’re more than welcome to make these changes during the proofing process. Once you have finalized your invitation suite, confirmed quantity and given print approval, we will send you an invoice reflecting the exact components of your order that you’ve approved.
As the designer, Impress Ink retains copyright for all artwork regardless of any custom design fees that have been paid by the customer. To maintain exclusivity, we do not typically share our designs for use on any item that is available through Impress Ink. If there’s an item you’d like to order and are unsure if we offer it, just ask! We can print just about anything from paper goods and signage, to promotional items and digital assets. Below is more information on licensing options and estimated costs:
Limited License: A Limited License is intended for use on non-printed event items that are not available through Impress Ink. These items typically include spotlights or Gobo lights, dance floor graphics, aisle runners, and photobooth strips. The Limited License fee starts at $100. To ensure proper formatting, we prefer to work directly with the company who will be creating these items for you, so please provide a point of contact with the company who will need the artwork. A Limited License cannot be used for any unauthorized items.
Extended License: An Extended License is only released on a case-by-case basis, depending on intended use. For pricing, please contact us with a description of how you intend to use the artwork. Extended License fees usually range between $250-$500.
Please note: once licensed artwork files have been released, they cannot be edited. File release is considered the equivalent of “Print Approval” and no further changes can be made without an additional licensing or design fee.
PROCESS & POLICIES
Most orders take 3-4 weeks for printing alone. This does not include proofing time, for which you’ll want to allow a few weeks extra. For invitations, we recommend beginning your order at least 5-6 months prior to the event. For day-of items, begin 2 months prior to the event. For detailed information on turnaround time,
click here.
Customized stationery is a big purchase, usually for a very special event. We want you to feel confident in your purchase and we’ll allow you to make as many changes to your order as you’d like prior to printing, so you’re happy with the final product. However, since we begin design work on your proof as soon as your order is placed, cancelled orders will be refunded according to the policies below:
- Orders that are cancelled in the proofing phase prior to print approval will not receive a refund for their design retainer payment, but you will not be billed the remaining balance of your order.
- Orders that have been approved for print and completed final payment are not eligible for cancellation. Your order goes into production immediately, all materials have been ordered at this point and we cannot offer a refund in any amount.
It is a print-industry standard that you, the customer, are 100% responsible for proof-reading and notifying us of any errors or revisions you’d like to see, and you will be given the opportunity to do so before printing. Once you approve of the proof to be printed, no changes can be made and your stationery will be printed exactly as it was seen on the last proof we sent. Impress Ink does NOT proof-read any content for errors. If you approve a proof with an error on it, whether you submitted your wording that way or not, any charges incurred for reprinted will be the sole responsibility of the customer.
PAYMENT, SHIPPING, & RETURNS
Please see our shipping page here:
www.impressinkdesign.com/shipping
Occasionally, we will offer other discounts or promotions at wedding shows or other events.
We handle all payment processing though PayPal where you can pay using your credit card, debit card, or with your Paypal account balance. Paypal is 100% secure, we never even see your payment or credit card information. You do not need to create a Paypal account to pay if you are using a credit or debit card.
Impress Ink does not accept returns or issue refunds for customized items that have been approved by the customer for printing. If it cannot be resold, we cannot accept a return. For this reason, nothing is printed until you have given us approval of your digital proof. Sample packs are non-refundable and cannot be returned for a refund.
If an error is found on printed items that is also shown on the approved proof, the customer is responsible for any charges incurred for reprints. This is why it is vital that you proof-read carefully. If an error is found that is the fault of Impress Ink and is not shown on the approved proof, please notify us within 5 days of when the package has been delivered to you. Please inspect your stationery immediately upon delivery. If an error is not reported within 5 days, Impress Ink reserves the right to charge accordingly for reprints regardless of which party is at fault.