Nautical wedding venue paired with modern flair? Check out this unique letterpress customization of our Harper design.

harper customization = inks: black + geranium | fonts: streamline + knockout | paper: white | invite size: a-7 | liner: refined mosaic in atlantic ink | original design by Ian Koenig | customized by in-house designer Brenda Fox |
embellishment suggestions: edge painting: geranium

(Photo Credits: Kat Nania at Kendon Photography)

Did you know that Bella Figura can letterpress your baby announcements? Well we can! We recently printed these adorable letterpress baby announcements for twins. Our whimsical Rustic Jolene design (by Jessica Tierney) is such a perfect choice in sea-side and umber letterpress inks – a totally unique color combination that we absolutely love.

inks: sea-side + umber  | fonts: henry + jack | paper: 2-ply white | size: a5 | client coordinator: christie jones | in-house designer: lindsy aragona

This version we printed of Jamie Lea Bertsch‘s Cecilia design looks nothing like the original for sure, but WOW did it turn out exquisite.  Just so clean and refined looking.  Our friends at Papery of Philadelphia sent this for us to print, and we absolutely can’t thank them enough for the honor.  Instead of leaving the Cecilia as is, they decided to flip it to a portrait style layout, do it in Antique Gold and Cream inks, use the floral pattern as a light background motif, and added a monogram to the top.

inks: antique gold and cream | paper: white 2 ply | invite size: f8 | client coordinator: chris gannon

Fireworks, sailing, vintage trucks and hot summer days can inspire an Americana wedding. We used deep blues and reds on this Modern Fete customization for an “oh beautiful for spacious skies” look!

Modern Fete Customization = inks: prussian blue + cardinal | fonts: adelais + sans capitals | paper: white | invite size: f-8 | liner: traditional oxford in prussian blue + cardinal | original design by Amy Graham Stigler | customized by in-house designer Lindsy Aragona
embellishment suggestions: foil edging in gold shine

Photo Credits: JK Photography

Did you know all of our letterpress and foil stamped coasters are printed on 100% recycled paper? Our coasters are made up of 90% post-consumer waste, 5% pre-consumer waste, and 5% mill waste — it’s a lovely stock that takes the letterpress or foil impression really well. We’ve been printing some really cool coasters for our clients on this new stock over the past few months — take a look!

Designs shown clockwise from top right: Custom design featuring owls from our motif library, Vineyard, Irving, Helena, Rustic Lookout and Circolo. The Circolo design was recently discontinued, but is still available if you’d like to order it! 

Aren’t the gold matte, foil-stamped coasters especially beautiful? They feature hand calligraphy accents in Debi Zeinert’s Spencerian style, and they were actually printed for the grand-prize winner of our February Pinterest contest! For a chance to win 100 letterpress party invitations, enter our Pin Your Favorite Place Pinterest Contest today!

Looking for an eco-friendly approach to wedding rings?  Just by it’s nature, the work that goes into mining the raw materials used in wedding rings is pretty harsh on the earth. But that’s not to say there aren’t some really great options available – it just takes a little…digging.

Generally speaking, post-consumer recycled gold is always going to have less of an environmental footprint than freshly mined gold.  The problem is, loads of companies claim their wares are recycled or post-consumer or what have you, but this can be a tricky thing to verify. Still, selecting post-consumer recycled gold is generally a great way to go and there are tons of companies offering this sort of option right now — Green Karat and Brilliant Earth are two companies that do this — and both have Green America’s Green Business certification.

One idea we love? Go vintage. Bella Figura designer Lindsy Aragona’s engagement ring has a cool story behind it: the ring features her grandmother’s setting, and the diamond from her husband’s grandmother’s engagement ring. Consider going this route and use an heirloom piece that was passed down through your family – the added sentimental value will make the ring even more special.

Don’t have an heirloom piece in the family that can be used for your engagement ring or wedding bands? Maybe you have a stash of old broken jewelry you never wear or a hideous (but heartfelt) piece of jewelry your grandmother gave you?  Well rather than just letting it sit there, why not melt it down into something beautiful and meaningful that you’ll actually wear?  It’ll still be the same gold after all, so it’s still got the love.  Lots of jewelry companies offer this service now, and a good local jeweler certainly should be able to do this for you (which in turn supports the local economy and requires no shipping).  By taking all the mining, transportation and refining out of the equation you’re left with a ring that’s many times more eco-blingy, and besides, wouldn’t it feel good to know exactly where the metal in your ring came from?

Diamonds are a girls best friend and all that jazz, but we’ve all seen Blood Diamond. Maybe not so friendly after all. Diamond mining just isn’t an inherently sustainable thing for a vast array of environmental and socioeconomic reasons.  But it is definitely possible to source stones that are conflict free, you just need to do a little research first. You could also go the synthetic route and purchase lab-created diamonds — they’re conflict-free and don’t require mining, so you won’t be disrupting the planet for these gems. Brilliant Earth offers this as an option as well.

Do you do a lot of hiking? If you come across a cool stone in your travels, have it set into a ring.  Way cooler than diamonds if you ask me.  And there’s a story to tell.

