(Belated) Wedding Wednesday: Invitations

This post, like last week's, is a little belated. Also, last week's was not exactly/entirely wedding related. However, since I spent an immense about of time obsessing over this subject over the last couple of weeks, I thought it was an appropriate topic to post.

I am really (really really really) excited about my invitation suite and day-of pieces I have now decided to print. At first, I wasn't planning on making invitations/stationery a huge part of the budget. It seemed like a reasonable area to cut back. Except that I love paper. And design. And art in general. And words. And print.

To me, this is actually one of the few tangible things that I (and yes, I admit, probably no one else, except perhaps my mother) will have to hold on to, and look back on, after the wedding. I 100% intend to get one of those double invitation frames and have this thing on display in our apartment, house, home, etc. for the rest of my life. Not only because I will have spent my hard-earned and saved money that might have otherwise gone to pay for another aspect of the wedding, or the apartment, house, home, etc., but also because I have spent altogether way too much time thinking, obsessing, and dreaming about these very important pieces of paper. Anyway, the moral of the story is, I threw caution (and budget) to the wind, and here is where I ended up.

I knew in my heart of hearts that I wanted beautiful paper, ideally letterpress printing, and truly unique wedding invitations. Traditional - yes, somewhat. Formal, perhaps, a little. Elegant, of course. Also, maybe, a touch of whimsy, of personality, of us. Or, more likely, me. :)

And I knew the place I would find that in Portsmouth: Gus & Ruby Letterpress.

First of all, I love their story. Second of all, I walk by their GORGEOUS windows daily, and can't help but stare, gawk, and drool over the goodies inside. Third, I love Gus. I want to steal him and bring him home to be brothers with Rudy. The only thing is, I have a feeling they are both used to being top little dog, and might not actually be the best of friends I think they should be. That's the funny thing about the little guys, they all think they are the big guys, and I seriously think Rudy, and most likely Gus, prefer to play with, befriend, and on occasion attack (because, seriously, they can take them) the biggest dogs (at least 3 times their size) they can find. Silly boys.

So somewhere in the grand saga of trying to decide what to do about invitations, along with everything else, I stumbled across Bella Figura. Here's their deal:

Bella Figura is based in Syracuse, New York, and offers one of the largest collections of letterpress and foil stamped invitations in the world. Their collection includes over 300 designs from 31 of the nation's top designers and calligraphers, and their design offerings range from traditional to modern to vintage and include everything in between. Bella Figura invitations are sustainably printed on an exclusive, luxuriously thick 100% cotton paper made just for them by a 500-year-old European paper mill. Like their sister company Smock, Bella Figura also practices environmental printing in their wind-powered print shop: they print with eco-friendly inks & solvents, recycle everything they can and plant trees to offset their carbon footprint.

I can't remember whether Bella Figura led me to Gus & Ruby, or the other way around. I think that I checked them out and was into it, then decided to consult with G & R about custom design. In my initial consultation with Samantha, she recommended Bella, I checked them out some more, and ultimately, was sold.

Besides their b-e-a-utiful designs, here are the top three reasons I chose Bella Figura:

1. Johnny was born in Syracuse, NY. Coincidence? I think not.
2. Eco- and environmentally-friendly printing practices, inks, etc. AND a wind-powered print shop. Cool, or what?! I want to touch their beautiful tree-free cotton paper all day long. Forever. And ever. It's absolutely, deliciously, amazingly soft and wonderful.
3. The style of calligraphy and invitation design I fell in love with just happened to have OUR EXACT WEDDING DATE (and my exact wedding color) on the sample. Again, coincidence? I think NOT. 

I believe that everything happens for a reason. I believe that things lead you to people who lead you to things that are suddenly, blatantly obviously right for you. I printed our save the dates in mini format to save some money and get what I really wanted. I have that sucker framed and carry copies of it around with me to a) stare at, b) touch the aforementioned fabulous paper whenever I'm feeling down (okay, I'm exaggerating a little, but not entirely...), and c) to hand out to vendors for my colors/concept/etc. I was so giddy to pick those things up when I got the call they were in, I practically ran... Tears came to my eyes as I was writing the wording for our invitations and programs. Envisioning what it will look like in real, live, pretty print...not even ready to go there.

A few of the ways I saved (a little) to make my invitation dream a reality:

• downsize save the dates from the traditional A-6 (about 4x6") to an A-5 (about 3.5x 5")
• skip the reception card
• nix the double envelope
• purchase & print multiple pieces at the same time to receive a discount
• skip printing on some envelopes
• mix printed fonts with hand calligraphy
• address save the dates and invitations ourselves (actually a gift from my future mother-in-law who is an artist and has beautiful handwriting)
• decided to have some pieces or pieces of pieces flat printed separately/at a later date
• customizing our invitation suite with a company like Bella Figura that offers a multitude of free customizations vs. creating a completely custom design (though I certainly would have loved to) with the girls at Gus & Ruby

If I am being perfectly honest with myself, and you, I still went (am going) considerably over "budget" as I ended up deciding to go with some extra special details and letterpress print more items than I initially intended. Sometimes, I think it's worth a little extra to get what you want, and to not have to stress or worry about it any more than you have to. The fact that things I would otherwise still think about and need to decide on are going to be DONE, literally checked off the list, and stored in a box in a few short weeks, and that I will have them to base other decisions on (I am a very visual and very indecisive person, this really will help me because I won't be able to change my mind) I think will be a weight lifted in the weeks before the wedding. However, I am proud that I stuck to a few things to save on, and that I made the choice to go with a couple of companies (local and environmentally responsible) that I believe in and feel GREAT about supporting.

Here's the design that inspired it all... and here is OUR Save the Date!

Sweet dreams and TGI(almost)F!!