The shop has sent a proof because they are about to spend paper on your names. Checking it is not a design round. It is a last read of the facts, the size and the trim, before you tell them to print.
I design invitations and send you digital files. I do not print, mail or sign the shop’s sheet for you. That approval is yours. Once you send it, they will cut every card to match.
A printer’s proof, here, is a sample of the job. It is not the art-world “PP” kept beside a limited edition. And it is not a test of whether the machine on your desk has ink. Open the file on a desktop, not a phone. Then work in a fixed order. Names and dates first. Trim and type next. Colour last.
A proof is not a second design round
When I send a print-ready file, the design work is already closed. A custom invitation includes two rounds of revisions. A full suite includes three. By the time a printer sends a proof, you should not be moving a date for taste. You should not be asking for a new typeface. Those notes belong in the design, not at the shop.
The proof exists so you and the printer agree on what will come off the press. You are looking for drift. A name that got retyped. A crop that sits tighter than the file I sent. A back that landed on the front. You are not looking for a new idea.
If you still want a wording change, say so plainly. It may mean a new file from me, then a new proof from them. It is not a free extra pass on the design. I do not charge their proofing, and I do not set their rules after you approve. Ask the shop what a change at this stage does to the job. Then decide if the line is wrong enough to stop the run.
The PDF looks familiar, which is why hosts treat it like another layout pass. It is the same card, in a different room. Treat it like a contract copy, not a mood board. Read it as if you have never seen it. The people named on the card will.
If something feels off in the design itself, write to me, not only to the shop. They can move a file on the press. They should not be rewriting your invitation.
Screen proof versus a printed proof
Shops send two kinds of proof, and they answer different questions.
A screen proof is a PDF. It is fast. It is good for spelling, names, dates and page order. It is also good for checking that the crop marks sit where they should. It is a layout proof. It is not a colour match. Your monitor makes colour with light. Paper makes colour with ink sitting on a sheet. Those two will never be twins. If you approve a PDF because the green looked lovely on your laptop, you have approved a glow. Not a card.
A printed proof, sometimes called a hard proof, is a physical sheet from their floor. This is the one that tells you about stock and weight in the hand. It also shows how the ink sits on an uncoated finish. For most invitations I ask a printer for 110lb cover stock with an uncoated finish. A hard proof on that stock is the only fair colour check. A hard proof on office paper is still a sketch.
You can take the files to any local print shop, or to an online printer for a larger run. Hard proofing takes time, and shops price it themselves. I do not quote that fee. If colour is the thing you care about most, ask for a printed proof on the actual stock. Not a cheap stand-in.
Some shops will not print until you reply. Some will run if you uploaded a clean file and never asked. If a proof arrives, they are waiting. Silence is not approval unless they have said it is. Read their email. Say yes in writing, or send the marks.
View the PDF at actual size on a computer. Browser previews squash type and lie about margins. Toggle between the proof and the file I delivered, page by page. You are hunting for what changed in transit.
Trim, type and spelling to check first
Do the boring work first. Colour is a trap. A wrong date is a reprint.
Sit with a copy of the wording you already signed off, not with the proof alone. Read every proper noun out loud. Hosts, honourees, parents, venues, cities. Then the day of the week against the date. Then the time, and whether it is morning or evening. Then the reply, the website, the dress line, and any verse.
After the words, look at the knife.
Crop marks show where the blade will cut. Anything outside them is meant to vanish. Type and names must sit inside, with air, not kissing the edge. If a colour or a rule is supposed to run off the card, it must continue past the trim into the bleed. A thin white sliver along a dark edge means the bleed did not travel far enough. I wrote about why the file needs bleed because this is the moment it fails in public.
Then type. Look for a font that swapped, or a weight that went from light to regular. Open a line you know well, the names at the centre. Stare at the shapes, not the sense.
If the suite has more than one piece, scroll the whole PDF. Front, back, reply, details, envelope if they imposed one. Confirm the sizes match what you ordered. A card that fills a letter sheet in the proof may still be imposed correctly. Read the trim, not the paper it is sitting on.
A short invitation proof checklist, in this order:
- Read every name, date and place against the wording you signed off, out loud, twice.
- Confirm the trim size, and that nothing you need sits on the crop marks.
- Check that bleed still runs past every edge that should print to the cut.
- Look at each piece in a suite, not only the main card.
Have one other person read it who did not design it and did not write it. Fresh eyes catch the street number you have memorised wrong.
What a home printout will lie about
Your home printer is a different machine, on different paper, with different ink. It will lie with confidence.
It will lie about colour. Screens are backlit. Home ink sits on bright copy paper, often in a different mix. The sage you loved will go grey. The blush will go peach. You will want to reopen the design. That is usually the printout, not the file. I keep a whole note on colours that lie on paper, because this is the trap that burns a week. Do not rewrite a palette from an inkjet draft. If colour must be right, wait for the shop’s printed proof on the stock you chose.
It will lie about trim. Home trays print with their own margins. A card that should bleed will grow a white frame on office paper. You will think the file is wrong. Check the crop marks in the PDF instead.
It will lie about type. A 300dpi print-ready file can look soft if your home machine is set to “fit to page” or draft. Print actual size, or do not print it at home at all. The shop’s screen proof, viewed at 100 percent, is a better judge of whether the letters are sharp.
It will lie about the hand of the paper. Copy paper is thin and cool. 110lb uncoated cover has a different tooth. Guests will hold the cover, not your draft.
Use a home printout for one job only. Read the words in your own kitchen, with a pen, away from the glow of the layout. Then put it aside. Approve from the shop’s proof, on their terms.
How to mark a change without rewriting the card
If the proof is wrong, do not send a new essay. Do not paste a rewritten card into the email. The shop is not starting from a blank page. They need to know which line moved.
Reply to their proof thread. Name the piece. Name the side. Quote the wrong line, then the right one. On the reply card, change Saturday 12 June to Saturday 13 June. One fact per line. If three things are wrong, send all three together. A drip of notes, one each hour, is how jobs stall.
If they gave you a marked-up PDF, use comments on the exact word. Adobe’s own guide to commenting on a PDF is enough. Keep each comment short. Do not attach a new layout unless I have issued a replacement file.
If the shop needs a corrected master, it should come from me, not from a screenshot. I deliver a print-ready PDF at 300dpi with bleed and crop marks, plus a texting size and a stories size, in one shared folder. Send me the same list you sent them. I will issue a new file. Then they proof again. You sign the new one, not the old one.
Do not ask the printer to make it a bit warmer, or to nudge a crest. Vague colour and layout notes at this stage turn into someone else’s guess. If the design itself is the problem, that is still my work, on a custom invitation, not theirs.
When nothing is wrong, say so in one sentence. Proof approved as sent. Date it. Keep the email. That sheet is what they will match if a box arrives looking different.
If you are still assembling what to hand the shop, start with what to send a printer. The proof is the step after. Do not mix them.
Signing off is a quiet yes. Paper is about to exist with a date on it. Give it the same attention you gave the wording. Then send the note, and leave it alone.