We are thrilled to announce that Bella Figura won three Louies this year–one in each category we entered. The Louie Award, given by the Greeting Card Association to celebrate “best cards in the industry for over 30 years”.
Serengeti by Leslie Johnston won in the category of “Invitations & Announcements – Non-Wedding”
Gweneth by Alyssa Tidd won in the category of “Invitations & Announcements – Wedding”
Zari by Katie Magee, Amoret by Alyssa Tidd, and Maisey by Jessica Downs won in “Letterpress Printing.” This category recognizes the tradition and artistry of letterpress, including overall design, creativity, and craftsmanship.
Our friends at If It’s Paper in Raleigh worked with Laura and Frank to bring their classic wedding invitations to life. Our Abbey sample was the starting point, customized with espresso letterpress throughout. A customized, two-color version of our Yennicott liner adds touches of chambray, and ties the whole suite together. We love the creative placement of the wedding web address on the outer envelope flap.
We are over the moon to share yet another regional collection! We created these designs specifically for our friends at Broadway Paper. The city of Milwaukee inspired the invitations that you will see pictured below. We’ll let our designers take it from here to describe more about their creative process working on the designs below:
Sopra
Villa Terrace was the main inspiration for the Sopra suite. An Italian Renaissance-style home turned into an art museum and garden set the stage for a warm and traditional suite. Taking notes from the home and an old-world feel, a luxurious foil map liner of Milwaukee was a must.
Sullivan
With a 180 degree view of Lake Michigan’s aqua waters, The Pilot House of Milwaukee heavily influenced our Sullivan design. Watercolor was a must for this suite, so we transformed the Milwaukee skyline into a vibrant work of art in a fresh color palette of pinks, blues and greens. Modern, crisp font treatments balanced out the entirety of the suite while hints of rose gold shine foil added extra sparkle.
Calatrava
The Milwaukee Art Museum, a work of art itself, inspired this modern suite. The venue’s grand sweeping architecture, bold lines and sleek + simple color palette were reflected into the Calatrava design by combining modern typography with Light Gray paper, White Matte foil, embossing, and soft metallics with Pearl and Silver Matte foil as accents to tie it all together.
We had the pleasure of working with Michelle and David at our NYC studio. They reimagined our Hillock suite for their autumn wedding at Blue Hill at Stone Barns. We’ll let Michelle take it from here to share more about their wedding details!
CAN YOU SHARE WITH US A BIT ABOUT YOUR WEDDING AND YOUR INSPIRATION FOR THE EVENT?
We have both always loved the Fall season and knew that we wanted to get married during peak fall foliage timing! We also both envisioned a “New York adjacent” wedding, so when we toured the grounds of Blue Hill at Stone Barns and they had a mid-late October date available – we knew it was the place we wanted to get married. Our invitations and entire wedding aesthetic were really inspired by the venue – incorporating a classic, clean design throughout the entire celebration.
WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR COUPLES CURRENTLY PLANNING A WEDDING?
Bring on vendors that have past experience with your venue. I know this isn’t possible for every couple, but for us it was really important to work with people who could help guide our “day of” plan. We had a lot of different rain & COVID backups, so we really wanted a team we could trust to help make the day as seamless as possible!
HOW DID YOU CHOOSE YOUR INVITATION DESIGN & INK COLORS?
It was fairly seamless for us when looking at and ultimately agreeing on our wedding invitation design. We gravitated toward designs that were clean and classic. We ultimately fell in love with the vintage root vegetables motifs, which worked nicely with the fact that our venue is a working four-season farm. We were able to use a custom pattern as an envelope liner and added them to our Details card, and then later used them for our Table Cards. We also easily agreed on the color, Stone, which was a grayish/green. Also, after we had ordered our invitations we realized the font we chose was Garamond, which is actually the font they use in all American editions of Harry Potter. Early on in our relationship we bonded over our obsessive love of Harry Potter – so this felt especially “meant to be”!
WHAT SURPRISED YOU MOST ABOUT YOUR WEDDING?
How much love and support we received! It was truly so amazing to have everybody we loved and who loved us in a room together – cheering for us and celebrating the beginning of our marriage.
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE MOMENT?
