We love Seasonal, one of our fun new letterpress wedding invitation designs for 2009 designed for us by Tara Hogan of Ink + Wit. With four interchangeable design motifs, one for each season, couples can match their design to the style and date of their wedding in a really cheerful and unexpected way. The sample depicts “Autumn” and is letterpress printed in Persimmon and French Vanilla inks.
Here you can see each of the four seasonal motifs…
This lovely version of Seasonal that we recently printed features “Spring” printed in Navy and Lime inks and is really fresh and modern in a very cheerful way. How could a guest receive this invitation and not be completely excited to attend this wedding? We just adore how bright and fun this invitation set is and how completely different the look is from the original sample design. This is another of example of how making a design your own can really add a special personalized touch to your letterpress wedding invitations.
Deciding which pieces to include when deciding on your letterpress wedding invitations can be a bit confusing if you’re just starting to research so we thought it would be helpful to share some of the pieces we print most often and how you might use them. The great thing about all of these pieces is that you can pick and choose just those elements that are relevant to your event and fit comfortably within your budget, lending a lot of flexibility as you decide on your invitation suite.
{Save the Dates}
While not especially traditional, Save the Dates are becomingly increasing popular. Initially, Save the Dates {Cartoccio design featured above} were used almost exclusively for destination weddings, but we’re seeing a growing number of couples opting to send letterpress Save the Dates in advance of the wedding invitation to give guests a heads up on the upcoming event. Some simply list a date and location, while others might note a wedding website or specific venue. Usually couples send Save the Dates anywhere from six months to a year in advance, depending on the length of their engagement. Save the Dates are especially helpful when you are expecting a lot of out of town guests, but are by no means a requirement.
{Invitations}
Your invitation card {Mimosa is shown above} is arguably the most important element among all others and even despite the dawn of the e-card age, most couples still have a preference for traditional invitations, letterpress invitations being among the favorites. A general rule of thumb is that invitations include the date, time and location of the festivities and are sent to guests six to eight weeks in advance. Etiquette has long dictated the wording of invitations, although these days there is an increasing flexibility in how you word your invitation to guests. While we love printing traditional invitations, we also love to see how our brides and grooms get creative with language as they welcome guests to celebrate their union. With our wide range of letterpress invitation designs, there is truly something for every couple.
{Reception Cards}
Traditionally, reception cards {Deveril reception card above} were enclosed along with the main invitation and listed the time and place of the wedding reception only, while the invitation card itself was reserved exclusively for ceremony details. Reception information can easily be included on the bottom of the invitation, though some couples prefer to have a separate letterpress reception card if their reception is being held at a different location later in the evening, or if there are separate guest lists for each events. One great way to save money is to forgo the reception card, which is not only budget friendly, but also eco friendly too as it saves on paper. What’s not to love?
{Reply Cards/Postcards}
Reply cards {Lovebirds letterpress design above} as we know them are actually a modern custom, as traditionally invitations did not include RSVP information. Rather, it was customary for guests to reply with a hand written note on their own stationery. How sweet is that? While this particular practice is largely a thing of the past, we do see a number of couples printing requests for replies directly on the invitation and forgoing a reply card altogether, sometimes directing guests to a website or email address. Another common option is the choice of a letterpress reply postcard in lieu of a reply card with envelope. Again there are is a lot of flexibility with what information is included on a reply card and these days it might include not only the names and number of guests, but also meal selections and where the guests might be lodging for the weekend.
{Website Cards}
Website cards are another modern evolution in wedding stationery and are often just small cards printed with a website address providing information on events, accommodations, directions, local attractions, and miscellaneous information that might be useful to guests. While not a traditional element, letterpress website cards are very useful for spreading the word that you have a wedding website and that you’d like guests to visit. Some couples even opt to print extras so they can keep them on hand to give out when friends and family ask wedding-related questions. What a great idea!
{Directions/Accommodation Cards}
An increasing number of couples are opting to include direction and/or accommodations cards these days, especially as more couples plan destination or weekend-long events. We’re printing a growing number of directions cards and accommodations cards, sometimes one and the same, providing an abundance of really useful information for guests looking to make travel arrangements. It’s an extra element of hospitality that never goes overlooked by guests as anyone can appreciate not having to take extra time to research the best places to stay or how to get to the ceremony. It’s also possible to print directions on one side of a card and accommodation information on the other, even with letterpress, which is another great way to save money and save paper while still providing guests with great information.
{Tips for Deciding Which Pieces to Include}
– Determine the information that would be most useful to your guests given the details of your particular event and make that your focus
– Combine pieces where possible to help accommodate your budget
– Get creative! Don’t be afraid to include something totally unique or nontraditional, especially if you think it might be helpful for your guests
– Make it your own – letting your personalities shine through will always guarantee a beautiful letterpress invitation suite
We are always willing to answer questions and help you decide what invitation elements are perfect for you and your event. If you’re considering letterpress wedding invitations and wondering what pieces to include, let us know and we’re happy to help with ideas!
