We would rather tell you the truth than sell you something you do not need. If you need six cards for immediate family and you have a good printer, do it at home. Beyond that, the maths and the material quality change quickly.
Where DIY works
A small number of cards for immediate family, a simple layout, and a photograph that is already sharp. If nobody is going to carry the card in a purse for ten years, a good inkjet on heavy matte card is perfectly respectable.
Where it falls down
Lamination is the main one. Home printers cannot laminate, and an unlaminated card handled at a wake or carried in a wallet marks, curls and fades within weeks. Trimming is the second: cutting 100 cards square by hand is genuinely difficult, and a crooked edge is the first thing people notice.
Then there is colour. Inkjets print skin tones warm and dark, and an old photograph reproduced without correction usually comes out muddier than it looks on screen.
- No laminate — cards mark and fade
- Hand trimming rarely stays square across a full run
- Skin tones print warm; old photographs need correction
- Envelopes have to be sourced separately
- Errors are discovered after the ink is used
The cost, honestly
For 25 cards, DIY can be cheaper if you already own the printer. By 50 cards, once you count 350gsm card stock, a full set of ink cartridges, envelopes and the sheets you ruin, the gap narrows to very little — and our 50 card tier is €119 with design, laminate, envelopes and VAT included.
At 100 cards and above, professional printing is almost always cheaper as well as better.
The part nobody factors in
Time and stress, in the worst week of your life. Laying out a card, fighting margins, running out of ink at eleven at night and trimming a hundred cards at the kitchen table is a real cost.
When we do it, you send a photograph and a few lines, and a proof comes back the same day.
A middle path
Design it yourself, and let us print it. Our online designer gives you full control of the layout, photograph and wording, and the file goes straight to our press in Gorey — so you get the design freedom of DIY with a laminated, trimmed, professionally printed result.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I print memorial cards at home?
- Yes, for a small number of cards. The main limitations are the lack of lamination, hand trimming, and inkjet colour reproduction of older photographs.
- Is it cheaper to print memorial cards yourself?
- Sometimes at 25 cards. By 50 and above, once card stock, ink, envelopes and wasted sheets are counted, professional printing is usually cheaper as well as better finished.
- Can I design the card myself and have you print it?
- Yes. Use our online designer to build the layout and wording, and we print, laminate, trim and post it.
Need help with a memorial card?
Design and VAT are included, and we will email or WhatsApp a proof before anything is printed.
Talk to our design team