Immediately after the ceremony, we went off into a room by ourselves (the yichud, a ritual in Jewish weddings where the couple spends a few minutes in isolation after the ceremony). We were able to have 15 minutes to be with each other, sip some champagne, and enjoy some bites from our cocktail hour. Most importantly, we were able to take some deep breaths and enjoy being together one on one for the first time as husband and wife! It was a really great moment to take a breath and ground ourselves while also preparing for the reception!
FAVORITE DESIGN ELEMENT OF YOUR BIG DAY?
The peak fall foliage! We truly got so lucky with the fall colors on our October weekend – it was everything we hoped for when we booked the venue 13 months prior.
Our friends at Arabesque of Naples worked with Melissa and Daniel to create their tropical black tie invitation suite. Our Kailua suite was the starting point for the design, and the detailed palm motifs from the reply and save the dates, were used for the enclosure cards. A sweet orange blossom motif finished the invite card, and all were printed in black letterpress to convey the formality of the event. The Kailua liner pattern in black digital perfectly compliments the suite.
letterpress ink : black | paper: bella cotton white 2ply + 1ply | fonts austin bold + italic | envelope liner: kailua pattern in black | envelope: bella cotton white square flap | customization #61608
We are excited to share another regional collection that we created for our friends at Fete Collection. The beautiful city of Boston was the inspiration behind these designs as we created them. We’ll let our designers take it from here to describe more about the invitations below:
Dartmouth
Pulling inspiration from the Boston Public library we wanted a refined literary feel. The suite features illustrations to customize each piece and pay homage to the venue. You’ll find books, the guard lions, and even the icon banker’s lamps that make Dartmouth feel special.
Faneuil
Taking notes from The State Room, Faneuil is bold, modern, and stunning. The most unique piece has to be the pocket to hold the insert cards with the pop of blind embossed initials to customize.
Rowes Wharf
The quintessential Boston suite. Modern New England with a refined touch – look for Fenway Park and four-legged friends on the details card. What’s better than fun personal motifs for your guest to discover? Our Rowes Wharf suite has it all.
Atlantic
The Atlantic design is as unique and handsome as its muse, The InterContinental Boston. To borrow from this hotel’s striking backdrop of Fort Point Channel and its polished event spaces, we used monochromatic blues, modern fonts, geometric patterns and a sleek hexagon-shaped die-cut. A custom watercolor illustration of this couple’s lovable french bulldog added that oh-so-perfect personal touch to this suite.
Copley
If splendor, elegance and tradition are what you are looking for in a wedding invitation, then the Copley design is for you. We were captivated by the Grand Ballroom of the Fairmont Copley Plaza in Boston. Its exquisite details, including sparkling crystal chandeliers and gilded, thirty-foot ceilings, provided us with endless inspiration for this suite. By using our luxurious handmade paper, gold matte foil accents, silk ribbon and a hand-illustrated monogram fit for royalty, we’ve made this suite simply perfect for anyone’s happily ever after.
Wellesley
Wellesley, Massachusetts is home to the Gardens at Elm Bank – a one-of-a-kind property that includes thirty-six acres of gardens, open fields, and historic structures. The Wellesley design was created with this tranquil location in mind. To keep things soft and sweet, we used muted grays and greens along with simple typography. For a bit of whimsy and romance, we used a beautiful vintage botanical print.
Arlington
Arlington reflects the timeless elegance and chic, fashion forward approach to design that was use used in recently renovating The Newbury Hotel, it’s luxurious inspiration. A sophisticated color palette of neutrals with soft blues and greens and elegant pops of tawny shine foil were brought in from its grand ballroom. And the embossing detail was inspired by the hotel’s magnificent ceiling tiles. All tied together with a liner pattern using both elements to create a one-of-a-kind design.
Boylston
Boylston was designed with the modern sophistication of the Four Seasons hotel in mind. A fall wedding in Boston was ultimately the driving inspiration for the illustrations of the iconic Ducklings, perfect fall foliage views at Boston’s Public Garden and the tawny shine foil to pop against the currant ink and papers.
