These Gracelyn Vintage (by Jessica Tierney) letterpress wedding invitations show that it’s refreshing to see a more bubbly color palette.  Especially when, typically for fall weddings you see hues of golden rod, espresso and mustard. We can’t get enough of the bold aubergine ink throughout the set.  This is a traditional text based invitation with a simple touch of elegance, but this design is anything but simplistic!  The European Formal envelope liner in aubergine ink gives that WOW factor to this invitation suite.

inks: aubergine| fonts: nysa + harlow| paper: 2-ply white | invitation size: f8 | liner: the european formal in aubergine ink | client coordinator: jessica hanaman | in-house designer: sarah walroth

It’s no secret that we are obsessed with letterpress. Behold, this jaw-dropping letterpress bridal shower invitation. Not only was the original Chapin (by Patricia Mumau) design transformed to perfectly celebrate the autumn season, but a new card was created for recipes to be passed onto future generations. Marigold and espresso inks breathe warmth into this whimsical design. The edge paint in marigold brings an extra touch of color that compliments the folk art. A classy envelope liner in solid espresso ink intensifies the rich brown hues associated with fall. We are captivated by the timeless beauty exuding from this letterpress invitation set.

inks: espresso + marigold | fonts: sofia + moravia + chapin  | paper: 1-ply ivory  | invite size: SQ6 | liner: the classic color pattern in espresso ink | edge painting: marigold | client coordinator: christie jones  | in-house designer: sarah walroth

Our Keswick (by Beth Ann Seal) letterpress wedding invitations are given a modern color twist in this quirky customization. Letterpress printed in garden and clover inks, they are perfectly contrasted with shocking pops of mesa edge paint on all pieces (yes that’s right every card). This couple also benefited from our 10% off promotion (10% off if you purchase 6 printed pieces). See more details and the small print here!

inks: clover + garden | fonts: tropez + jubilant | paper: 2-ply ivory | invite size: sq-7 | liner: the vintage river pattern in mesa ink | edge painting: mesa | client coordinator: christie jones | in-house designer: lindsy aragona

We can hardly believe that Bella Figura’s first Design Contest came and went so quickly. Congrats again to all of the winners! Now that the contest has ended, we thought you’d like to see the gorgeous contest winner plaques we sent to the stores that had the top ten designs! Our internal designer Lindsy Aragona created a stunning customization of our Maile design. These beauties are letterpressed in an exciting color combination of sherbet and spring green inks on our 2-ply white paper. Corner rounding adds an extra touch, highlighting the natural curves of the leaves in the design. The wonderful Sarah Hanna is responsible for the stunning calligraphy. The photography in this post features our winners (first place Gus & Ruby Letterpress, second place Social Graces, and third place Union Street Papery).

Over the years, Bella Figura has formed partnerships with important environmental organizations. One such organization is Earthworks, whose campaigns focus on the far reaching ecological and humanitarian concerns caused by all types of mining. Projects such as their “No Dirty Gold Campaign” are very important to exposing the truths behind this important wedding focused industry. Read about the search for the perfect conflict-free engagement ring!

One way we like to support our sustainable partners is to help them create beautiful communication pieces to use with their donors and other partners. For Earthworks, we created these simple, elegant Thank You Notes, and “From the Desk Of” note pads. Letterpress printed on our luxurious 1-ply white 100% reclaimed cotton paper in vine ink, the cards shine with the Earthworks logo. We love giving back, especially when the focus is something we hold dear to our hearts.

Hopefully these pieces will help further the cause!

We just love when magazines and blogs decide to showcase the beautiful letterpress printing we get to do every day, so today we’re sharing some of the amazing features Bella Figura has been spotted in over the past few months. One of the most recent spotlights was found in the fall 2011 issue of Inside Weddings, where Kamal‘s majestic Bejeweled design sparkled.

A few months back, Brides magazine highlighted our Nouvina design by Heidi, which features modern, whimsical flowers and fun, bold colors.

Stationery Trends also decided to feature one of our invitations this fall — the ever popular Irving invitation (designed by Ben Whitla).

We were also thrilled to see one of our calligraphers, Patricia Mumau of Primele, featured in Martha Stewart Weddings a few months back!

We’d also like to thank Oh So Beautiful Paper, Once Wed, Modernly Wed, Chic Vintage Brides, Wed Haute, If I Must Say So, and I Love You Too for highlighting our work — thank you, thank you!

Like a breath of fresh air, this color palette is soft, sweet and romantic. Sigh…..Pale ink colors can easily set such a “lovey, dovey” mood. To give the original Delambre Classic design, by Jessica Tierney, a more natural, fairy-tale vibe, we paired pewter and champagne ink colors with a dusty pink envelope liner in our European Formal pattern. The Norah script font simply adds that extra bit of whimsy. I am swooning!

customization = inks: champagne + pewter | fonts: norah | paper: white | invite size: f-8 | liner: the european vintage formal pattern in dusty pink | original design by Jessica Tierney | customized by in-house designer Lindsy Aragona

Photography by Steep Street

Chris had the pleasure of working with Elizabeth & Alaina on their Canopy invitations for their super-sweet, homegrown wedding, and we’re thrilled to share photographs from their big day. This wedding is seriously overflowing with creativity – Elizabeth and Alaina spent two years planning, and their hard work paid off. They put special thought into every last detail (just wait til you see the paper goods…the place cards + table numbers = genius!), and Elizabeth was kind enough to fill us in on everything that went into planning their beautiful, backyard wedding.

Can you share with us a bit about your wedding and your inspiration for the event?
We had a backyard wedding for our friends and family at my parent’s house in Olympia, Washington. My parents live just outside of town where my mom raises chickens and has a huge garden. We spent two years before the wedding replanting the flower beds and getting the yard ready.  We DIY-ed almost every aspect of the wedding from the yard to the decorations. I read a lot of wedding blogs leading up to the wedding, so I’m sure I was influenced by them in a lot of ways, but our wedding decor and feeling was very uniquely “us”.

My mother and I have a love of blue mason jars and both have a large collection, so we used those for flower vases. I thrifted some soda bottles for cheap and used those, too. I’m a librarian so we had books on the tables, and my wife is a math teacher – so flash cards as table numbers were perfect. There wasn’t a detail of the wedding that didn’t have meaning to us in some way.

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We’re so pumped that New York has joined the ranks of the small (but growing) number of states offering equal rights to same sex couples. In honor of this human rights triumph, Bella Figura is helping celebrate by offering free envelope liners to any same sex couple who orders their wedding stationery from us!

In addition to the promotion, we’ll be showcasing some recent real weddings, giving tips on wording, and offering advice from etiquette expert Mark Kingsdorf – an event planning pro who’s worked with the Emily Post Institute on several books.

The promotion runs from August 25 – September 25 — stop in to one of our Bella Figura retailers to place your order today! If you don’t have a retailer in your area, get in touch & we’ll help you get started.

Hey letterpress fans – Happy Birthday indeed! Nothing celebrates another year passing better than a party invite like this customization, courtesy of the lovely ladies at Social Graces in Nashville. When planning her mother’s 70^th birthday party, Gretchen wanted an invitation reminiscent of retro Broadway movie tickets. Social Graces altered Jessica Tierney’s Popular Country design to take maximum advantage of the beautiful Norah script by combining it with the Bennington and Popular fonts.

Espresso was the perfect ink to pull off the “old-timey” feel, and the corner rounding embellishment solidified the desired effect of bringing us back to simpler, carefree days of youth.

Madelyn, we hope your 70^th year is as beautiful as this invitation!