Letterpress of my very own!

After months and months of looking at wedding invitations, I finally decided to create my own design. I really wanted something unique, personalized and whimsical. Basically, it needed to be something that I felt would reflect the feel of our wedding. I kept telling Laura that I wish I could just hand write a invitation to each of my guest. Finally, we decided that I would hand write my invitation and then send it out to a press and have it letterpressed! Genius, I know! The design part didn't take that long. Laura used her fancy-pants design program to figure out the lines and spacing. Then I traced the invite and gave it a personal touch.

Finding the right letterpress was the hard part. After all, I had to figure out who to trust with my invites. I considered a number of options: Mercurio Brothers, Thistleberry, White Aisle, Wild Ink Press, and Parklife Press. First, I emailed them all to confirm pricing since I was requesting an irregular number of invitations (65) and wanted to submit my own design. Unfortunately, a few of them never even responded to my email so they were immediately cut from the list. Then I cut all the places that were out of my price range.

Once I had my top three I sent another email requesting samples and asking follow-up questions. (doing my due diligence and all...). I finally picked Travis at Parklife Press. He asked me what I was looking for and sent me a free selection of samples. Best part, I gave him the wrong address by accident and once I realized my mistake, he over-nighted a second set of invitations! He was fabulous, not only did he respond quickly to all my emails but they were personalized and casual responses (nothing canned or overly formal). I felt that he would be easy to work with and I could definitely trust him with this very important responsibility.

Let me just say, I was right! The invites turned out beautifully. My fabulous invitations came in just three days before I left for Amsterdam. I was so busy moving (packing, cleaning, etc) that I forgot they were coming! What a pleasant surprise :D

Here's a little peek:

November Letterpress (invitation) deals

I can't believe that we're already half-way through November! I am so so so excited to go to LA for Thanksgiving next week but dreading getting back (Because that means that finals are right around the corner!) That being said, I haven't gotten nearly as much done on the wedding front as I thought I would. Surprise. Surprise. I had all these grandiose delusions of having all my DIY projects completed or planned (bought supplies) before finals so I could work on them in my down time and pack them all up in a nice little box before we move to Amsterdam. Denial.

My new goal is to get my invitations done this month. While me and LA had a great brainstorming session last week, I still haven't started doing anything. So I spent a little time today reviewing letterpress options and it looks like the wedding gods are shining down on me! There are great deals to be had all over the place.



White Aisle is having a bunch of sales including:
*10% off Thermography (raised ink printing)
*$2 Wood Save the Dates
*10% off Letterpress
I have a soft spot in my heart for White Aisle because the owners just survived a major health scare. Just to be clear, they posted it on their website a few weeks ago while they were closed, and it just stuck with me. Another great thing about White Aisle is that because they do more than just letterpress they are able to mix and match our invitation suite. In other words you could have the invite letterpressed and everything else digitally printed. It'll match flawlessly and be budget friendly!


Bella Figura is offering a very... patriotic deal. If you send them a a photo of yourself going out to vote, you’ll get 25 free letterpress invitation sets when you purchase 75 or more! Email press@bellafigura.com with your photo to take advantage of this special promotion! (Orders must be placed by 5pm on Tuesday, November 30 to be eligible. A photo is required to participate.)


Parklife Press is also offering 10% off all letterpress for the month of November. The great thing about Parklife Press is that you'll get a free hour of design for every $250 you spend and they provide a la carte pricing so you can pick and choose the pieces that are most important to you.

Last but not least here are a new budget friendly letterpress printers that I thought I should share:
Matthew Kelsey.

If you know of any other deals, let me know! I'm hoping to make my final decision about where to print before I leave for L.A.

What are you goals for November? Do you expect to get a lot done during the holidays or are you taking that time off from wedding planning?

I love sample sales!

I've been having a fabulous day! I had a meeting at 2pm and was really worried I was going to miss the UPS guy who was suppose to come between 2-5pm. As I was walking out the door, there he was, the UPS guy with my second Haute Look dress... (Please ignore the super super annoying fact that he was going to drop off the package at 145pm). Then when I came home from the meeting... my Bella Figura samples had arrived... YAY!





I still can't believe that I got all this stuff for only $6.59! Turns out I love letterpress even more than I thought. If I feel half as pleased with D the day after the wedding, I'll know I made the right decision ;)

Also I'll make sure to get D to help me take a picture of the dress when he gets home.

Letterpress Sales!

I just ordered a bunch of sample letterpress invitations from Bella Figura!! While I love the look and feel of letterpress I have been having second thoughts about spending the money on letterpress. Lucky for me, Bella Figura is having a wonderful $1 sale in all their samples right now!

So there are some of the samples I ordered:






I am so excited. Unfortunately it does mean I will have to deal with UPS again :(

I also wanted to mention that Parklife Press is having 10% off all orders opened before November 30.

Letterpress Love

Now that my save the dates have made it out and I've finally got into the swing of things at school, I figured it was time to start thinking about invitations. I figure it will take at least a month to design, print and receive the invitations and another month to put them together and send them out so I figured I should start early.

Affordable Letterpress with Design

{Thistleberry Press} I am not in love with any of their designs but their prices are quite reasonable and there seems to be the opportunity to customize your own invitation.

Pricing: One color 5 x 7 invitations starting at $385 for 50. For more pricing information click here.

{White Aisle} White Aisle is not as affordable as the other options but they have some really amazing vintage lace designs.

Pricing: Single color invitations with printed envelope starting at $425 for 50 and two color starting at $600 for 50. For more pricing information click here.


Affordable letterpress without Design

{Dick & Jane Letterpress Co.} Pricing: One Color 5 x 7 invitations start at $295 for 50. For more pricing information click here.

{Mercurio Brothers} Pricing: One color 5 x 7 invitations starting at $192 for 50. For more information click here.

There are obviously some GREAT deals available if you have are able to create your own design (or have a friend who is able to help you out!) If you aren't that lucky you could try Sweet Penelope or Printable Press. There are also a number of letterpress studios that will design for a cost without printing and will print a design if you have one so make sure to ask if you can't afford the design and the printing at the same studio.

I am SOOOO obsessed with the following wedding suites. I love love love them for very different reasons. The first one was definitely a case of love at first sight and I already contacted the designer to inquire about prices, customization, etc. The second is sooo breathtaking, I literally gasped when I saw them. There were designed by the groom so I can't coop them but I am sure as h*ll going to use them as inspiration! I love the mixture of textures, patterns and fonts. It also combines a variety of vintage and tropical images.

{Wild Ink Press}

{ Beast Pieces}
If anyone has found any other great affordable letterpress resources, please share! I've started a list of letterpress studios to the right under {Letterpress.Love}.

For a pretty extensive list of letterpress studios click here.

Happy Sunday!!