Create DIY invitations, ceremony programs, place cards and more with the perfect wedding day printer!
Save the dates and wedding invites are your guests’ first introduction to the big day, so of course you’ll want to leave a lasting impression. There are dozens of printing services that churn out stationery, but if additional prints like ceremony programs, menus or place cards are desired, it may be more cost effective to print everything from the comfort of home. To achieve the exact look and feel you want, you will need to invest in a versatile color printer that is built for DIY. Here, we cover a handful of wedding friendly printers that are up to the challenge, giving a personal touch to all of your wedding essentials.
Best Wedding Printers at a Glance
All of the printers included in this article share some common features that make them ideal for printing wedding stationery. Read up on these printer specification tips first, then, check out our recommended printers further down the page.
Choose a Quality Color Inkjet Printer – Color inkjet printers offer superior results compared to color laser printers when printing detailed images. Laser printers are fine for documents with lots of text but if you are printing an intricate font on your invites, an inkjet printer is the way to go.
Confirm Paper Compatibility -Every printer here can handle a range of customizable paper types and sizes. Invites, envelopes and place cards require varying degrees of adjustment depending on your paper preference. Many printers cannot handle thicker papers like cardstock well, so be sure to check that the printer specs are compatible with your proposed paper type before settling on a particular model. Pay close attention to the weight of your stationery (typically identified in lbs., points or GSM). For a great overview on how paper weights and sizes can affect your prints, check out The Paper Mill’s in-depth blog article on paper compatibility. They even offer paper suggestions for printing on cardstock.
Rear Paper Feed Required – A rear paper feed is another must-have for any DIY stationery project. Rear feed printing lets you feed specialty paper like cardstock one by one into the machine, circumventing any potential curling or jamming issues that occur when printing from the more common front feed tray.
Consider Cartridge Size and Costs – You’ll also want keep in mind how much you plan to spend on cartridges. Cartridge costs can vary greatly across printer models and some offer more prints than others for a better overall value.
To compare printing costs, take note of the cartridge size and page yield. High yield and extra high yield cartridges include more ink than a standard cartridge, giving you more prints per cartridge.
Page yield is the approximate number of pages you can print with a cartridge. The manufacturer’s cited page yield for ink and toner cartridges is given at 5% coverage. This means that the quoted page yield is based upon printed pages where only 5% of the page has been imprinted with ink, which is essentially equivalent to printing out a short paragraph or email.
For instance, the quoted page yield for a Brother LC3033 black ink cartridge is 3,000 pages. Given the 5% page coverage, you can print approximately 3,000 pages of a short paragraph, or if we’re talking wedding invites, about 3,000 invitations (hopefully, you aren’t hosting that many guests!). If you are printing full page documents, photos or graphics, that coverage will change and your page yield will drop significantly.
LD brand compatible cartridges can help you bring your printing costs down even further. A smart, affordable alternative to original brand ink, you get comparable print quality and page yield for a fraction of the price!
Now that you have an idea of what to look out for, let’s dive into the printers. We’ve picked four of our favorite wedding friendly machines below, each with their own unique features:
Best Overall
Brother® MFC-J805DW INKvestment Inkjet All-in-One Printer – Buy on Amazon*
The Brother MFC-J805DW is a compact ink tank printer that offers print, scan, copy options for a budget-friendly price. An automatic duplexer is perfect for printing on both sides of your ceremony program and a manual feed slot makes it easy to print specialty pages one sheet at a time. Compatible with a variety of a paper types, including heavy grade pages up to a 58 lb. bond, you get vibrant, professional looking prints at a low cost. Finding the ideal printer setting for your invites or envelopes can take a bit of trial and error. Brother’s preset printing profile saves you time and potential frustration by saving frequently used printing configurations, keeping up to twenty custom settings at your fingertips.
This Brother printer uses INKvestment cartridges, a high yield ink tank hybrid cartridge system that produces monochrome prints for less than 1 cent per page. Four Brother LC3033 starter ink cartridges are included with the printer and replacements are also available in an ultra high yield cartridge size, which offers more prints. The standard yield black cartridge prints up to 3,000 pages and each color cartridge prints 1,500 pages apiece. The ultra high yield black prints 6,000 pages and ultra high yield color cartridges print up to 5,000 pages.
LD brand compatible LC3035 cartridges are a cost saving alternative to the Brother brand. At just $26.99* for the black cartridge and $26.99 per color, you can get comparable print quality for less. A compatible four pack of ink is also available for just $103.96!
Best Photo Printer
Epson® Expression Photo XP-6100 – Buy on Amazon
Epson’s Expression Photo XP-6100 is high quality photo printer that is designed to handle all of your wedding day printing needs. Suitable for a variety of art paper types, including card stock, a dedicated photo paper tray manages up to 20 sheets of specialty paper. Capable of printing photos up to 8″x10″ in size, this printer performs best with Epson brand semi-gloss, glossy, luster, matte and velvet fine art papers. If you are printing invites on card stock, you can adjust the paper settings to accommodate thicker pages so prints aren’t smeared. A 2.4″ color touch screen display lets you preview your photos before you print.
