You’ve ordered your invitations, purchased stamps, addressed your envelopes, and now you’re ready to get everything out the door! Before you assemble and stamp your invitations, you’ll want to make sure you’re sorting your invitations in the proper order. To make it easy, we’ve broken down the process into 5 easy steps:
Layer your pieces in order largest to smallest – start with the invitation or the largest card on the bottom, then layer any medium-sized cards (like a directions card, events card, or accommodations card) on top of the invitation. Continue with smaller cards – a reception card followed by a reply card envelope and reply card would go next. Any petite cards – like a website card – would go on the very top.
Insert all of your pieces printed side up into your inner envelope. The pieces should slide into the envelope with the flap pointing to the right.
Tuck your inner envelope, flap down, into your outer invitation envelope. This way, when your guest opens your invitations, the first thing they’ll see is their addressed inner envelope.
Use the bottle of envelope moistener provided with your invitation order to wet the gummed edge of your outer invitation envelope. Use enough to moisten the seal, but don’t overdo it – you don’t want soggy envelopes!
After you’ve sealed your envelopes, we recommend placing a heavy book or two on top of the stack to ensure all of your envelopes are securely sealed.
And that’s it! After you’ve stamped your envelopes with sufficient postage, we recommend bringing them to the Post Office to be hand canceled – this helps reduce the risk of your invitations getting damaged in the mail. If you want to see these steps in action, check out the step by step instructions in this video.
We can’t wait to show you our new offerings for next year — we’re introducing over 80 new trend-setting designs that are must-haves for the 2012 wedding season. Our new collection won’t be available until later this month, but we thought we’d give you a little sneak peek to let you know what’s in store for the new year. Think foil stamping (gold! silver! colored metallics!). 7 incredibly talented new designers and calligraphers. Colored envelopes. Letterpress on pocketfolds. Foil edging. New custom calligraphy styles (7 of them!). New inks. New fonts. 2 and 3 color liners. Take a look — it’s true love.
In a really cool twist (literally!) on Ben Whitla‘s original Avant design, this letterpress invitation booklet includes a cover page, an invite page, and an RSVP page that have all been grommeted together into a tidy little package. The grommet allows the individual pages to swivel open and close and a perforated tear-out RSVP postcard on the last page lets guests reply without having to worry about envelopes. Great stuff!
inks: chartreuse + charcoal | font: geometric | paper: 1-ply white | invite size: a7 | client coordinator: chris gannon | in-house designer: sarah walroth
Bella Figura calligrapher Debi Zeinert shared this close up look at her amazing work, a video that features her various calligraphy styles. Her elegant calligraphy can be found in her wedding invitation designs, and her calligraphy accents can also be found in other popular Bella designs (such as Loretta Formal and Calligraphy Monogram). In addition to beautiful, hand-calligraphed letterpress stationery and invitations through Bella Figura, Debi is also available for calligraphy addressing through her business, The Blooming Quill. Your envelopes, escort cards, and other wedding day stationery pieces can all be hand-done to match your letterpress printed suite! Check out this video to see Debi in action, and for more details on working with her, visit her website.
Here at Bella Figura, we think voting is one of the most direct ways to impact this country and the world. So to encourage everybody to get out and vote this year, we’re offering a special promotion just for voters during the month of November, 2011: orders with 75 invitation sets or more will receive 25 free sets!
To take advantage of this promotion, all you need to do is supply a photo of yourself voting! Simply send in the photo with your order to receive the special by emailing order@bellafigura.com – if you plan to work with one of our retailers, just include their store name in your email. We’ll be featuring the photos on our blog and Facebook page in the upcoming weeks, so please let us know when submitting the photo if you don’t want your photograph shared!
Election day is November 8, 2011, so get out and vote! If you want to help spread the word on election day, let everyone know that you voted by uploading your photo to our Facebook page. Just click the ‘Share Photo’ option, and in the caption, tell us the state you’re voting in!
