Bella Figura 2010 Collection

I was absolutely thrilled when Bella Figura asked me to curate a sample package of five of my favorite wedding invitation designs from their collection.  I chose my favorites from the new 2010 collection, which features beautiful designs from Ellie Snow, Erin Jang, Jessica Hische, Ben Whitla, and many others.  Here are my selections:

Birch-letterpress-sample-1
Birch-letterpress-sample-2
Birch-letterpress-sample-3{birch}

 

Hendrix-3C-letterpress-sample-1
Hendrix-3C-letterpress-sample-2 
Hendrix-3C-letterpress-sample-4 {hendrix by jessica hische}

 

Herald-letterpress-sample-1
Herald-letterpress-sample-2 
Herald-letterpress-sample-4{herald by ben whitla}

 Canopy-letterpress-sample-1
Canopy-letterpress-sample-2 
Canopy-letterpress-sample-6
Canopy-letterpress-sample-7 {canopy by Ellie Snow}

 

Ribbon-letterpress-sample-1
Ribbon-letterpress-sample-2
Ribbon-letterpress-sample-3
Ribbon-letterpress-sample-4
Ribbon-letterpress-sample-5 {ribbon by Erin Jang}

As you can tell, I went for designs with lots of texture and both modern and unusual design elements, like the cross-hatch background on the "ribbon" design and the soft gray (almost blind letterpress) of the "birch" design, as well as nature-inspired details, like the "canopy" and "hendrix" designs.  I also really love the "Tara" design by Ben Whitla – if only I had been allowed six favorites!

Tara-letterpress-sample-1
Tara-letterpress-sample-2
Tara-letterpress-sample-3{tara by Ben Whitla}

If you're interested in any of my picks, you can purchase a sample pack from Bella Figura for $20 – and 100% of the proceeds will be donated to The Conservation Fund.  You can check out my favorites, along with those of other bloggers like Vané from Brooklyn Bride, Ami from Elizabeth Anne Designs, Anne-Marie from Perfect Bound, Kathryn from Snippet & Ink, and a few others on the Bella Figura Trendsetters page!

{image credits: Bella Figura}

*Bella Figura is one of my fabulous sponsors, but provided no financial compensation or incentives for this post. I feature their work solely because I think it's awesome. For information on my editorial policy, click here.

Angie + Mark’s Illustrated Wedding Invitations

Today’s real invitations come to us from Angie and Mark, who are getting married next month in sunny California!  Angie and Mark knew that they didn’t want a traditional invitation design, so they worked with a couple of designer friends to create a quirky and totally customized DIY design perfect for them!

From Angie:  My fiancé and I didn’t want to go with traditional invitations.  As beautiful as they can be, we wanted something that reflected our creative and quirky personalities.  Our good friend Jayne Furniss is an incredibly talented artist/designer and when we were staying with her and her boyfriend in London, we came across these adorable sketches that she created and would leave for him.

Angie-Mark-Illustrated-Invitations-Full-Suite

Jayne drew the drawings based on how we met and the important places/things in our lives.  We gave her a list of few important events and from that, she hand-drew a beautifully charming scene for us.  The actual invite shows us first meeting through my previous job and he was my DJ that night in Malibu.

Angie-Mark-Illustrated-Invitations

With the help of my graphic designer friend Jamie Walker, we incorporated Jayne’s intricate drawings within the invite for a unique and personalized feel that was then carried over to the RSVP postcards.  My fiance is a musician and DJ and we felt the “flyer” format was fitting for the text on the invite.

Angie-Mark-Illustrated-Invitations-RSVP
The front of the RSVP card depicts where he proposed (Bamburgh Castle in England), a memorable date we had camping in Joshua Tree with friends, our love of sports (me and the SF Giants, him and Newcastle United), our dog and our upcoming move to London.  We wanted something non traditional and personal that really portrayed our personalities. We couldn’t be happier with how they turned out!

So adorable — I love the way these wedding invitations tell such a sweet story, not to mention they have personality just radiating off each page!  If any of you are interested in working with Jayne for your own invitations, please just e-mail me for her contact information and I’ll be happy to pass it along.  Congratulations Mark and Angie — and best of luck with your move to London!

{all photos by Angie}

{happy weekend!}

Happy Friday everyone!  This weekend I'm looking forward to spending my first full weekend at home in many weeks.  I'm also oddly excited for first big snowfall here in DC this weekend — I'll take any excuse to curl up with some hot chocolate while I finish wrapping up a few christmas gifts.  But in the meantime…

Vintage-drawers

…a few links for your reading pleasure this weekend:

That's it for me for this week!  I'll be back next week with some fantastic real wedding invitations and lots of other goodies before we all head off for the holidays.  I hope you all have a wonderful — and warm! — weekend, I'll see you all back here on Monday!

{image credits: enjoyco via mossière}

Watercolor + Anemone Wedding Invitations

I seriously love everything about David and Cheri’s wedding invitations — from the watercolor details to the anemone illustration to the small emblems repeated throughout the invitation suite:

Anemone-wedding-invitation
Anemone-wedding-invitation3
Anemone-wedding-invitation5

I had seen the photos from this handmade wedding a while back, but loved looking through them again and noticing all the little ways that the wedding invitations served as a preview of the beauty and fun to come on the big day!  Check out more invitation and wedding photos here and here.

{image credits: david rager, via bird and banner}

Kellie + Chris’s Whimsical Illustrated Wedding Invitations

How adorable is this quirky and beautiful letterpress invitation suite — complete with a hand-drawn illustration of the bride and groom?  Courtney from Flush Designs worked with the groom (who created the main illustration) to design the invitation around the illustration, and the invitation suite was then printed by the talented folks over at Spark Letterpress:

Illustrated-Letterpress-Wedding-Invitations
Illustrated-Letterpress-Wedding-Invitations2
Illustrated-Letterpress-Wedding-Invitations3

So sweet!  I love that invitation design incorporated pretty floral details and soft colors — like the pink in the reception card — even though the wedding is taking place in late January.  You can check out a few more photos over at the Flush Designs blog.

{image credits: Flush Designs}