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??

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?

Over the past couple of years, we’ve found ourselves completely blown away by the thoughtfulness and generous spirits of the couples we’re honored to call Bella Figura brides and grooms.  We think it’s so cool when a couple opts to forgo the traditional guest favors and instead makes a donation to a worthy nonprofit. To encourage this large-hearted trend, in early 2011 we started offering free letterpress favor cards to those couples making a donation to nonprofit organization doing good for the world. Here are just a handful of the many favor cards we’ve printed for couples worldwide this year…

Our Deveril design; donation benefiting The Humane Society of the United States.

Our Tara design; donation benefiting Clean Ocean Action.

Our Nautilus design; donation benefiting the Reproductive and Child Health Alliance in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Our Florian Script design; donation benefiting CHU St-Justine. From the couple, “The CHU St-Justine is a well renowned children’s hospital in Montreal and our donation will be given toward funding R&D activities. We both believe that children should be allowed to enjoy their young lives and play outside with their friends rather to be stuck in a hospital room. We hope that our donation will help the team of doctors find a cure to many of today’s illnesses that primarily attack young children.”

Our Deveril design; donation benefiting the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee.

Our Erte Beach design; donation benefiting the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Our Keswick design; donation benefiting the Rochester chapter of CASA – Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children. From the bride, Rachel -  “CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children. CASA volunteers are “appointed by judges to watch over and advocate for abused and neglected children, to make sure they don’t get lost in the overburdened legal and social service system…Volunteers stay with each case until it is closed and the child is placed in a safe, permanent home”. We wanted to donate to CASA for many reasons. Firstly, I am a CASA volunteer. I’m passionate about child advocacy and will be starting law school this fall. Also, Rochester’s CASA chapter has recently suffered massive budget cuts. What better than to give to an organization that helps children find home as we begin our home.”

Our Modern Calligraphy design; donation benefiting the Autism Society of Wisconsin.

Pretty impressive stuff, right? Want to get in on the action? Here’s the small print: the free favor cards must be printed with a minimum $500 order; our favor cards are place card sized; cards are letterpress printed in the design and ink colors from your order; we’ll match your highest quantity—for instance, if you order 200 invitations, we’ll offer 200 free favor cards. We’ll also extend our many thanks for inspiring us.

This letterpress wedding invitation is our Vignette design printed in garden and pewter inks for an upcoming wedding in Hawaii. We love the color palette and swirly floral and leaf motif for an oceanfront wedding, and it should be noted that we’d really love to be in Hawaii today. With windchill, it’s about -10 degrees in Syracuse right now so a trip someplace warm sounds just right!

As an earth-loving company, we love to see couples incorporating eco-friendly elements, large and small, into their weddings — so we wanted to share some of our favorite ideas for eco-friendly wedding favors. At Bella Figura, we recognize and appreciate that every small effort counts. We love these ideas for expressing appreciation to your loved ones while helping to limit the waste that might be generated by other more traditional wedding favors.

{Potted herbs in buckets by Kelly MacPhee via Snippet & Ink; Herbs in terra cotta pots via Intimate Weddings}

We love the idea of using potted herbs in cool containers to serve as both centerpieces and guest wedding favors. Not only is the look completely pretty and the fragrance sure to be delightful, but you’re working to reduce waste all around as there is no packaging to be discarded and no centerpieces left to go to waste.

{Lovely handmade soaps from 100 Layer Cake}

We absolutely adore these beautiful handmade soaps recently featured on one of our favorite wedding blogs, 100 Layer Cake. Made with love and tied with strips of pretty scrap fabric, baker’s twine and small tags punched from paper grocery bags, they are not only beautiful but also very eco-chic. We also think these would be great favors at a bridal or baby shower or even perfect to include with bridesmaids gifts.

