As part of our “Do Good in March” promotion (where you have the chance to win a grand prize of 100 free invitations and everyone who enters gets 25 free invitation sets with the purchase of 50 or more!), we’re hoping to inspire others to get out and do good this month. Service work can mean the world to the people you help, but you’d be amazed at how good it will make you feel, too! We rounded up some of our favorite quotes to inspire you and have paired them up with some of our favorite designs — check them out!

Modern Garden

Anais

Jack and Jill

Flit

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Bright inks that pop and neon that glows are going to be huge this year! These fun and funky colors add a lively feel to any of our letterpress wedding invitations and are sure to spark excitement about your big day to all your guests. But figuring out how to incorporate these intense colors into your own invitations can be challenging. So we’ve come up with some helpful tips to bring in bright colors!

Want to go all out with big, bright color in your invitations? You’ve got lot’s of amazing options to consider, but some of our favorite letterpress ink combinations that make a statement are: Cornflower and Watermelon inks for a sweet and summery look (like our Modern Fete design); ocean inspired Garden and Aquamarine inks; Jade and Sea-side inks for a destination wedding or Hot Pink and Day-glo inks (like Storybook Romance) that scream chic and contemporary. Pair the color in your invitations with an equally bold patterned or metallic envelope liner. You can use the same colors from your invitations to keep things consistent or spice it up with a complementary color to brighten things up even more. Then top it all off with some edge painting. Again, you can use one of the colors from your set or really up the contrast with a bright new color for an extra eye-catching look!

If neon and bright colors make you a little nervous, and you’re hesitant to put them on your actual invitations, consider adding some vibrant edge painting or foil edging to add a splash of color to an otherwise neutral palette. Adding a colorful edge is a great way to incorporate a bold color you love in moderation. If you’re feeling a little more daring, bring in the brights to your envelope liners. You can add some flare to an otherwise traditional invitation by choosing a graphic pattern in a bright color to really let your personality shine!

No matter what amount you use, adding bright, beautiful colors to your letterpress wedding invitations will surely make a lasting impression!

Today is the last day to enter our Pinterest contest — have you submitted a board yet? We’ve seen so many great entries, and our lead designers will begin the judging process this week!  Since there are lots of different styles, colors, and themes that can be taken into consideration when it comes to designing wedding invitations, we want to know what you love! Should the winning design be something muted or do you want to see neon inks? Are brights more your style or should we pick something classic? Completely smitten with foil stamping? Let us know! And don’t forget to follow us on Pinterest and submit your entry today — you could win some amazing letterpress prizes!

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One of this year’s hottest trends in wedding invitations is big, bold color! Think unique and daring combinations that really grab your eye. Since we’re color crazy over here at Bella Figura, this trend brings big smiles to our faces. Bold hues add a huge dose of personality to your invitations and will be sure to wow your guests!

Here are some of our favorite bold color combinations for your wedding invitations that will be sure to leave everybody talking!

Metallic Gold, Bright Red, Soft Pink and Sweet White This modern pairing is bold and graphic with a soft and romantic twist. The shimmering gold accents along with bright pops of radiant red make for a sophisticated and chic event, while the soft pink and white shades add a touch of femininity and grace. Perfect for the contemporary bride looking to add a splash of elegant glamour to her big day!

Garden Greens and Ocean Inspired Aquas This simple and sophisticated palette is such a breathe of fresh air! Clean and calming bright blues pair perfectly with earthy and vibrant shades of green to create an attention grabbing look. What’s wonderful about these shades is they work for every kind of wedding too! From minimalist and modern to chic and casual to even vintage inspired glamour, it all looks gorgeous!

Neon Pink, Orange and Green with Natural Neutrals These hot and trendy hues are sure to add the wow-factor to your big day! Neon Pink and Day-Glo orange pair perfectly together in vibrant harmony. Add a splash of electric Lime-aid to spice things up even more! Neutral Sand helps balance out these big shades to keep things looking chic and contemporary.

Are you using a bold color combination for your wedding invitations? Tell us about your favorite color combinations in the comments section below!