The printer works with either Epson 302 standard yield or 302XL high yield ink cartridges, with the high yield offering more prints per cartridge. An original Epson brand 302XL black cartridge sells for $25.99 and prints 550 pages and each color cartridge sells for $18.99 and prints 650 pages.
Get the high yield compatible black cartridge from LD Products for $16.99 and the color cartridges for $17.99 each.
Best Wide-format Printer
Epson® WorkForce WF-7210 Wide-Format Printer – Buy on Amazon
The Epson Workforce WF-7210 is a wide-format printer option, featuring print speeds of up to 18 pages per minute and easy to use wireless printing. A single sheet rear feed paper tray can accommodate paper varying 3.5” x 5”- 13” x 19” in size and works with many specialty papers, including semi-gloss, glossy, matte and cardstock up to a 68 lb. bond. You can also print directly on #10 envelopes but if your invitation envelopes are a unique size, you are better off printing guest addresses on labels.
There are four Epson 252 ink cartridges for this printer series, which are sold in a standard yield and high yield cartridge size. LD Products offers a low cost compatible high yield black ink cartridge for just $9.99 and $7.99 for each color cartridge.
Best All-in-One Printer
Canon® PIXMA TR8620 All-in-One Printer – Buy on Amazon
The Canon PIXMA TR8520 is an entry-level all-in-one that is great at producing quality color prints. A 4.3” LCD touchscreen is easy to navigate between print, copy, scan and fax features, allowing for streamlined functionality at an affordable price point. A front and rear paper tray accommodates glossy, luster, semi-gloss and matte paper and is compatible with pages weighing up to 28 lb. stock.
The printer uses four ink cartridges: the PGI-280 black and CLI-281 cyan, magenta and yellow, all of which are available in a standard, high yield or extra high yield cartridge size. The extra high yield cartridges are the best bet for high volume printing needs, offering 600 pages for the black cartridge and approximately 820 pages for each color cartridge.
LD Products sells a compatible version of the PGI-280XXL cartridge for $12.99 and color compatible CLI-281XXL cartridges for $11.99 each.
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*Savings based on price comparison between remanufactured/compatible cartridge prices on www.LDProducts.com and OEM cartridge and printer prices from Amazon and Staples. All products are reviewed independently. As an Amazon associate, LD Products earns from qualifying purchases through links on this page. All prices effective as of June 27, 2022. OEM names are registered trademarks of their respective owners and are not affiliated with, and do not endorse LD Products.
Please furnish dimensions for The Canon Pixma TR 8520.
The dimensions for the Canon PIXMA TR8520 are 17.3 x 13.8 x 7.5″.
Do you have a recommendation on your favorite one of these to use for printing directly onto wedding/thicker envelopes? I’m leaning towards the last 2 on this list but would appreciate your thoughts too!
Thanks for your insightful web page.
I am looking for something to print announcements with. These postcard announcements are 4″x6″ 19 point. That is all we need to print. A 4×6 dedicated machine would be ok, too. We don’t need to print bigger sheets, but various letter size documents would be fine to have.
We find printers that can do that but they don’t last very long.
Can you give me a few recommendations?
Thanks, Dave
Thanks
Dave
Hello Dave! Checkout the Canon PIXMA iX6820. This is a well-reviewed affordable Canon inkjet printer model that prints on cover stock. It’ll be perfect for printing documents too.
Great article! I am looking for a printer that will print 7×9 documents as planner covers on card stock. I was looking at the brother printer you mentioned above but I also need something that will print front and back. Would the brother still be a good option?
Hi Jennifer, this printer supports letter, legal, executive, and ledger size paper and a sheet weight from 17 to 58 lbs. It also features automatic dual-sided printing, hope this helps!
This article is exactly what I’ve been looking for! If I need to print applications for work on cardstock – 8.5 x 11 – which would recommend to get the Canon PIXMA TR8520 or the the Canon PIXMA iX6820 which i mentioned in your comments? We only need to print on cardstock 2, maybe 3 times a year, so we’re not looking to spend a lot of money. Thank you so much for your help!
If you won’t be printing on cardstock that often, you can opt for the TR8520 (more affordable of the two) though it is recommended that you feed the paper from the rear tray. The iX6820 is said to handle cardstock better often.
Seeking a printer that will print a variety of custom sizes of card stock and envelopes. We print on folded note cards flattened out and I use a custom size window to create images/cards but need a printer that will print custom size cards and envelopes and on heavier weight card stock
Hi! I am trying to print myself Save the Date and Wedding envelopes myself at home. We are inviting 400 guests and I will be printing on A7 (5.25×7.25) both the front (guest names & addresses) and then on the backside with the flap (return address). We are doing all the printing in black ink. What do you recommend we purchase?
I’m trying to get a laser printer to print on card stock in various sizes, mainly 5×7 and currently I have a big order with 8X7. The reason I want the laser printer is so that I can laminate some foil on the card afterwards. Do you have any suggestions? THank you!!!
hi did you solve your issue ?