{Potted banana bread DIY favors via Style Me Pretty}

Baked directly in small, reusable terra cotta pots and sweetly capped off with a square of wax paper and a bit of raffia, these adorable potted banana bread favors recently featured on Style Me Pretty are nothing short of fun and delicious, a combination we love. Waste and costs are minimal and guests are sure to love their own personal pot of banana bread or whatever other sweet treat you bake for them. We can also see these being perfect as individually potted over-sized cupcakes and topped with a dollop of yummy frosting!

{Bright and festive reusable tote bags from Smudge Ink; Personalized shopping bags from the wedding of Mrs. Hydrangea on Weddingbee, photo by Perez Photography}

Perfect as wedding favors, out of town bags or as wedding party gifts, we love the idea of giving your loved ones gorgeous reusable shopping totes either in fun, festive colors or personalized to reflect your wedding aesthetic. Especially perfect for destination weddings or weekend-long events when packed with snacks, maps and ideas of what to see and do, a great tote will be used and appreciated long after your wedding day.

{Personalized SIGG water bottles from the wedding of Jordan and Juan Carlo via Sarah Pants}

Most of us in the office carry around a reusable water bottle of some kind so we fell completely in love with the personalized SIGG water bottles one of our recent Bella Figura couples, Jordan and Juan Carlo, offered their guests as wedding favors at their weekend-long eco-friendly Texas wedding celebration. Each guest received an aluminum water bottle and great care was taken to reduce and/or completely eliminate paper waste at each of their weekend events. This idea is perfect for wedding guests or to give to your bridal party and will serve as a great souvenir to remind loved ones of the fun and joy of your wedding.

{Photo near Spruce Pond along the Finger Lakes Trail by our own Debbie Urbanski}

Taking the idea of eco wedding favors to another level, Bella Figura and our sister company, Smock,  are both huge fans of American Forests and we love the idea of celebrating your marriage with a donation to help protect the trees and forests that are so vital in protecting the earth. Every $1 plants a tree so you can just imagine the impact your donation can have.

{Letterpress wedding favor card by Smock for the Amazon Conservation Association}

Especially near and dear to our hearts, Smock has recently teamed up with the Amazon Conservation Association in offering pro bono design and printing of gorgeous letterpress favor cards. For a $5 donation per guest, you can thank your loved ones with a contribution to help protect the Amazon. Couples will receive one beautiful favor card per two guests, sustainably letterpressed on our bamboo paper, to display on tables at their reception explaining how your donation has helped create a better livelihood for local communities and to help conserve the biological diversity of the Amazon basin. To learn more, visit Smock’s blog.

At Bella Figura we recognize that steps large and small are necessary to protect the environment for future generations so we full-heartedly support couples opting for eco-friendly wedding favors in lieu of more traditional keepsakes that might go to waste. A good rule of thumb is to opt for items that are reusable, practical and fun or edible favors packaged in reusable containers that guests can later repurpose. And, of course, you never go wrong with a donation to an environmental or charitable cause near and dear to your hearts.

We just found out about Green Weddings, an event to be hosted by Housing Works on April 13, 2009 in New York City by way of our friend Vané at Brooklyn Bride. The event will feature an array of advice about planning a fabulous eco-friendly wedding from a wide range of industry experts including Mireya Navarro, author of Green Wedding: Planning Your Eco-Friendly Celebration. Because hosting an eco-friendly event means so much more than just eco-friendly letterpress invitations, we’re thrilled to see a group of knowledgable industry leaders coming together to offer advice and insight. Now, if only we could be in NYC to attend…

It’s worth mentioning that Vané is one of our featured Bella Figura Trendsetters and her fresh, modern style was the inspiration behind our popular Dewdrop design, which we love. You can purchase Vané’s favorite Bella Figura designs, or that of any other Bella Figura Trendsetter, as a sample pack with 100% of the purchase price going to Vané’s environmental cause of choice, The Conservation Fund.

Here’s a sweet keepsake letterpress coaster that would fill any guest with joy. The design is from our Majorca letterpress wedding invitation suite. (see more photos of our letterpress coasters here)