Our Pinterest contest is still going strong, and we can’t wait to see the new letterpress invitation designs the contest will inspire! The other day we asked which invitation style is your favorite, and now we want to know: which embellishment is your absolute must-have? Are you crazy about hand calligraphy? Can’t live without custom envelope liners? Is foil edging your favorite? Or are letterpress pocketfolds your must-have? Tell us what you love! Don’t see your favorite on this list? Tell us what you’ve gotta have on your invitations in the comments section below! And don’t forget, our Pinterest promotion runs through Monday, February 27, so there’s still plenty of time to enter to win some amazing letterpress prizes!

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Hand calligraphy is a gorgeous way to add a unique, personal touch to your letterpress wedding invitations. Whether you’re adding a line of calligraphy accents to emphasize names or a venue, or creating the entire invitation with hand-crafted calligraphy, it’s a completely sophisticated way to set your invitations apart from the rest. We offer over 15 hand calligraphy styles from our 6 master calligraphers, and styles range from traditional and formal to modern and laid-back. If you plan to pair hand calligraphy with a font for your invitations, it’s best to find styles that complement one another. Here are our favorite pairings for calligraphy styles and fonts based on 4 popular wedding styles.

FORMAL
A formal wedding invitation works best when an all caps font like Impression is paired with an elegant hand calligraphy style like Spencerian. The combination of this regal font with the flourished Spencerian calligraphy style immediately creates a classic and beautiful invitation.

VINTAGE
You can create the perfect vintage invitation by simply using a romantic calligraphy style like Victoria. Pull inspiration from love letters written in the 19th century and your invitations will certainly take on an old world feel. If you’re looking to pair Victoria calligraphy with a font, we think it looks beautiful with Utrecht (like in the Delambre Classic design).

MODERN
Modern, fun and quirky, this customization comes to life with vibrant hues and the Mitty calligraphy style. If your event is a bit informal and playful, look for a calligraphy style that reflects just that. Pair the Mitty hand with Jubilant for a modern look if you only want to use a few lines of hand calligraphy (see our Modern World design for an example!)

DESTINATION
This beach inspired customization is perfect for a destination wedding! We paired a light, airy font called Henry with the Harrison calligraphy style, which in itself captures the feeling of the ocean.

We love the look of letterpressed hand calligraphy on a wedding invitation, and a perfect finishing touch is hand calligraphed envelopes. For a completely coordinated set, you can work directly with any of our master calligraphers for envelope addressing!

Photos from Style Me Pretty

In case you haven’t heard, we’re running a Pinterest contest right now and the contest winners will help inspire two new Bella Figura invitation designs! We’re really excited to see which boards are selected, and we want to know which style you love the most and want to see win. So tell us: is vintage your must-have? How about formal invitations? Gotta have modern? Let us know!

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Bella Figura offer two kinds of envelope liners for your letterpress wedding invitation suite: metallic liners and patterned liners. Adding our eco-friendly envelope liners to your set will bring color and sophistication to your letterpress wedding invitations. Choose from 8 shimmering metallic envelope liner options (all of our metallic liners are FSC-certified!) to add some glitz and glam, or go the custom route. Our patterned envelope liners are completely customizable, so you can mix and match any of our patterns and inks to complement your invitation set, making them truly one of a kind!

With all of our amazing options, it can be challenging to choose the perfect liner that is right for your set. So to help, we’ve narrowed down some of our favorite liner and color combinations that work well with lots of our letterpress wedding invitations!

Thinking Vintage? Consider our Rustic Crosshatch, European Formal or Jaquard Elegance patterns. Other patterns we like for a vintage invitation set: Elegant Ombre, Vintage River, Vintage Stripes or Simple Lace in ink colors like Shell, Amethyst, Hazel or Olive.

Thinking Formal? Our Formal Flourish, Traditional Oxford and Simple Chess patterns work beautifully for a fancy invitation set. Other patterns we love for a formal set: Refined Mosaic, Modern Floral, Vintage Diamond or Classic Color in ink colors like Camel, Lavender, Pool or Espresso.

