Not to toot our own horn, but this little free favor card promotion of ours has been phenomenally successfully – more so than we could have dreamt!  Some of the letterpress favor cards we printed even wound up on the Today Show!  To see so many generous people helping out worthwhile non-profit organizations instead of giving out little bags of Jordan almonds at their wedding (not that we have anything against those delicious treats) is just amazing to see.  It’s so inspiring to see such genuine goodness in people!  But of course, we never had any doubts that our clients are just those kind of thoughtful, big-hearted people to make a promotion like this a wild success.

Admittedly though, with there being such a rich abundance of amazing charities to consider, it can be little tough to decide just which one you would like to donate to in your guest’s honor.  To get your generosity muscles flexing though, here’s a tiny sampling of just a couple of the organizations we’ve printed cards for so far: The American Cancer Society, The World Wildlife Fund, Kiva, Faith in Place, The Human Rights Campaign, PETA, Donors Choose, Tiyatien Health, The St. Judes Childrens Hospital, Between Friends Club, The ALS Association, The Survivor Fund, The Wounded Warrior Project, Susan G Komen for the Cure, The American Heart Association, The Starship Children’s Hospital and Foundation, The American Lung Association, Ag47, and The Center For Addiction and Mental Health. And this really is just the tip of the iceberg, amazingly enough.

Having trouble selecting just the right charity?  You might want to consider making smaller donations to several different organizations, so that way the love’s spread around even more.  Another really cool way to get your guests involved is to let them vote for the one they prefer at the wedding.  You can list the possible nonprofits you’re thinking about on the favor cards and then let them vote by either writing on the card and handing them back, or by putting them into one of several boxes (one for each charity).  Then just tally up the votes, and you’re all set!

So if you’re planning on working with us for your letterpress wedding invitations and think you might like to make a donation to a nonprofit in lieu of favors at your wedding, please let us know – we would absolutely love to print them for you!  Please do take a moment to look over the details on our promotion page. And just a tidbit more fine print for this: this promotion is for letterpress favor cards only, and does not include foil stamped favor cards (sorry!).  If you would like hand calligraphy accents, edge painting, or corner rounding included on these cards we’ll be happy to include those things as well, but we do charge extra for those kinds of optional embellishments.

Our charitable favor cards were featured yesterday on the Today Show! Brides magazine editor-in-chief Anne Fulenwider included several of our letterpress charity favor cards in a segment filled with helpful wedding planning tips for brides to be. We think it’s pretty amazing when couples make a heartfelt gift to charity in honor of their guests, so we’ll print your favor cards for free if you’re donating to charity in lieu of traditional favors. We’ll also match your highest quantity, too – so if you order 150 letterpress invitations, we’ll give you 150 free letterpress favor cards. Click here for more details on this promotion, and be sure to check out the video!

A true story-book romance is reflected in this letterpress wedding invitation of Linden Summer design (by Lindsy Aragona). Completed with a metallic bronze pocketfold, this entire set has a vintage, yet whimsical feel. The invitation and additional pieces are adorned with soft Espresso ink branches and delicate Champagne ink leaves. You cannot help but fall in love.

ink: espresso + champagne | fonts: luster roman | calligraphy style: clermont by debi zeinert | paper: 1-ply ivory | invite size: a-7 | liner: the reverse european formal pattern in espresso ink | pocketfold: bronze | client coordinator: christie jones | in-house designer: lindsy aragona

This couple benefited from our 10% off promotion (10% off if you purchase 6 printed pieces) and our free CHARITY favor card promotion. See more details and the small print here!

by Lindsy Aragona, In-house Graphic Designer.

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.”

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We simply adore this customization of our String Calligraphy letterpress wedding invitation design, which features the hand calligraphy of Bella Figura calligrapher Patricia Mumau of Primele Studio. It was letterpress printed in black ink on our 2-ply cotton paper and features papaya edge painting. The backside of the invitations as well as the escort cards and favor cards all showcase our Emile design in blind deboss, while the letterpress thank you cards and envelopes all feature a custom designed, blind deboss tree motif, perfect for this South African safari wedding. To complete this beautiful custom design, the envelopes are lined in champagne and the favor cards were hole drilled and grommeted.

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.