Check out this great post on Weddingbee by Cyd, a Bella bride who visited our upstate New York letterpress shop recently to plan for her own wedding invitations. Looking for more glimpses of what goes on in a real letterpress print shop? Check out our cool letterpress music video featuring all that is good and beautiful about our presses, and also this other great video of our print shop, made by professional wedding videographer Luke Walker. And yes, we love visitors.

Bella Figura has just become part of Style Me Pretty’s Little Black Book. Hooray! In SMP’s words, “The Little Black Book shows off the most innovative and chic wedding professionals on the planet” and we couldn’t agree more. It’s an excellent and very curated list of the best wedding vendors nationwide and internationally. Michelle, the gatekeeper for the Little Black Book, mentioned she receives over 300 emails a day, many from vendors requesting a spot in the LBB, so we’re just thrilled to be included in this important wedding resource.

Below is a photo montage we made for SMP, featuring some of our favorite letterpress things of late. (pictured, from top left going clockwise: Amici letterpress wedding invitation; our letterpress ink books included with sample orders; a custom international letterpress invitation; Festoon; the Estrella coaster; Deveril; Avant edge painting; the Fieno letterpress reply card; and in the center, us hard at work letterpress printing)

Check out this very cool video about….our letterpress print shop! The video comes from Luke Walker Photography, one of the best wedding photographers (and videographers it turns out too!) out there. We met Luke back in 2006, when he lived nearby in the Finger Lakes and (gorgeously and beautifully) photographed the weddings for two of our Bella couples. (You can see Luke’s photos from Megan & Matt’s Aurora, NY wedding here) Luke visited our print shop a little while ago with his video equipment in tow, and it was a true pleasure getting to chat with him over the afternoon. Thanks for making the trip out to Syracuse, Luke, to see Bella Figura! (Want to see more letterpress printing videos right now? Check this one out too….)

Snippet & Ink, one of our favorite wedding blogs, comes up with some of the most creative wedding inspiration out there. Kathryn’s color combinations are just to die for, and will inspire your wedding, your home, your sense of style, and your life. So we were thrilled when Snippet & Ink created this inspiration board below that features our Festoon letterpress wedding invitation. Visit Snippet & Ink to win a $350 gift certificate to Bella Figura (contest goes until Friday, January 30). You can also check out Snippet & Ink’s favorite Bella Figura designs here. Enjoy!

We’ve been a big fan of Frolic’s blog for awhile — beautiful and dreamy photography and lots of inspiration for weddings & life & design. So we were blown away when we heard that Chelsea, Frolic’s editor, is starting to donate 5% of their sponsor fees to charity. Way to go!!! Imagine if all small (and large) businesses did the same….how could the world not get better? (Photos above, spotted by Frolic: on the left, a Gabrielle Revere photograph from Bust magazine, inspired by Twin Peaks. On the right, photo by Cherry Blossom Girl). (By the way, check out Frolic’s sweet post about Bella Figura’s new site, and see Frolic’s favorite BF invitation designs here)

The first issue of Southern Weddings just hit the news stands and, wow, is it a gorgeous magazine. We were so excited that our recipe letterpress coasters are featured as one of Southern Weddings fabulous finds (“must have’s for your big day and the happily ever after”). Southern Weddings writes, “These beautiful letterpressed coasters would surely be the talk of your cocktail hour with fun drink recipes included on each beautiful piece.” You can make these coasters double-sided by including the bride’s & groom’s names and the date on the reverse side. What a cool keepsake…

Here are a few other photographs of our favorite letterpress coasters. Have fun dreaming!