Thinking Modern? Bold, funky patterns like our Antique Geometrics, Chic Combs or Classic Chevron patterns add flair to modern invitation sets. We love these patterns for a modern invitation set, too: Modern Herringbone, Sea Stripes, Modern Light or Simple Geometrics in ink colors like Cherry, Fuchsia, Chartreuse or Black.

Thinking Unique? Make sure your invitations make a statement with a liner pattern like Modern Canopy, Rustic Woodstock or Sante Fe, and print your liners in three colors. Other patterns we like are: Retro Marble, Chic Combs, Moroccan Charm or Sweet Polka in ink colors like Yolk, Watermelon, Mustard or Jade.

Thinking Destination? The Moroccan Charm, Sea Stripes or Elegant Chainlink patterned envelope liners make a lovely accent to a destination wedding invitations. Other liner patterns we love for a destination wedding set: Elegant Ombre, Refined Mosaic, Modern Light or Natural Woodgrain in ink colors like Champagne, Garden, Surf or Mediterranean.

Still not seeing something you love? We can create a custom pattern for you based on the elements from your wedding invitation design, or we can create something totally from scratch too! *(There is an additional design charge for this service)

Once you place an order with us, you will also get a free design consultation, where you’ll have a chance to talk to one of our designers about all of your invitation choices. So if you’re not sure what patterns and ink colors to pair up for your invitation design, don’t worry! (And if you need help now, just ask!)

We’re getting ready to start designing invitations for our mid-year 2012 release, and we want to design the letterpress invitations of your dreams! So we’re holding a contest on Pinterest to help inspire our lead designers, and we’re giving you the chance to win some amazing letterpress prizes.

Our lead graphic designers Jessica Tierney and Sarah Walroth will judge the entries, and the top two boards will inspire two brand new Bella Figura invitation designs that the judges will create! These Pinterest inspired designs will be released in summer 2012. In addition to inspiring two of our new designs, the #1 board will win free letterpress coasters, and the 1st runner-up will win a $100 gift certificate from Smock!

Need a Pinterest invite? Email hello@bellafigura.com and we’ll send you one right away. Not sure what to start pinning? Check out this sample pinboard that Jessica Tierney put together with images that inspired her Storybook Romance design!

The entry period runs from February 20 through February 27, and the winner will be announced in early March. No purchase is necessary to participate, and the contest is open to pinners worldwide!

Grand Prize: 150 free, 2-color custom letterpress printed or 1-color foil stamped coasters on our new, 100% recycled coaster stock. Choose from any of our 300+ designs and have coasters printed up for your  big day. Still finalizing wedding plans? Already married? Print save the date information on your coasters, create coaster business cards or save the printing for your next big party!
The fine print: Coaster order must be placed within 1 year. Additional coasters, custom design, extra ink colors, double-sided printing or rush orders will incur fees. Prize must be redeemed within 1 year.

1st runner up: A $100 gift certificate for smockpaper.com — Smock is our sister company and BFF, and carries gorgeous, eco-friendly letterpress stationery essentials. Pick out notebooks, letterpress stationery, keepsake boxes and more in colorful patterns.

Want to help spread the word? Repin the image below. Happy Pinning!

Fonts play a significant role in the overall look of your letterpress wedding invitations. They add personality and style and really reflect the mood of your event! Because choosing the perfect font for your wedding is so important, we know it can sometimes feel overwhelming with all the amazing options we offer, but here are some helpful tips to guide you in choosing the perfect font to match your style.

If you like the Modern look: We suggest fonts that have sleek, clean lines. Nothing too fussy or fancy. Simplicity is always key. Scale these chic fonts up in size to make a bold, graphic and attention grabbing statement!

If you like the Vintage look: We suggest fonts that have a wise and worldly appeal. Slightly quirky and full of character to convey days of old.  To achieve the perfect vintage vibe, we love to combine several fonts together to create an eclectic look that will last for ages. Elegant script fonts paired with traditional Serif styles tend to tug at our heartstrings the most!

If you like the Formal look: We suggest elegant and traditional fonts that will never go out of style. Think Script fonts with big swash capitals reminiscent of the finest hand calligraphy or formal Serifs with straight lines and regal form. We love to pair them together to create a sophisticated style that will surely charm all of your guests!

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