Invitations and ang bao
An invitation is opened once, in a hand, in silence. There is no headline competing for attention and no second impression to correct the first — so the sheet, the relief and the edge are the design.
EZ Print prints invitations, wedding cards and ang bao in Singapore, and has done since 2017. Ang bao, hong bao, red packet and money packet are one product under four names. Common sizes are 5 × 7 inch at 127 × 178 mm, A6 105 × 148 mm, DL 99 × 210 mm and square 148 × 148 mm; an ang bao is around 90 × 175 mm. Stocks are cotton, uncoated woodfree, laid, felt-marked and linen papers, and bonded duplex where the edge is part of the design. Finishing is where the money goes: hot foil stamping, blind embossing and debossing, letterpress, painted edges and die-cut shapes. Every one needs tooling made before the first run — a brass block, a die pair, a photopolymer plate — and that tooling is kept, so a reorder starts from it. Standard turnaround is 7–14 working days and express is quoted per job. Envelopes are matched to the card size. EZ Print quotes from the specification and does not publish prices.
Specifications, formats and enquiry details for each product quoted on this service.
A card sent ahead of a wedding or event, often foiled, embossed or letterpressed, with its envelope.
Also ordered as: Wedding Card, Wedding Invitation, Event Invitation, RSVP Card, Save the Date, Kad Kahwin
A folded money envelope for festive giving, printed with a brand and often foil-stamped.
Also ordered as: Ang Bao, Hong Bao, Money Packet, Lai See, Duit Raya Packet, Green Packet
A small folded card that names a guest or a table, printed to match the invitation.
Also ordered as: Name Place Card, Escort Card, Table Number Card, Seating Card, Table Name Card
Size, stock, the finishing operations, and whether envelopes are needed. The finishing is the schedule; everything else is a day. The 5 × 7 inch card below is drawn at true physical size, with the safety margin a foil block actually needs.
Together with their families
Saturday the fourteenth
127 × 178mm
Five by seven inches, the invitation standard. Envelope sizes, foil blocks and card holders in this market are all built around it.
What to ask for
150 invitations at 127 × 178 mm 450 gsm cotton 1C letterpress, gold hot foil on the monogram Painted edge in a matched colour Envelopes 130 × 181 mm, plain Print-ready PDF with FOIL and LETTERPRESS on separate layers Needed by — your date
The material
Every sheet here is chosen for what a hand reports rather than for what a camera sees. Compressibility decides whether letterpress bites; surface decides whether a foil block strikes cleanly; the cut edge is a design element in its own right. The edges below are drawn at the measured caliper of the weight named.
Also sold as cotton card, tree-free cotton, letterpress stock. Held at 350 and 450 gsm.
Dense, quiet and slightly compressible — it takes a deep letterpress bite and holds it.
Also sold as felt finish, embossed text, textured card. Held at 270 and 300 gsm.
A pronounced surface pattern pressed into the sheet, so it catches light across the face.
Also sold as laid paper, ribbed text. Held at 100 and 120 gsm.
Fine parallel ribs running across the sheet, visible against the light. The traditional formal paper.
Also sold as duplex, bonded card, coloured-core card. Triplex at 900 gsm sits above it.
Two sheets bonded to reach a caliper no single sheet gives, usually with a coloured seam showing at the edge.
Also sold as linen finish, embossed linen board. Held at 300 and 350 gsm.
A fine woven texture, more regular than felt and shallower, so it reads as fabric rather than as handmade.
If the invitation will be foiled, choose a smooth or lightly textured sheet or a bonded board. If it will be letterpressed, choose cotton. Those two decisions are close to incompatible, which is why the finishing is settled before the stock.The materials library
Foil, emboss and letterpress each want their own vector layer at 100% K, in register with the card. A finish supplied as a raster image cannot be turned into a tool.
