Carlson Craft

Hi there! As a graphic designer who sells invitations, I have used Carlson Craft as one of my Vendors for years and years. The customer service has never been disappointing, and the products they offer are really nice — from very high-​end products (with all sorts of inserts and layers and special envelopes) to budget products. The turnaround is great!
I was reading some of the other complaints on this page and thought «man, this could have been solved had they gone through a dealer who designs invitations!» For example, I never rely on Carlson Craft for a proof (you sometimes just get a college kid who relies on the computer to space things out so that it looks nice — which never works) unless my customers order directly off the CC site (meaning that they have NO options that need to be customized and are okay with what they saw on the screen). I design the layout of most of my customers’ cards and I send the camera-​ready art directly to the presses at CC, only after it has been approved. So order from someone like me (and I’m not saying this just to get your business, so I’m not even going to attempt to input my company name here): someone who will set up your proof on the spot, someone with MAD design skillz! And someone who has a good relationship with CC, because when something DOES go wrong (it happens), that dealer can get it fixed quickly!
My best tips: order early (give plenty of time for proofs and reprints), proofread carefully, get samples so you know EXACTLY what you are getting, and inspect your items as soon as you receive them.

Ok well I’m in the industry and have worked for a company who has been a dealer for Carlson Craft for years! Customer Service and the quality can be a hit, or miss… So knowing that there might be a chance where your order might not be perfect the 1^st time around when ordered, because of Carlson Craft QC Department wasn’t efficient, will save you from a lot of resentment by knowing ahead of time.
The good:
— They’re not the best in the printing industry, but their price-​point is what people want to pay.
— Turn around time can be quick… as long as you don’t have any re-do’s! So if you’re in a hurry getting your invitations and can’t afford a delay, because they’re might be some corrections needed… then I wouldn’t go with Carlson Craft… Pay for the customer service and quality, and go with more of a reliable company such as Checkerboard, Crane, or William Arthur.
— If order isn’t perfect, they will re-​do your order… However, you might have some work to do on explaining to CS why the order is not up to par… rather than just fixing the problem with no problem and a smile!
The bad:
— You would be lucky if you’re order came in perfect without us having to call them because of bent corners, poor packaging for mailing, missing parts on the order, thermography wasn’t consistent, or they shipped the wrong item, or didn’t ship the item at all!
— Again depending who you get in customer service… Sometimes they wait for their dealers to get angry before they just take care of the problem. They don’t understand that we need to tell the customers a great explanation why their order is delayed without them being upset.
However, Mirium in customer service is a GEM… She’s willing to go far and beyond to help you. There were many times where someone in customer service wasn’t willing to hear us out without denying our request, or gave us a nasty attitude about the situation, but Mirium if anything listens to her clients. So just ask for her, she definitely hold it down for having great people skills and can count on her for helping you out, and making sure your order will be on time.

I worked for Carlson Craft for a while. It’s a great place for students to get a job at during the college years. Great experience.
As far as the product, I’ve never had a bad order and I had to order invitations for numerous people. Granted, I know what the staff looks for so I could make sure to note anything special about my order. Over my time working there, I have heard way more compliments than negatives. No, they do not have monkeys working back there, as one upset customer put it, but rather wonderful people that sometimes have a bad day. I would not recommend them for custom pieces, but if you need a quick turnaround of their standard invitation sets, this is the place.

We purchased our wedding invitations from Carlson Craft. We ordered invitations with a pocket to hold the rsvp, directions, and other cards. We received them with about 12 days before we needed to send the invitations. I checked the invitations and thought everything was fine.
That weekend is when I noticed their mistakes that were harder to find. They forgot to our embossed initials that we paid $ 40 extra for. They also gave us the wrong envelope seals.
The invitations were mailed back to them (overnight mail) and arrived on June 11^th. I told them we needed to mail the invitations to the guests by June 18^th. They made the correction, and mailed them back to me… by regular ground mail!!! Ground mail is slow!
We received our invitations on June 23^rd, long after the 18^th. On the 23^rd, we were in Canada (not home in California). We had to ask my sister pick up the invitations, assemble them, and then send them to our guests… late.
Summary: In the end, the invitations looked pretty good. Note: Carlson Craft will donate 10% of your purchases to a charity through the
. The painful parts were Carlson Craft screwing up 3 times; with the embossing, envelope seals, and the slow ground mail delivery that made my invitations late! My sister had to assemble all of the invitations… by herself!
I will never order anything from Carlson Craft again. (Overall grade: D)