Lauren and David worked with Debbie at RSVP Today to create these beautiful blue invitations. The suite features a bevel with a Carolina painted edge, RSVP tag, and the watercolor style liner from our Paseo suite. Everything came together to create a perfectly fresh invite suite for a summer wedding.
letterpress inks: carolina + denim | paper: bella cotton bright white 3ply + 1ply, bella smooth cotton bright white 1ply | bevel: 45 degree in carolina | fonts: plaza script + mrs eaves | envelope liner: paseo pattern in pastel pink + carolina + denim on bright white | metallic thread: silver | envelope: bella blue square flap | customization #61496
We recently test printed our colored papers using corresponding letterpress inks, and we love the results! This tone on tone look would be perfect for an events card, rehearsal dinner invitation, or a modern wedding suite. We used the letterpress plate from our Chicory save the date for these test prints.
flamingo lp on flamingo | red lp on red | currant lp on currant | old rose lp on old rose | dark gray lp on dark gray | bright pink lp on bright pink | goldenrod lp on goldenrod | caribbean lp on caribbean | royal lp on royal | pastel blue lp on pastel blue | denim lp on blue | khaki lp on khaki | holly lp on holly | pale gray lp on light gray
We are so happy to share another regional collection that we created for our friends at Oliver’s Twist. The city of Carmel was the inspiration behind these designs. We’ll let our designers take it from here to describe more about their creative process working on the invitations below:
Feinstein
Hotel Carmichael of Carmel, Indiana showcases some of the most detailed woodwork and exquisite craftsmanship within its walls. The Feinstein design suite pulled inspiration from a combination of the hotel’s Feinstein’s Cabaret, an upscale entertainment venue, and its Library’s rich textures, moody colors and vintage vibe. The Feinstein design uses layers of texture, moody midnight blues and the warmest wood tones. Each pattern, shape and image was inspired by the Hotel Carmichael — a boutique hotel near the performing arts and design district of Carmel, Indiana.
Carmichael
The Carmichael design suite has captured the luxurious and refined space of this boutique hotel’s Grand Ballroom. Ornate ceilings, crystal chandeliers, soft blues and hints of gold heavily inspired this breathtaking traditional design. Our Carmichael design reflects the the essence of this space with pastel blues, metallic golds, delicate whites and ornately illustrated scrollwork.
Adagio
The stunning Hotel Carmichael of Carmel, Indiana exudes decorative style from floor to ceiling and was the inspiration for our Adagio suite. Its signature arched windows, black and white diamond-patterned marble floors, and ornamental detail of the lobby’s stair railing all served as the main inspiration for this art deco infused design.
Jordan and Michael worked with Susie at Pink House Productions to bring their customized version of our Dela design to life. Silver matte foil stamped names perfectly compliment the range of blue tones in the suite. A bright details card printed with a flood of Carolina is stunning, and a multi-toned blue liner ties everything together.
foil stamping: silver matte | letterpress inks: royal blue + denim | digital ink: carolina | addressing: white + royal blue | paper: bella cotton white 2ply + 1ply, bella smooth cotton 1ply | fonts: margarita script + sweet sans | envelope liner: ravi pattern in carolina on white | envelope: blue square flap | customization #62638
Katie Magee designed Zari, part of our 2023 wedding collection and shares her inspiration behind the suite:
Zari comes to life with a warm color palette and a soft arch shape carried throughout the set, inspired by sand dunes in the desert on a hot day. Large areas of letterpress printed color bring depth and texture to the design while keeping the look modern and simple. The typography is clean and minimal, allowing for special ligatures to pop throughout the set. The uniquely folded events card and reply card are tied together with eye-catching metallic tawny thread so that your guests won’t miss a single detail.
Zari’s colors can be customized in any way you like, but we think an analogous color palette really shines. For a “cool” approach, try swapping in Deep Blue, Chambray, and Powder Blue inks!
Our friends at Write for You in Washington DC worked with Janice and Cecilio to create this gorgeous custom wedding invitation suite. We pulled the fonts and liner pattern from our Vero suite, and added custom touches to bring their vision to life. A currant envelope, and metallic details card and foil stamped liner pull everything together.
letterpress ink: currant | foil stamping color: copper shine | paper: bella smooth cotton ivory 2ply + 1ply + metallic nude 1ply | fonts: la luxes serif + sweet sans | envelope liner: vero pattern in copper shine on nude | envelope: currant pointed flap | customization #63660