Every premium invitation finish is a tool striking a sheet, and the tool has to be made. A brass foil block, a pair of embossing dies and a photopolymer letterpress plate are each cut once, kept on file with the approved artwork, and reused on every reorder — which is why the second run of an invitation is a different job from the first.
| Finish | Tooling | What the reorder pays for |
|---|---|---|
| Round-corneringStandard radii, on a die held as stock tooling | None | Nothing to make, so nothing to remake. |
| Painted edgesHand work. Coated or bonded stock only | None | Nothing to make, so nothing to remake. |
| Die-cuttingA forme is cut once, then kept for the reorder | Made once | Kept on file with your approved artwork. The reorder runs from it. |
| LetterpressPhotopolymer plate, made once and kept | Made once | Kept on file with your approved artwork. The reorder runs from it. |
| Duplex or triplex bondingTwo or three sheets bonded to reach a caliper no single sheet gives | None | Nothing to make, so nothing to remake. |
| Hot foil stampingFirst run carries the block; reorders do not | Made once | Kept on file with your approved artwork. The reorder runs from it. |
| Blind embossingMale and female dies, kept | Made once | Kept on file with your approved artwork. The reorder runs from it. |
| Envelope matchingEnvelopes sized to the card and supplied with the job, plain or printed | None | Nothing to make, so nothing to remake. |
| Insert collationRSVP slips and detail cards gathered into each envelope in order | None | Nothing to make, so nothing to remake. |
Scroll the table sideways to see every column.
Every operation here is quoted inside the standard window. What changes between a first order and a second is the tooling: a die, a block or a screen is made once and then kept on file with your approved artwork, which is why the reorder of a job carrying one is a different job from the first.
On an invitation the tooling is the lead time and the design is not. Decide the foil before you decide the wording, or the calendar decides for you.
An invitation is quoted with its envelope, because a card without an envelope that fits is not finished. Each size below states the envelope it is matched to.
An invitation file is usually two or three artworks in one document: what is printed, what is struck in foil, what is pressed. Each of those becomes a separate physical tool, so each needs a separate vector layer at 100% K, drawn in register.
Send the finishing before the wording. A foil block, an embossing die and a letterpress plate each take days to make, and the wording can change up to the point the tool is cut.
Turnaround
Standard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
Standard orders. The schedule for specialist finishing is confirmed in your quotation.
Same-day printing available.
Subject to artwork, stock and production capacity confirmation. Timing is agreed for each job.
A reorder of the same card is materially faster, because the block, the die, the plate and the approved artwork are already on file. It is worth asking for the tooling to be kept even when a reorder is not planned.
Every answer here is in the page source at full opacity, open or closed. An answer engine has to be able to read it without executing anything.
127 × 178 mm — five by seven inches — with a 130 × 181 mm envelope. A6 at 105 × 148 mm is common for detail and RSVP cards, and 148 × 148 mm square is used where the card should stand out, though it needs a square envelope.
Cotton, at 350 or 450 gsm. Letterpress works by compressing the sheet, so the stock has to be soft enough to take the bite and thick enough to hold it. Coated art card does not compress and shows almost no impression at all.
On a first run the brass block has to be cut before anything can be struck, and that is the step the schedule turns on. It happens inside the standard 7–14 working day window. The block is then kept on file with the approved artwork, so a reorder of the same design does not wait for it again.
Onto a light texture, yes. Onto deep felt or heavy laid, no — the block sits on the peaks of the texture and skips the valleys, so the foil looks broken. Foil belongs on smooth, lightly textured or bonded stock.
Yes, and they are the same product under four names — ang bao, hong bao, red packet, money packet. It is around 90 × 175 mm, cut from its own die, creased and glued with an opening at the top. Foil and emboss are the usual finishes, and both need their tooling made before the first run.
Work backwards from the date, not forwards from the turnaround. An ang bao almost always carries foil, an emboss or a die, and every one of those needs its tooling made before the first sheet runs — that work sits in front of the printing, not inside it. Artwork approved and tooling settled well ahead of the season is the whole job; a design still being decided in the same month as the festival is the one that does not make it. Send the design intent early and the schedule is confirmed against your date.
Yes. Envelopes are sized to the card and supplied with the job, plain or printed. Say the card size with the enquiry and the envelope is quoted alongside it rather than after the cards are made.
Embossing pushes the sheet up towards you; debossing presses it down. Both use a matched pair of dies and both cost the same on the calendar. Blind means no ink and no foil — just the relief, which reads best on a heavy uncoated or cotton sheet.
Work back from the finishing rather than from the print, and then add the time you need for addressing and posting them. Standard turnaround is 7–14 working days whether the card is flat or foiled, embossed, letterpressed or edge-painted — but on a first run a tool has to be cut inside that window, so the finishing is the decision worth settling first. Where the date is tighter, ask for an express quotation.
Every job is quoted from its specification — stock, quantity, sides, finish, size and deadline.
Artwork is welcome but not required to start. Email sales@ezprint.com.sg if you would rather attach files.