Another really awesome option – take a jewelry making workshop and make your own!  If you live in a big city (or even if you don’t) chances are you’ll be able to find classes in jewelry making pretty easily.  If you take the class together, you and your other half will learn lots about the craft and by the end of it, you’ll have made your very own wedding rings!

We had so much fun creating our two new Pinterest inspired designs that we’re having another Pinterest contest and giving you the chance to inspire a new design for our 2013 collection! Plus, you’ll have the chance to win 100 letterpress party invitations that you could use for save the dates, a birthday party, baby announcements, or even a backyard BBQ!

Here’s how it’s going to work: we’re looking for inspiration from a place that you love. It could be anywhere: your favorite vacation spot, where you got engaged (or married!), a pretty spot in the woods, or even your own backyard. Create a board on Pinterest and name it My Favorite Place, then upload an inspiring photo of your special place to the board to get started. In the caption, tell us why it holds an important place in your heart. Don’t spare any details – we want to hear your stories!

Then, fill your board with at least 20 other pins that match the look and feel of your initial pin. What we’re looking for: a cohesive board overflowing with beauty! Pin images that mimic the feeling and match the style of your original photo. Feel free to continue telling your story in the captions of the other pins! Check out our sample board for ideas to get you started.

In addition to the 20 pins, you must pin the image below to your board, as well as your favorite Bella Figura envelope liner. To pin your favorite liner pattern, just use the handy tool on our website to customize an envelope liner with a pattern and colors that match your style, and in the caption, include the name of the pattern (like this!).

Our lead designer Jessica Tierney will be judging the contest and one of our talented designers will be creating an invitation suite based on the winning board. Judging will begin on July 23, and the winner will be announced on July 27. The new Pinterest-inspired design will be released with our new collection in January 2013.

Entry deadline: The contest runs from July 16, 2012 through 12pm EST on July 23, 2012. To enter, follow the instructions above and submit the URL of your Pinterest board to the comments section below.

The grand prize: The person with the winning board will receive 100 free letterpress party invitations printed on our A6 sized cards in two inks on our 1-ply cotton paper with 1-color letterpress printed envelopes. Choose from any of our 300+ invitation designs and create the perfect piece for your next event! Be sure to take a look at our Social Album for  inspiration.
*The fine print: additional invitations, custom design fees, additional ink colors, double-sided printing, added embellishments or rush orders will incur charges.

Need an invitation to join Pinterest? Email hello@bellafigura.com and we’ll send you one right away! We can’t wait to see your entries — good luck! 

We have Lin Logan at the Stationery Company to thank for this amazing customization of our Hoxton design. Our guest judge — Amanda from Ruffled, one of the prettiest wedding blogs around — selected this cool invitation set as the first place winner for our 2012 Design Contest! Amanda loved the fresh and airy feel to this design and the modern pop of color and shape. As Amanda mentions, “geometric motifs are also super easy to follow a theme, and the colors are open to any style wedding.”

Lin was kind enough to share what Emily had envisioned for her wedding invitations: The bride had seen a geometric pattern in magazine and just thought “Wow, I wish I could incorporate that!” She found it in Hoxton — perfectly clean and modern. The bride also wanted to incorporate edge painting for an extra pop and felt with these colors, it would happen and create a nice contrast. She was thrilled with the invitations! — As are we! The three-color invitation printed beautifully, and the hint of neon (our lime-aid ink color!) adds a fun twist to the design. We also love the way the geometric look is carried throughout the entire suite, with variations of the patterns and colors on each piece (and the envelope liners)! This suite is perfectly coordinated and incredibly chic.

Congratulations to Lin at the Stationery Company for coming in first in our 2012 Design Contest, and best wishes to the happy couple on their wedding day! A special thanks goes out to Amanda from Ruffled for judging this year’s contest! Be sure to stop over to Ruffled for all sorts of pretty inspiration.

inks: charcoal + lime-aid + pale gray  | font: moravia  | paper: 2-ply white | invite size: sq7 | liner: simple geometrics pattern in charcoal ink | edge painting: lime-aid |

This design won first place in our Bella Figura design competition for 2012. This annual competition recognizes outstanding and inspired designs submitted by our beloved dealers.

Our second place design contest winner was sent to us by Hailey at Elizabeth Grace in Chicago, and we couldn’t get enough of this four-color customization of our Chapin design! Our contest judge — the talented Amanda from one of our favorite wedding blogs, Ruffled — loved the fresh color scheme and all of the attention to detail. “The green used throughout the design adds just the right amount of detail without overwhelming the suite and is a beautiful teaser for what’s in store for guests on the wedding day” – which is exactly what the couple was hoping for. They were kind enough to share the inspiration behind their unique invitations with us:

Dave and I knew we wanted our invitation to be totally original. We hoped the invitation would set the tone for our big day, and we wanted it to be romantic, feminine, and soft. We are getting married outside of the museum facing gorgeous Lincoln Park, so we wanted the invitation to also be fresh and natural. We are currently working on the design of the arbor we will get married under and are selecting flowers to convey the same feelings of romanticism, naturalness, and softness.