Excited about the vote? Keep the voting momentum going and click here to vote on the next design of the month! The design of the month will go on sale for 20% off during the month of December & 4 designs are in the running — be sure to check it out!
(The small print: Orders must be placed no later than 11:59pm EST on Wednesday, November 30. A photo is required to take advantage of this offer. “Invitation sets” are considered the invitation, reply card or postcard, and coordinating envelopes — no substitutes. Additional insert cards, such as direction cards or accommodation cards, do not qualify.)
The perfect precursor to what’s sure to be a gorgeous vintage-chic outdoor wedding, this customization of our Victrola Letterpress design has got everybody here at the shop… spinning. Pressed in Deep Blue and Pool on our 1-ply ivory paper, the old school typography, cool hues, and ornate flourishes really lend this set some sick traditional Americana vibe. Two color printing throughout the set (even on the envelopes) really helps to keep things cohesive and well balanced.
ink: deep blue + pool | fonts: victoria + manoir | paper: ivory 1-ply | invite size: F-8 | client coordinator: chris gannon | in-house designer: kyle laatsch
Sheila and Chris chose our Deveril letterpress invitations for their chic Manhattan wedding and were kind enough to share photos of their invitations in action! We printed their invitations in classic blank in on our cotton paper. Sheila then lined the envelopes herself with pretty, patterned paper and worked with Trial By Cupakes for calligraphy addressing. Their wedding took place at the gorgeous Alger House and Sheila wore a stunning Pucci dress. We love seeing how it all came together! Many thanks to Sheila and Chris for sharing and congratulations from your friends at Bella Figura!
See all of the beautiful details from Sheila and Chris’s wedding on Laura Ryan’s blog.
We were so excited to recently have Brides ask us to create our dream invitation for the upcoming royal wedding. With our Lace letterpress invitations as our inspiration, we wanted to create something girly and a bit dreamy, perfect for a modern day princess celebrating a fairytale wedding. In shades of papaya and persimmon paired with whimsical script, we love this look for a formal yet playful wedding celebration. We envision them enclosed in envelopes with a fabulous liner, gorgeous hand calligraphy and a patchwork of vintage stamps to complete the look. Check out all of the designs on the Brides magazine website and many thanks to our friends at Brides for asking us to contribute!
These custom, art deco inspired letterpress invitations were designed by the bride, Brenna, who paid us the great pleasure of working with her on printing her wedding invitations. We printed them at a custom size so Brenna could then adhere them to a black backer, paired perfectly with black lined envelopes. They were printed in black on our ivory cotton paper. Check out Brenna’s blog Bomb’s Away for more of her super cool style.
An especially elegant customization of our ever popular (and completely timeless) Deveril letterpress invitations, these elegant wedding invitations were printed in taupe and dusty pink and feature coordinating envelopes lined in dusty pink. Sweet calligraphy details along with hand calligraphy accents and a custom monogram from calligrapher Debi Zeinert make these letterpress invitations one of a kind.
All new for 2011, we’re really excited about our new patterned envelope liners to coordinate with our letterpress invitations. They are super eco (digitally flat printed on 100% post consumer recycled paper) and super custom (in your choice of colors and patterns to make your letterpress invitations one of a kind). Our new liners are modern and traditional, vintage inspired and contemporary, and crazy cool. Pick stripes or solids, geometrics or florals, choose your favorite color and get started dreaming up the perfect letterpress invitations for your celebration!
We printed this fabulous customization of our Claddagh letterpress wedding invitation design in antique gold and taupe inks on ivory paper showcasing gorgeous hand calligraphy accents from calligrapher Debi Zeinert. The invitations and reply cards feature corner rounding and the envelopes were lined in taupe. The couple had their wedding website printed on the envelope, as well – a great way to provide guests with additional wedding information! To round out the suite, we also had the pleasure of printing matching letterpress thank you cards and pretty letterpress program covers.
