We know, we know, this is supposed to be a blog about letterpress, but we thought you’d like these beautiful photos from one of our favorite places, Grindstone Farm. Not only does Grindstone provide delicious, nutritious, organic fruits and veggies to the Bella Figura staff through our CSA partnership, they are also a prime example of why farms make great wedding locations!

Of course, planning a wedding on a working farm can be tricky. You need to plan ahead so you are not stuck without power or lights (or bathrooms!), you’ll need to make sure grandma and grandpa do not have to walk a mile in dress shoes, and if you want the ultimate local experience of using food and flowers grown onsite, you’ll need to get the details to the farmer a year in advance.

When the details come together, it’ll be worth the trouble. Your guests will be able to share in an incredible one-of-a-kind experience, creating memories that will last a lifetime.

Interested in finding a farm like this near you for your wedding or big event? Or do you want to use locally grown produce or flowers for your special event?  Check out localharvest.org to find CSAs, U Pick Farms, Farmers Markets, Grocery Co-ops in your area!

We absolutely love seeing the fabulous celebrations that go hand-in-hand with the invitations we get to print everyday, and we’re always especially excited to see Bella Figura weddings on Style Me Pretty!  Anne & Tommy’s Redondo Beach wedding was absolutely gorgeous, so today we’re sharing some of our favorite photos from their big day. The couple chose our elegant Irving invitation to set the tone for their wedding. The design was printed in pale gray and amethyst inks on our white paper for a chic look that coordinated perfectly with the rest of their wedding day elements.

Congratulations to Anne & Tommy!

Vendors:

Photography: Kaysha Weiner Photographer
Flowers: Rebecca’s Bloomers Floral Design and Decor
Event Planning: Tiffany Weddings
Ceremony & Reception Location: Portofino Hotel & Yacht Club
Dress: Adele Wechsler
Make-Up & Hair: Serene Bridal Beauty
Favors: Isabella’s Cookie Company

One more sweet letterpress save the date to inspire you….this is our Deveril letterpress design, which looks great in any ink color, but we are partial to this design in a rich black letterpress ink. This is a reply card size save the date as well (3 1/2″ x 4 7/8″) — a great idea which uses less paper (eco!) and also is less expensive than the larger 4.5″ x 6.25″ A-6 save the date size.

Continuing our letterpress calligraphy love fest…here are a few more calligraphy treats.
Black ink seems so right for calligraphy invitations – it’s the original letterpress ink from hundreds of years ago, and black has stayed in fashion ever since. This is the Classic Calligraphy design using the Spencerian calligraphy style, letterpress printed on our 2-ply cotton paper. Totally timeless. And notice how special each of the first letters of the bride’s and groom’s names are – I love how the “L” of the bride is intertwined already with the “P” of the groom.

We often do calligraphy invitations in one color — but wow, when you add a second color–and add that to a custom monogram in fact — what an effect! The butterfly monogram is sweet and sophisticated and uses the bride & groom’s first letters of their first names. More black ink — how can you go wrong there? — but the garden green ink ads a bit of fun. This is another variation on the Classic Calligraphy design, Spencerian style.
Stay tuned for a very cool calligraphy save the date — in green!

Incorporating calligraphy into your letterpress wedding invitations strikes us as one of the season’s best wedding trends. Actually, calligraphy has been a popular design element for, oh, several hundred (or thousand?) years, but we’ve been seeing calligraphy a whole lot in our favorite wedding invitations this year. Though script fonts are great, nothing – absolutely nothing! – compares with hand lettered calligraphy, where every single letter is a totally unique work of art. Bella Figura’s calligrapher is the amazingly talented Debi Zeinert, who has been making our letterpress brides so happy for years now.

So for the next few posts, we’ll focus on some really gorgeous calligraphy invitations. Let’s start with this Nonpareil invitation – it’s honestly one of the prettiest things we have ever seen! And what an inspired customization too (check out the Nonpareil original invitation here). It’s true, we’re letter junkies over here, but check out the calligraphy accents: look at that A! The M! Just lovely. Clients can choose from about 10 different styles of calligraphy, but this style (the Clermont style) feels perfect: modern, elegant, with a little bit of cool. Also note that both the reply information AND reception information is on the invitation itself – it’s eco (less paper!) and keeps cost down too (no reply card/envelope/reception card to worry about!). Colors are black & fuchsia – so perfect!

We think it’s smart to do the thank you note and coaster in 1 color, to keep costs down. If you’re trying to save money, keep the 2 color design for the invitation, and do the rest of the pieces in 1 color.

Learn more about letterpress calligraphy designs at Bella Figura, or about having your envelopes addressed by our calligrapher as well.

Here are two more variations of our bestselling Deveril letterpress invitation design: an elegant letterpress save the date in navy, and a letterpress menu, tied with a ribbon & finished with a jewel (wow!). We love the Deveril design for a lot of reasons, but in part we love its historical and joyful nature, its sophistication, and its warm sweet energy all its own.

The Deveril letterpress wedding invitation has been one of true loves ever since we first printed the sample – it’s a customer favorite too, and we love seeing how clients customize the design. For the next few days, we’ll highlight some cool variations of the classic Deveril invitation design. We’ll start with a really fun idea – printing each piece in an invitation suite using a different color ink – the invite in navy, the reply card in garden, the reception card in fuchsia. It’s such a great twist on the usual 1-color letterpress invitation – fun, festive, but still really elegant.