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Buying Invitations & Stationery Online
After some agonizing, Therese Saint Clair decided several years ago not to sell wedding invitations and other fine paper products online. The reasons were quite simple. First, the sensory limitations of internet experience make it impossible to capture the subtleties and textures of fine papers and inks. As such, consumers are presented a seriously compromised image of "fine papers". Secondly, many skilled artisans do not sell their products online. As independent stationers, we believe that the craftmanship of these artisans would be poorly represented if we focused our attention on selling products online rather than provide discerning consumers with a choice. And finally, we believe that selecting fine stationery, wedding invitations, baby announcements and invitations for other significant events are best done in person. Fostering the civility and craftmanship of the hand-written correspondence is, in our opionion, a tradition well worth preserving.
Today many print shops are selling "fine" stationery, invitations and other paper products directly to consumers over the Internet. Before you buy online a wedding invitation or Bar Mitzvah invitation or fine stationery please consider these facts:
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Feel the Paper Please!
The first thing a bride will do when they open a wedding album is to feel the paper. A business person will do the same thing when choosing a business card. The texture and weight of fine paper stock cannot be adequately represented on the Internet. To the left are swatches of Crane's Florescent White paper stock in three different weights: 90# (pounds), 134# and 179#. Can you tell the difference? Can you "see" the difference between cotton and wood fiber? Paper is as much a tactile experience as it is visual. |
Seeing is Believing! Really?
As most people are aware, web images are generally constrained to 72 dpi or pixels per inch (A pixel is a mathematically unique color representation or color dot: i.e there are 72 dots of color in one linear inch of web space or 5184 dots of color in a square inch). While this is generally sufficient to deceive the eye, it is hardly sufficient for quality print. Most quality color print is between 300 and 600 dpi or 4 to 8 times the resolution or print quality that you have on the web. In fact, to make engraving dies we generally need a resolution of 1200 dpi to create a proper die. Consider the diagram below: |
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To your left you have the representation of one pixel. As you move to right, the same space is populated by more pixels to create greater resolution. Question: Would you consider buying your wedding invitation online at a resolution of "10x10" or "20x20" when you really should see a resolution five times greater? Your online printers hope you will say yes! For more information on image resolution please visit Wikipedia from whom this image was borrowed for illustration purposes.
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What Online Printers don't want you to know
Most serious vendors of fine stationery and invitations do not allow their products to be sold over the Internet. Those that do place serious restrictions on how their products can be displayed and marketed. As such, an online buyer is not exposed to many quality vendors who protect the integrity of their product. While the consumer may seem overwhelmed by the number of choices available, if you look closely you will find that many online sellers are selling the same invitation design and paper product under different labels. Selecting fine stationery or a wedding invitation is not an exercise in filling in an online form. We strongly recommend that you consult a stationer near you for your fine stationery needs. |
Use that extra set of eyes!
If you are like me, I break out into a cold sweat when I get the warning message that says once you click the "Accept" button the online transaction is irreversible. Imagine a spelling or grammer (Oops! grammar) error, poor etiquette or the wrong date on your online wedding invitation: Yes, we redo many online wedding invitations! Do yourself a favor and get the eyes and experience of your local stationer to assist you with your fine stationery and invitations. If you think stationery ends in "ary" you are certainly a candidate for assistance :-). |
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Therese Saint Clair, like many independent stationers in the United States, is dedicated to preserving the tradition and civility of fine stationery. Please contact our experienced staff to help you craft the stationery or invitation of your dreams. If you need more information please consult the online FAQ.
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