How to Customize Weddings with Wide-Format Print

When wedding planning, most brides include printing in their plans, but that often begins and ends with invitations. While custom invitations are certainly a vital piece of the planning process, using print to create a unique experience can permeate all the way through the big day itself. And wide-format services can make those projects come to life.

Makayla Harris during a wedding reveal event.

Makayla Harris of The Harris Co. in Saratoga, NY, operates a Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-Series 4000 to create a fun “reveal” event for couples before and after their weddings. If Harris has photographed their engagement photos and/or wedding photos, she prints sample portraits and hangs them in her studio to give the couple a feeling of what they look like on the wall.

“We customize the studio for them, and it really helps our sales,” Harris says. “It’s such a wow factor to see them on the wall — they just can’t resist.” (Check out The Harris Co.’s Instagram Behind the Scenes stories to see how couples have reacted to the reveal events.)

During the reveal, she also projects wall-sized photos for the couple to review digitally. Often, she says, couples choose engagement photos to print for large displays during the wedding. “We didn’t want to be a high-volume studio,” Harris says. “We wanted people to come to us for statement pieces.”

She says many younger couples have expressed interest in the new, award-winning HP Recycled Satin Canvas for portraits. “It’s interesting,” she says. “The younger the bride, the more they care about that.”

Wide-format print can also come in handy for wedding day signage, backdrops and more. On trend that’s caught on in recent years is a “step-and-repeat” photo area for the couple as well as their guests (pictured at top). Fabrics that offer some opacity are a good option, especially when flash photography is in use. For dye-sub, Fisher Textiles 4019 Nirvana BOB provides a built-in black backing. EnduraFab™ Stretch fabric is a latex-compatible version that prints and hangs elegantly in settings that don’t require the opaque backing.

Signage can also come in handy during weddings, including completely customized welcome and wayfinding signage, as well as posters that can be displayed to provide useful information, such as table seating. A number of adhesive-backed products can be printed and adhered to poster board, including:

For more ideas on how to customize weddings with wide-format printing, call a LexJet print specialist at 800-453-9538.