Letterpress inspiration

Custom letterpress coasters are among our favorite things to print. There is truly no better way to add a special, unexpected and unique touch to your wedding, anniversary party or fiesta than with gorgeous letterpress coasters. We love when couples incorporate a special monogram or recipes for signature cocktails, but they’re equally as fun when printed with motifs to match their letterpress wedding invitations. If you’re looking for that perfect way to infuse your event with personal flair, letterpress coasters are a must have.

Printed in one color letterpress in our dusty pink ink, these coasters perfectly coordinate with the couple’s Pavilion letterpress wedding invitations for their glamorous nuptials in Indonesia. They are both chic and oh so pretty.

These two-sided letterpress coasters are printed in fuchsia ink and feature the same design as the couple’s Birds letterpress wedding invitations. Along with a recipe for the signature cocktail served at their wedding, the back of the coaster also features the custom pattern used for their envelope liners - a perfectly coordinated and really fun way to personalize their event.

These letterpress coasters feature a custom hand calligraphy monogram, making them truly one of a kind. Printed in cardinal ink, they could be equally as special for an anniversary party or graduation celebration as for a wedding.

Circolo 1 is one of our favorite designs, but we especially love it when printed as a great letterpress coaster. Printed here in antique gold ink, this coaster is nothing short of modern and hip, again featuring a recipe for the couple’s signature cocktail. When we print great coasters like this, we know our couples’ guests are in for a real treat!

You can see more custom letterpress coasters here.

While we certainly love elaborate 2 or 3 color letterpress wedding invitations, we get really excited to print fabulous designs in one fantastic ink color. Not only is it a budget-friendly letterpress option, but it really adds a special touch to the design. Especially if you’re only planning to incorporate one primary color in your event, or if you’re still debating colors to pair with your favorite shade as you plan, 1-color letterpress wedding invitations are stunning. Both of these customizations feature 2-color designs that have been turned into really lovely 1-color invitations.

This vibrant version of our Dewdrop design is printed in mango. We love how it is both elegant and fun, a bit of a modern edge paired with beautiful hand calligraphy. It’s a little bit unexpected and a whole lot beautiful.

Mimosa is one of our favorite new designs and this custom version, printed in garden ink, is no exception. Printed for an outdoor wedding at a riverfront camp in Texas, this letterpress wedding invitation is the perfect complement to the natural setting of the event.

When we printed the letterpress wedding invitations for Stewart and Darryl’s October 2008 wedding, we had a feeling that their day was going to be something truly magical. When we recently had the opportunity to see their amazing wedding photos, captured by Eleise Theuer, we knew we were right. Married just one year and three days after their first date, after having met on match.com, Stewart and Darryl crafted a celebration that was thoughtful, personal and rich with handmade details and a sensitivity to the environment. Melville Farm in Reedville, Virginia was the only natural choice for their wedding location as the property has belonged to Stewart’s family since the 1930s and she remembers spending every weekend there as a child. The farm setting provided their inspiration in pulling all of the details together and worked perfectly with the deep green and espresso color palette the couple chose; he picked the green and she picked the brown. The result? An absolutely charming and beautiful wedding celebration.

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New Calligraphy, one of our new 2009 letterpress wedding invitation designs, has already become a favorite with brides and it’s easy to see why. It’s the perfect blend of classic style paired with a modern edge, which makes it really fun for weddings large and small, whether they be held in a grand ballroom or a funky loft. It’s one of our new favorites, too! We love to see how a simple change in ink color can make it feel so strikingly different so it’s always exciting when we print a new variation.

The original New Calligraphy design uses bold cardinal ink on thick and luxurious 2-ply paper with gorgeous edge painting for a look that is dramatic and truly special.

Classic in striking black ink on white, this invitation is nothing short of posh. It practically sings of a wedding that is completely elegant and refined, a truly sophisticated affair.

This version of New Calligraphy pairs daffodil ink on ivory and just excudes excitement and fun. It’s playful, a bit whimsical and it promises guests an incredible evening of celebration and laughter. If you ask us, that’s the perfect definition of an unforgettable wedding.

Remember this absolutely breathtaking wedding we shared a while back? This week we were contacted by Patricia and Richard’s wedding planner in Italy to let us know about the wedding being featured on her Italian Lakes Wedding blog. We love all of the behind the scenes info she shared about the event and how their incredible destination wedding weekend came together. Thanks so much for sharing, Valentina!

{Photos by Sora DeVore Photography}

Here at Bella Figura, we are truly dedicated to being as eco-friendly as possible so we are always seeking out great new ideas for improving our eco practices and building great new partnerships. Accordingly, we were thrilled that Bella Figura’s parent company, Boxcar Press, recently teamed up with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as an EPA Green Power Partner, a program designed to encourage organizations to seek out renewable energy sources and to reduce carbon emissions. Our operations are 100% wind powered through NativeEnergy, a truly inspiring organization that allows businesses and individuals to purchase carbon offsets and renewable energy credits. NativeEnergy actively works to promote Native American, family farm, and community-based renewable energy projects to help make renewable energy more accessible. It’s a true pleasure for us to be working with the EPA and NativeEnergy to help promote renewable energy and we look forward to seeing an increasing number of businesses getting involved in the future.

