Let’s face it, the wedding industry produces a lot of one-hit wonders. It is extremely important to us here at Bella Figura to encourage sustainability as we practice eco-friendly letterpress printing (and living!). That’s why we use tree-free papers, low VOC inks, and FSC certified papers (and we also support these amazing environmental causes). If you are wondering how to make your letterpress or foil stamped invitations even more eco-friendly we have some tried and true tricks of the trade to reduce waste without compromising on style!

1. Use a postcard!
Think about using reply postcards or even Save the Date postcards! This cuts down on the amount of paper (envelopes) and also keeps the costs lower!

2. Condense Information.
There are a lot of activities and information that go into a wedding celebration! From accommodations, directions, rehearsal dinners and reply cards, you can choose to create a wedding website that hosts all the important details! You can include the url on your invitations, or create 1 separate card (think website cards!) explaining that the website is the place for all the wedding details. If you’re determined to get it all on paper, choose 1 insert card as opposed to several and print on both sides if you have lots of details to include.

3. Don’t double up.
Skip the formalities and just use 1 outer envelope vs. an inner envelope and an outer envelope combination. The inner envelope is meant to specify exactly who’s invited. It is completely acceptable to choose just 1 envelope (which is more eco-friendly). If you’re concerned about extra guests, you can always designate the number of guests on the reply card or reply postcard by adding an extra line that states “We have reserved __ seats in your honor”, then fill in the number accordingly.

4. Did you order samples?
If you order samples you can choose to donate your sample cost to one of the environmental causes that we support, which is a great way to give back. You can also consider ordering one of our Trendsetter Sample Packs — these carefully curated sample packs include 5 letterpress samples that were picked out by some of our favorite wedding industry pros, and 100% of the costs are donated to environmental nonprofits.

5. Build a forest!
When you place an order you have the option to donate trees, and we’ll match your tree donation (each tree is only $1!). We can quickly build a forest with your help!

6. Donate!
Forgo the common wedding favors and choose to donate to a non-profit. To encourage this large-hearted trend, we’ll letterpress your flat favor cards for free if your favor is a donation to a charitable cause (be sure to read the small print). If you leave enough space, these favor cards can double as place cards that one of our talented calligraphers can hand calligraph with the name of each guest.

7. Eco Specs!
Let your guests know how green your invitations are by including our optional (and free!) eco specs! See the small print here.

What are you doing to make your letterpress invitations eco-friendly??

Not sure how to put your letterpress wedding invitations together? Not to worry — in this step-by-step video, Chris, a Bella Figura client coordinator, shows the proper way to assemble and stuff your wedding invitation sets, along with tips to make sure your envelopes are properly sealed.

We can’t wait to show you our new offerings for next year — we’re introducing over 80 new trend-setting designs that are must-haves for the 2012 wedding season. Our new collection won’t be available until later this month, but we thought we’d give you a little sneak peek to let you know what’s in store for the new year. Think foil stamping (gold! silver! colored metallics!). 7 incredibly talented new designers and calligraphers. Colored envelopes. Letterpress on pocketfolds. Foil edging. New custom calligraphy styles (7 of them!). New inks. New fonts. 2 and 3 color liners. Take a look — it’s true love.

Shocker alert – we’re pretty heavily into environmental conservation over here (big news, right?).  Everything from the tree-free cotton papers we print on, to the wind powered electricity we use, to our vegetable based inks and more is intended to minimize our impact on the natural world in every way we can possibly think of.  And so with that being the case, how could we not be totally all about this amazing naturally inspired Deveril (by Beth Ann Seal) customization!  We owe the pleasure of being able to print this beautiful set to our buds over at Sweet Paper in La Jolla, California.  It features espresso ink, our white 2-ply paper, and custom designed wood grain envelope liners inspired by our Adirondack design.  There’s also a little secret pocket on the back of the invite to hold the reception card, website card, and reply card neatly in place!  The whole set is earthy and organic feeling, but not in a kitschy kind of way because it’s still a very classic and formal looking set.  We dig it.  Hope you do too!

ink: espresso | fonts: burgues script + danube | paper: white 2-ply | invite size: f8 | liner: custom adirondack pattern in espresso

Want to share with your guests that your letterpress invitations are eco? We offer a (free!) eco message letterpressed tastefully on the back of your invitation (in one of the invitation’s ink colors). We keep the impression very light so the letterpress will not show through the front. Our eco specs say, “letterpressed with wind power | tree free paper (100% reclaimed cotton)vegetable-oil based ink | old cast iron presses | love.” We think it is a subtle way to spread our message with the ones you love!

Want to read more about Bella Figura being a green letterpress print shop?

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.