Here’s Print Villa’s general process; for more detailed answers such as timeframes, see further below.
1. You place an order online.
2. We prepare a proof for your order.
3. MOST IMPORTANT STEP as this will hold an order up from shipping. We email you a proof for your review and approval unless you specified you didn’t want one and then we await your approval or any changes/corrections that need to be made. If you choose to not see a proof, we will move your order over to the print pile for the next available shipping time we have once the order is prepared. IF you have not received a proof from us within 24 hours, contact us so we can resend it as we will be assuming you have received it.
4. Once we receive your final approval, we will print and ship the order the next available ship day we have Monday-Friday.
More detailed answers to the above process and/or other questions:
Can I make a special request or change up the invite?
Yes. We will adapt our invite designs to fit your occasion as much as we can. For example; we can adapt the headers/footers (wording and color), invite/card wording, theme/event, guest messages, some artwork design color changes (we can’t always fulfill this request as some of the artwork based designs will be too limiting to change). Please let us know your request as best as possible in the special request/additional info box at the bottom of the personalization area or in the customer notes section during the checkout process. It’s as simple as typing “for Bar Mitzvah” in the special request box and we will change the birthday wording to a Bar Mitzvah but do know that there is such thing as too much text on some of our designs but we will accommodate as much as possible.
When and how will I receive a proof (MOST IMPORTANT STEP)?
Although proofs are not available to view immediately on the computer screen because we personalize each design individually to make sure it lines up aesthetically pleasing, the proofs will be sent to your email address you order with. We process/prepare the proofs in the order sequence we receive them. Depending on the special request if any, you will receive your proof in a very timely manner but less than 24 hours so if you have not received your proof by email within 24 hours, then drop us an email as we will be under the impression you have received it and are just awaiting your response. We even log on at least one over the weekend to keep proofs caught up on orders, please see more specific time frames below. Once you receive your proof, simply hit the reply button with any corrections/changes that need to be made or a simple Approved and we will move the order to the next available print and ship pile. Failure to respond to the proof, simply delays the order from going out as we do not know if you are wishing to make changes or not. PLEASE do not remove the subject heading when replying to your proof as we need it to know which order it is for, it MUST have the Order # or Order Name otherwise as if we have to try and figure out the person the order is for which could delay the order printing and shipping.
Our current timeframe of preparing/sending proofs is as follows:
Orders place before 4 PM Central Monday-Thursday will receive their proof that day or early evening depending on your time zone, exception being certain special requests.
Orders placed after 4 PM Monday-Thursday will receive their proof the following day and in some cases will receive it early enough to be able to respond with an approval and still make it into the printing/shipping load for that day which would be before 11 AM Central Monday-Friday.
Orders placed after 9 PM Central Thursday will not be through the order/proofing process quick enough to ship on Friday, therefore all order places between 8 PM Thursday and 11AM Friday will receive a proof Friday and probably ship Monday.
Orders placed by between 11 AM Friday and 3 PM Sunday will receive a proof over the weekend or very first thing Monday AM so they can be eligible to ship Monday.
How quickly will my product arrive or what is the shipping turnaround time and costs?
We understand that these are timely events and do not drag our feet on the process of getting your order through the system. For our customers that follow the approval process in a timely manner, their orders ship within 24/48 hours of the order being placed Monday-Friday, then the shipping time frame starts.
We offer two options of shipping and both are through the US Postal Service (USPS).
Our most cost effective option is Priority Mail; which is a 2-3 day service (excluding weekends/holidays), for a flat rate fee of $4.95 regardless of quantity ordered.
The fastest option is Express Mail which is a 1-2 day service and is a flat rate fee of $17.95. A side note for Express Mail customers, the time frame starts counting when the product ships, you MUST approve the proof if you asked for one as we will delay shipping them for a day after the proof is sent in case there are any changes but after holding them one day we will proof the order ourselves and ship the order.
We offer the above shipping options as the most cost effective and still reliable method we could find, but once the product ships and we have fulfilled our part of the order we are no longer responsible, the carrier is now the company that is being paid to deliver so the shipping timeframes and service provided is the responsibility of the company being paid which is the USPS.
There are a few products that we list as free shipping such as bag tags or wine labels and those products are sent via USPS First Class Mail at no charge to you; with the exception being the free shipping on the wedding package deals which are sent via USPS Priority Mail at no charge.
Do we process rush orders?
Print Villa rushes all orders and in the order received as every one of our customers are as important as the other regardless of the order size. We do not drag our feet here, if you follow the procedures for proofing, your order will get right out the door on the next print and ship time we have once we have received the emailed approval. Past that, the Express Mail is the option to speed up the order arriving to you (please see shipping turnaround timeframe question above for more info on Express Mail).
What type of paper do I need to get for the print at home image only products?
On the image only products that can be emailed out or printed at home; they are designed to be printed on the 4.25” x 5.50” postcard style cards that come 4 to a sheet. You may purchase them at any local Staples or Office Depot type of store and one manufacturer of them is Avery, but Staples and Office Depot and others will have their own version of the cards. We are sorry, but we ONLY offer the print and home option on the postcard style designs, and not the ticket style, VIP Pas style or any others due to the custom sizing and cardstock we use to prepare those products.
What is the printed product quality like, and what are the sizes and/or other product info?
We work very hard to make sure we are using the best cardstock available to us and still be able to sell at the prices we do and most all of our cardstock is custom ordered. We work just as hard at producing the best printed material for you, as our names are on these products and it matters to us.
Ticket style designs are printed on a #80 lb, semi-glossy cardstock with an actual perforated stub and measure approximately 2 1/8” x 6 3/16”, they look and feel like a real event ticket and are very cool in person. The ticket invites come with their own mailing envelope.
Postcard Style, Note Card Style, Greeting Card Style, and the VIP Pass cardstock, unless otherwise
noted, are all a #80 white, matte finish cardstock that also come with envelopes for mailing. The VIP Badge Pass invites also include the adjustable safety break-away lanyards and plastic badge holders.
The RSVP card is a #65 cardstock and includes an envelope.
What email address do I send my photo to if I am purchasing a design that requires a photo?
You will be given a link during the checkout process to send the photo to or you may click this link to do so.