Nantucket has long been a favorite among our letterpress wedding invitations, and lately we’ve printed some really lovely customizations of Nantucket that we just love. This one, printed in powder blue and pewter inks, is especially pretty and perfectly suited to the waterfront occasion for which it was designed. With this particular customization, the repeated line pattern at the bottom of the invitation uses fewer lines and the scroll frame was enlarged and shifted up to frame the names of the couple while a script font was used in place of calligraphy accents. We are always happy to make custom changes to our already beautiful letterpress designs in order to help couples achieve the exact look they want, and this is a great example of how a few small changes make for an incredibly personal design.
We are excited to announce the introduction of two new Trendsetter sample packs! Holly of decor8 and the ladies of Southern Weddings Magazine have each curated a Bella Figura sample pack of their favorite letterpress wedding invitation designs, joining the ranks of other Bella Figura trendsetters including Style Me Pretty, Oh Joy, Snippet & Ink, and Brooklyn Bride. Holly’s favorites include Estrella, Linnea, Urbanity, Maja and Dewdrop while the gals of Southern Weddings Magazine include Estrella, Nonpareil, Nigella, Dewdrop and New Calligraphy among their favorites.
New Calligraphy Letterpress Invitation
Nigella Letterpress Reply Card
Maja Letterpress Invitation
As always, when you purchase a Trendsetter sample pack ($20, including shipping), 100% of the cost goes to environmental causes near and dear to our hearts as selected by the Trendsetters. Be sure to check them out!
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.
Jordan and Juan Carlos (Juancho) are a truly special Bella Figura couple who married in April 2008 after they fell in love while Jordan was living in Ecuador where Juan is from. This past fall they threw a wonderful eco-friendly wedding celebration in Jordan’s home state of Texas in October, four years to date of their very first kiss, and chose Bella Figura’s letterpress wedding invitations in our Amy design printed with taupe ink to kick it all off. It was a great pleasure for us to work with Jordan and her mother who corresponded closely with client coordinator Tiffany, and we love all of the ways Jordan and Juan Carlos worked to make their wedding green and eco-friendly. Theirs is a wedding that was truly centered on love, family and togetherness while limiting any negative environmental impact and we find that incredibly inspirational. According to Jordan, “…for the green aspects of the wedding, we wanted to have a self-indulgent time but not at the cost of our carbon footprint. ”
To kick off the weekend celebration in true Texas fashion, Jordan and Juan invited their guests from around the world to join them for an evening at the rodeo followed by dinner and then dancing at a favorite local tavern. It was a chance to bring together their friends and family from as far away as Ecuador, Spain, England, Germany, Mexico and from across the United States in a fun and festive way that allowed everyone to forge new friendships and make new memories. Guests camped out and stayed in cabins at a couple of dude ranches in the local area, enjoyed horseback rides, participated in a series of summer camp-inspired activities such as games, tournaments, and scavenger hunts during the day on Saturday before enjoying a hayride before dinner.
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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.
We’ve been designing and printing a whole lot of lovely letterpress save the dates lately — here are a few of our favorites! We’ll start with Cartoccio, one of our new wedding invitation designs — it’s timeless, classic, and really cool in the vibrant garden green ink.
Birds is another 2009 design that looks lovely in hot colors (though we think it would be awesome in black as well!).
We loved the elegant Bordure save the date with these ultra elegant serif fonts!
We’ve noticed a lot more clients choosing letterpress reply postcards over the traditional reply card + envelope for their wedding invitations. We’re all for this trend – it’s more eco (less paper!), and also helps keeps budgets down and keeps letterpress more affordable. Reply postcards cost less to letterpress, and you also save a little bit on the postage. We’ve also seen a huge movement to do 2 color letterpress designs as 1 color (see below for some examples) – a great way to keep your costs down as well while keeping letterpress in your budget. While reply postcards are slightly less formal than reply cards + envelopes, it’s still totally appropriate for even high black tie events. Remember, we’re talking about letterpress postcards on a luxurious cotton paper — they’re still really, really lovely, and we know all of your guests will have trouble parting with them!
Here are a few of our favorites, starting with the Boutique letterpress postcard.
The Champagne letterpress reply postcard — this is usually a two color design, but turning it into a 1 color piece helps keep costs down too.
The Vintage letterpress postcard.
The Deveril letterpress reply postcard.
The Somersby letterpress postcard – another 2 color design that looks lovely in one color.
Lastly, the Nonpareil! This is usually a two color design also.
Concluding our letterpress calligraphy love fest (for now!) — here are some really sweet escort cards that feature letterpress printed calligraphy. What a great keepsake this would make for your guests…these escort cards are from our Classic Calligraphy letterpress design. In addition to offering letterpress printed calligraphy, we do offer calligraphy services (for envelopes, place cards, etc.) through our favorite calligrapher ever Debi Zeinert.
This letterpress wedding invitation is printed in a custom dark blue ink and features lots and lots of gorgeous, hand-drawn calligraphy by our master calligrapher Debi Zeinert.
Even the M line on the reply card highlights the calligraphy….lovely! Shows how even a single calligraphy letter can totally make a card shine.
Letterpress accents on the classy letterpress coasters too….
Here’s our New Calligraphy design as a save the date – in moss ink, with moss edge painting, on our ultra-thick 2-ply cotton paper (the 2-ply paper really lets the edge painting stand out). The mix of the modern & the historical in this letterpress calligraphy design is so cool, and the moss ink color is full of personality too.