It was helpful that we came in to look at invitations right after a floral appointment! We brought in a couple of flowers for inspiration – all featuring beautiful pinks and fresh greens. We saw many elements that we really loved when looking through the Bella Figura album, but not one that was exactly right. Essentially, we took a design and changed the flowers, colors, selected fonts, and had the flowers vine around the wording. It took a few tries to get the colors right, but we’re glad we took the leap to actually design our own invitation because the end result is so lovely! We can’t wait to get them in our hands and out to our friends and family. 

We love the way the whimsical roses from our motif library were used to customize our Chapin design, and the Spencerian hand calligraphy accents added the perfect amount of elegance and romance! The roses were also used in a custom, design-inspired envelope liner and on the insert cards, which made for a cohesive look throughout the set. Congratulations to Elizabeth Grace for winning second place in our second annual Design Contest, and best wishes to Colleen and David on their upcoming wedding!

inks: clover + olive + british rose + shell | font: jubilant | calligraphy accents: spencerian by debi zeinert | paper: 2-ply white  | invite size: f8  | liner: custom design-inspired liner in shell ink

This design won second place in our Bella Figura design competition for 2012. This annual competition recognizes outstanding and inspired designs submitted to us by our beloved dealers.

Remember the Pinterest contest we held back in February? Well today, we’re excited to share the designs that the contest inspired! The first, A Bientot, is a romantic design with Parisian flair and was design by Jessica Tierney.  A Bientot was inspired by the carefully curated images of our Pinterest contest winner’s Dream Wedding board. Lovely photos of delicate vintage china, french macaroons, elegant lace and sophisticated florals all tied together with soft shades of pink, peach, cream and lavish metallic accents of copper and gold. It wasn’t hard to start designing a suite based on these awe-inspiring images! Tierney instantly pictured an elegant Parisian inspired soirée complete with vintage plates stacked high with Ladurée macaroons, lush florals in feminine shades, and soft candlelight illuminating golden accents. The A Bientot suite is perfect for the couple looking to evoke a feeling of chic sophistication and classic charm on their special day!

Photo credits, from left to right: Row 1: Bella Figura, Jose Villa via The Wedding Chicks | Row 2: Martha Stewart Weddings, Vintage Plate Rental, Musee Des Spontan | Row 3: Eric Kelley Photography, Martha Stewart Weddings | Row 4: Rensche Mari via Southern Weddings | Row 5: Bella Figura, Jessica Janae Photography via Bridal Musings

Gilded Romance — our second Pinterest inspired design — was designed by Sarah Walroth and is simply overflowing with shimmering foil goodness! The design features silver shine and purple shine foil stamping, and the fuchsia shine foil edging brings in a third color. Debi Zeinert’s Revolution hand calligraphy accents brought an elegant, flourished look to the invitation, which is filled with vibrant, confetti-styled bursts of foil shine. Sarah loved the celebratory twist to an otherwise reserved and elegant Pinterest board — the colors, sparkle, and textures carried throughout the board gave it a very cohesive, directed look. And everything on the board — from the makeup to the shoes to the cake — made it easy to create an invitation inspired by the gorgeous event! In particular, Sarah was inspired by the calligraphy, the sparkle and light throughout, and of course the gorgeous, deep plum dress. The Gilded Romance suite is perfect for the couple looking for a rich, glamorous design overflowing with romance and just a hint of formality.

Photo credits, from left to right: Row 1: Plum dress, 100 Layer Cake | Row 2: Southern Weddings | Row 3: Bella Figura, Style Me Pretty | Row 4: Martha Stewart Weddings | Row 5: Elizabeth Anne Designs, Bella Figura 

Stay tuned — we’ll be announcing a brand new Pinterest contest on Monday and you’ll have the chance to inspire a design for our 2013 collection – plus you could win an amazing prize!!

Our 2012 Design Contest is in full swing, and today we’re excited to begin announcing our finalists! The lovely Amanda from Ruffled — one of our all-time favorite wedding blogs — was our judge for this year’s contest. If you’re looking for pretty wedding inspiration with a vintage touch, Ruffled is the place to go!

Amanda selected this modern customization of our Ribbon design from Judy Paulen Designs in Tenafly, New Jersey as the third place winner for our contest. Amanda said, “This invitation immediately has me daydreaming of a flowy wedding gown and a garden wedding. The scripted font is perfect for this style – whimsical and chic, just how this wedding would be.”

We think the added embellishments — bold edge painting, rounded corners and a statement pocketfold — definitely upped the wow-factor on this invitation set. The bride, Danielle, worked with Judy for her invitation suite, and she shared a snippet of Danielle’s vision with us: Danielle loved the sample in the Bella Figura album. She was looking for an unusual invitation that would intrigue and excite her international guest list, and the Ribbon design worked perfectly!  

Congratulations to Judy Paulen Designs for placing third in our 2012 Design Contest! We’ll be announcing our second place winner tomorrow!

inks: garden + taupe  | fonts: futura + ribbon  | paper: 2-ply white | invite size: f8  | liner: the classic color pattern in taupe ink | edge painting: garden | rounded corners

This design won third place in our Bella Figura design competition for 2012. This annual competition recognizes outstanding and inspired designs submitted to us by our beloved dealers.