Last year we had the opportunity to print beautiful letterpress wedding invitations for the fall wedding of Ashley and Christian. Today we are thrilled that their wedding is featured on Style Me Pretty! Married at Houston’s First Presbyterian Church with the reception following at The Junior League of Houston, Ashley and Christian created an incredibly elegant affair that was the perfect blend of old world charm and modern sophistication.

Ashley and Christian chose our timeless Classic Calligraphy design for their letterpress invitations, printed in espresso and featuring a custom blind deboss monogram. Printed on our ivory cotton paper, the final look is nothing short of perfectly refined and elegant. For much more of Ashley and Christian’s wedding, as photographed by their amazing photographer Tanja Lippert, make sure to visit Style Me Pretty.

Congratulations Ashley and Christian and thank you for allowing us to share your beautiful wedding with Style Me Pretty readers!

{Photos by Tanja Lippert}

We get a lot of questions from brides who are interested in knowing about hot trends in the world of letterpress wedding invitations and what elements they can include to really let their personalities shine. In the first few months of 2009, we’ve printed some pretty fabulous letterpress invitations for creative couples mixing modern design with the old world tradition of letterpress and we absolutely love what they’re dreaming up. Here are some of the things we’re seeing a lot of these days, all of which you can use to inspire your own invitations…

Embellishments | Our Bella Figura clients are in love with adding a punch of personality to their invitations by opting for great embellishments. In particular, metallic envelope liners have been a favorite along with the personalized touch of beautiful hand calligraphy accents and edge painting has been notably more popular than ever. Some couples are opting for edge painting in elegant antique gold, a bit of a throwback to historic book gilding, while others are going for a bright pop of color, but either way, it’s absolutely gorgeous!

Bold Colors | Bright and bold color combinations are a growing trend with brides and grooms tending to be a bit more adventurous in their color selections. We’re printing a lot of fun cardinal and aquamarine, daffodil and deep aqua, forest and cloud nine, peacock and persimmon and similarly festive ink combinations.

Jewel Tones | Brides are in love with jewel tones this season with a lot ink choices revolving around colors such as peacock, cardinal, aubergine, and navy. We’ve seen them paired with neutrals, other jewel tones, metallics, and also used solo.

Green | Green has been increasingly popular as of late, particularly when paired with either a neutral, another shade of green or with navy. We’ve seen couples pairing greens of all shades with black, taupe, gray and a lot of garden and clover with navy.

Nautical Combinations | Whether it be a choice of navy and antique gold, navy and champagne or again, even navy with a fresh shade of green, nautical combinations are very popular and being used for a wide range of events from the extremely luxurious to the more casual preppy chic.

What letterpress invitation trends do you love? We can’t wait to see what the rest of 2009 brings for great personalization of gorgeous letterpress wedding invitations!

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Beyond our beautiful letterpress wedding invitations, a lot of our clients love working with Bella Figura because of our extensive eco practices and our geunine dedication to the environment. We recognize that an increasing number of brides and grooms are looking to be more eco-conscious in their wedding planning and wanted to offer some suggestions for seeking out wedding vendors that are truly eco-friendly. If you’re seeking to limit the impact of your event on the Earth, opting to work with wedding vendors who are fully committed to being as environmentally friendly as possible is an important part of doing so. While “green” tends to be a common trend these days, for us and other like-minded wedding professionals, being as green as possible is our way of life. Not sure where to start or how to identify true eco wedding vendors? Here are some things to consider and to ask potential vendors when speaking with them:

- Inquire about third party certifications and/or seals of approval from environmental organizations such as Green America, Green Hotels Association, Greener Photography and others

- Check to see that the vendor has a formal waste reduction/recycling policy in action as well as policies in practice to help reduce energy consumption

- Ask vendors about their own practices in dealing with suppliers - do they have a formal purchasing policy in place whereby they give preference to other eco vendors/suppliers?

- If a vendor is providing you with a product, inquire about the materials and packaging used in production. Do they use renewable energy in production? Do they use non-toxic or less toxic materials? Where possible, packaging itself should be minimal and of a high recycled content.

- Products that are made from rapidly renewable resources are also preferable in addition to seeking out high recycled content where possible. If wood is involved in production, is it harvested from certified, sustainably managed forests? Is the product itself recyclable?

- Does the vendor support broader green living practices such as by subsidizing Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) memberships for employees, for instance, or offering bus passes to
employees to encourage public transportation use, or by offering on-site recycling and composting?

- Inquire about donations and support of environmental organizations and causes. Does the vendor offer money, services or products to charitable or community organizations?

- Ask vendors if they participate in donating 1% of sales through 1% for the Planet or in another way dedicate a portion of sales to environmental causes

- Check with your vendor to see if they participate in third-party certified renewable energy or carbon offset programs such as Native Energy

- Find out if a vendor has a mission statement that explicitly expresses their commitment to the environment

Keeping these things in mind will help you to pinpoint companies and vendors that are truly dedicated to limiting the negative impact of their business operations upon the planet. Don’t be afraid to ask vendors about their eco policies as any truly eco-conscious professional will be more than happy to let you know what differentiates them from the pack. To learn more about our own eco practices, you can visit our website.