printing addresses on envelopes

[selflove]

Oh I am just livid. The vendor who printed our invitations did not communicate very well that they did not have envelopes big enough to fit the invitations. When I asked him how we were supposed to mail the invitations he said "Well, I thought you were getting those from a different vendor." Why the f*#@ would I get them from another vendor?? Who DOES that?!?!? So I asked him if he knew of a vendor who DID have big enough envelopes and he didn''t know. We got in a huge argument over the phone and he wasn''t going to finish the cutting of the RSVP and reception cards! I convinced him to finish the job but now I''m left without envelopes.

So, I have to either find a vendor who has the envelope size we need and can print them pronto, or I will have to do them myself. I''m more inclined to just do them myself b/c I found the right size online and I could have them expedited shipped.

Does anyone have any advice on printing envelopes DIY? It seems like this isn''t the easiest task. Any advice would be appreciated.

My gosh, I can''t believe how upset I still am--this argument happened 3 1/2 hours ago!

 

[teebee]

Date: 2/27/2006 4:43:56 PM
Author:selflove
Oh I am just livid. The vendor who printed our invitations did not communicate very well that they did not have envelopes big enough to fit the invitations. When I asked him how we were supposed to mail the invitations he said ''Well, I thought you were getting those from a different vendor.'' Why the f*#@ would I get them from another vendor?? Who DOES that?!?!? So I asked him if he knew of a vendor who DID have big enough envelopes and he didn''t know. We got in a huge argument over the phone and he wasn''t going to finish the cutting of the RSVP and reception cards! I convinced him to finish the job but now I''m left without envelopes.

So, I have to either find a vendor who has the envelope size we need and can print them pronto, or I will have to do them myself. I''m more inclined to just do them myself b/c I found the right size online and I could have them expedited shipped.

Does anyone have any advice on printing envelopes DIY? It seems like this isn''t the easiest task. Any advice would be appreciated.

My gosh, I can''t believe how upset I still am--this argument happened 3 1/2 hours ago!

OMG - that has got to be the most asinine thing that I have ever heard!!! He just thought you were getting them someplace else??? I would have wanted to reach through that phone line to claw his eyes out!?! And seriously, if you were already able to find the right sized envelopes online, why the f*** couldn''t he???? What an embicile... Well, I don''t know how I would go about DIY address printing... but do you know of or could you find another printer that would enjoy helping you out on the printing if you can provide the envelopes, considering that one of their competitors seriously screwed up and left you high and dry? Like, maybe if you could find a local business that prints letterhead & such for businesses? Usually when I''ve ordered things like that the delivery is just a few days... I''m livid for you...

 

[lovelylulu]

self love: so sorry to hear about your envelope mishap. it''s funny though because fiancee and i thought it''d take about an hour or so to print the addresses onto our save the date envelopes (our return address was printed professionally so we just needed guests). we were so wrong. it took us about 15 tries (thankfully on paper, not our envelopes) before we mastered the mail merge customizing envelope god-forsaken word printing process. it was too funny. we just had to laugh with every increasing failed attempt -- two educated people with absolutely no clue. anyway, once you get over the initial calibrating it''s not hard to DIY!!! just track down some envelopes!

 

[selflove]

Teebee--I know! What a idiot!! But that''s a great angle, play on the ego of this printer''s competitors...

Lulu--I already started practicing on my printer at work and I think I could do this pretty easily if we print it on the upper left corner and not on the back flap.

While I like the address on the back flap much better, I''m really just at the point where I want these sent out so whatever is easiest and fastest is probably what I will do.

 

[flopkins]

how ridiculous! I would just order them from envelopemall.com or kellypaper.com ... that''s so frustrating that you have to print them yourself though! grrrr....

I also prefer the back thing... Have you thought about maybe getting a custom stamp embosser for that instead of printing? Not sure what your timeline is.

 

[teebee]

Oh, well if you don''t mind having your return address on the front rather than on the back flap and not having the engraving or thermography, then it will just probably take a little bit of trial and error to get the address in the right spot if you haven''t done it before... In my former life as an administrative assistant before I went back to school, I spent many many hours w/ MS Word, Excel, and mail merges so it just takes a little time to get everything the way you want it.

 

[caligal]

Selflove- I agree with you... WTF!?! You can easily print your own envelopes with a mail merge. First off- do you have your list of invitees ready? Put it in an Excel spreadsheet with name, street, and city/state/zip as different headings. Then open Word- click on tools- then mail merge. It will walk you through the process. The thing you will need to do is measure your envelopes so you have the right ones picked to print on. If you need any further help- just let me know!!

 

[selflove]

Okay, here''s an update: it sounds like the vendor isn''t charging us for printing our invites, RSVP cards or our reception cards. WHAT!?!? Is this the same man who hung up the phone on me this morning?! He''s going to finish the order in the morning and have them delivered to my office. I''m in shock...what a freakin'' day...

 

[teebee]

Is this guy on crack? Seriously?!?! Well, sounds like he realized he was way out of line in how he dealt with you and the envelope situation earlier... and is trying to make amends in some way... That still doesn''t get you envelopes though... ack, what a day is right!!

I had an aggravating experience myself with a local stationary store this afternoon - it was something so stupid and minor & it could have easily been remedied (by them accepting my money for a small little item that they said wasn''t for sale even though it had a price sticker on it...) but no... it was so silly but so frustrating - whats up with invitation related vendors today?

 

[ChargerGrrl]

Oh my- what a crappy day you must have had!

But, it sounds like the guy is FINALLY realizing that he f''ed up, and is trying to make amends. There''s something to be said for that, although you''re still left having to "finish" the job. How frustrating!

 

[selflove]

Okay, not only did he not charge us, but yesterday when he dropped off the box with the remainder of our order, he put in about 100 envelopes to match the size of the RSVP card! I would feel guilty but I''m not going to fall into his passive aggressive trap!

I ordered what I hope are good quality envelopes on envelopemall.com (THANKS FLOPKINS!) and we practiced at home and I practiced at work. One way or another we''ll get our address on all of them and THEN I can start with the hand-writing of the outer envelopes. God please let this go smoothly...

teebee--why would the shop have a pricetag on something and then tell you it''s not for sale?! Sounds like the plot to a Seinfeld episode!

 

[flopkins]

selflove- I''m so glad you have the invites safely in your hands!!! whew!! what a nightmare. Don''t feel the least bit guilty about the free envelopes!! SHeesh.

I hope the envelopes you ordered turn out well, actually when I was talking to our printer he said that most envelopes are approx the same paper weight, it''s just the color and texture... (I had been hoping to get envelopes in a similar type of paper, I had very heavy cardstock that was textured) but I just ended up getting plain envelopes that matched in color and they were fine... I don''t think anyone notices this stuff except us...

 

[MINE!!]

We addressed (printed) 100 Envolopes ourselves plus the envelopes for the response cards in less than an hour.