Letterpress and thermal printing - what's the difference?

Letterpress sample

What's the difference between letterpress printing, and thermal embossed printing when we talk about invitations. With letterpress - simply put - your letters are pressed into the paper. Your type or illustration will be indented into your stock using a raised surface printing plate, and the depth of the resulting "bite" will vary depending upon the type of paper chosen. Thicker, softer papers  will carry a deeper impression than hard or thin papers. As for thermal embossed printing, it's the opposite. Embossing is a way to embellish typography and illustrations by raising the ink on the paper. Using heat and a special embossing powder a raised shiny surface is created. As beautiful as both treatments are, they are more expensive than traditional printing - so keep that in mind when budgeting for your invitation packages.

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Thermal embossed sample