DIY invites- color laser printer help

[labbielove]

I have been so inspired by all the gorgeous DIY invites I''ve seen here,
and FI is quite handy on the computer, and I''m a tad crafty so I''m thinking we could make this work.

I very much want pocketfolds, and the $ savings if we could DIY are huge. Since we went over on the photographer I''d like to try and save here if possible.

I haven''t priced out at local printers yet to do the invite part (and we would assemble)

but I"m thinking we could put the $ towards a color laser printer at home, although it would be the $300 kind, not the $1000 kind-

1) has anyone done this on a home color laser printer and had good results?
2) any recos on printer brands that might be good?

if not I may try to find a small local print shop to help.

Thanks!

 

[anacgarcia]

I have HP color laser jet 2600n series and it prints beautiful!!

ETA: Here's the link http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7256426&type=product&productCategoryId=cat01016&id=1115366999765

 

[Tacori E-ring]

I would consider getting it printed at a print house. Saves you time and stress.

 

[cara]

Think a little bit about what kind of paper you want to use and what kind of images. High quality photo-inkjets are actually better at photos, images, etc. Lasers are typically better at text, but I would be a little bit wary of one of the cheaper color lasers (not that they woln''t do great stuff) but to make them in the home comsumer price range they generally had to do something to reduce the cost from your standard office laser printer. One of my favs is that some of the home color laser printers have such small toner cartridges that they are just as expensive to operate as an inkjet.

Also, I went to the paper store in anticipation of doing STDs, and the clerks were saying some paper works better in lasers, some better in inkjets, and some can work in both. (Crinkly, rough, textured = inkjet only; shiny, metallic (ie. less-absorbant) = laser only)

Laying out a simple STD folded card for printing on a good office laser jet has been enough hassle that I am seriously re-thinking DIY invites. I would really recommend not doing in all yourself if it means buying a printer you otherwise would not have bought. It will be cheaper just to do the layout yourself and have them printed. Now if you were going to buy the printer anyway...

 

[labbielove]

thanks for all of the advice.
i am not sure yet what we will do,
although i''m leaning toward having them printed.
i did come across some gorgeous handmade paper diy kits, which seem a nice happy medium
and some even have a pocket to hold the info, etc. which is what drew me to the pocketfolds in the first place.
fi has a nice inkjet already.

we shall see, depending on how much stress comes with my job in the next few months i may pay to have it all done.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

labbie, I put together and printed my STD, invites, and programs (though I had one page perfed and the envelopes printed with our return address professionally) and it took FOREVER. I did have a rather complicated invite but printing and putting them together took lots and lots of time. Just make sure you can invest that time to do it right if you decide to tackle them yourself.

 

[labbielove]

that is a very good point,
i think a good compromise for us will be to do the layout ourselves and find someone to print them.
i have no problem assembling, and since we have plenty of time (don''t need to mail out until july 07)
that is unless i find a pre-existing one that i can''t live without,
or once we price out the printing if it''s only a bit more to have them made then we will.

we are definitely going to be doing diy programs

 

[codex57]

We printed our own programs, menus, etc. Not invitations. Let''s just say, I don''t think our laser printer is the same. It''s getting a little better, but it''s a lot noisier now tho. I think we wore the motor out.

We have a 2600N as well, but we didn''t use it (didn''t own it at the time). I think it would be fine for invitations (as long as there''s no detailed photo on it), but I would write off the laser printer afterwards and so you''d have to add the cost of the printer to see if you''re actually saving anything. Plus, the color cartridges don''t hold as much ink as the plain black laser printers so you''ll have to buy cartridges a lot more often. That might add considerable costs depending on how much you''re printing.

Cutting, folding, and all that stuff wasn''t too horrible. But, we had a team. Had bridesmaids or friends come over every now and then and we''d just crank out a ton. Had an assembly line going. If you''re just going at it alone, it might be too much if you have a lot to do.

 

[cpster]

Another option to consider is having your design printed at Kinkos. You can send them a PDF file, or bring it in on disk. When I did this, I had them do a test print for me to ensure that I was happy with the color. They had two different machines and one produced more viivid color than the other. They actually have a really nice heavy card stock too that looked fabulous.

The quality of the machines at Kinko is going to beat any home laser printer for sure. If you design efficiently, you can probably get one invitation set out of each page. We fit the invitation, direction card, RSVP, and thank you card all on one page.

Then we just had to cut them up.