Valentines Letterpress Inspiration

Bespoke digital design for Duncan and Eloise

Bespoke digital Design for Geoff and Suzzana

If you're looking for something unique for the love of your life, Artcadia is now taking orders for bespoke letterpress Valentines cards and stationery. Take a look at these lovelies for inspiration. Letterpress makes for stunning gift tags & well presented soppy poetry! Cards and tags are printed on 320 gsm recycled cotton paper. Personalised A6 cards come complete with
envelopes. Bespoke digital prices start from £5 each.

Green Weddings and Stationery

This afternoon I was contacted by a magazine editor, who will be ringing Artcadia tomorrow to discuss tips for purchasing green wedding stationery. After giving it a bit of thought I decided that Eco friendly wedding stationery was a bit of an oxymoron, but you can do your bit by making less of an impact. Here are Artcadia's top tips for ethical wedding stationery:

Artcadia'a Recycled Manilla Wedding Stationery

• Choose green papers and cards you can find really interesting and naturally beautiful papers from recycled straw, hemp, beer and cotton. Alternatively you could opt for a more conventional, but chlorine free and FSC approved, ECF wood pulp paper 
• Keep your paper goods small, A sizes such as A6 means less wastage
• Offer an email address for your RSVP, less paper, less mail, smaller carbon footprint
• You are not inviting your entire guest list. Making allowances for couples and families will keep invitation numbers down
• Have a wedding website, there are many free sites out there, which require no web development skills. Instead of stuffing your beautiful invite envelopes full of extra information papers, keep guests updated online through your own website and add the website address to your invites
• Digital printing using modern machines is clean, reliable and ink efficient. Less ink is used and less paper is wasted. You can even recycle ink cartridges
• Use local artisans, who can produce stunning unique stationery using age old printing techniques. Letterpress, in its purest form, is also inherently environmentally friendly, as no blocks need to be made and all the type and spacing material is re-used                                 
• Use innovative place cards, such as plantable seed papers, with guest’s names on and wedding info. These will be lovely keepsakes which will produce stunning wild flowers and attract butterflies to guest’s gardens  

Traditional wedding invitations

Traditional wedding invitations



"Simple, elegant invitations with basic invitation wording, yet unbelievable and beautiful . . . " -- The Calligraphy Lady® Studio mantra!

There is something to be said for the traditional wedding invitation and all of its elegance. Years ago, affluent brides sent engraved wedding invitations on soft ivory premium cardstock from such paper manufacturers as Crane's or Mrs. John L. Strong. In fact, response cards were not even included in the invitation ensemble. Guests were expected to reply using their own personal stationery. Today, folks respond using reply cards and even electronic mail. Envelope liners were not used in invitation sets, because wedding invitation papers were heavy in paper weight and felt substantial in the hand. Tissues were used with engraved invitations in order to protect the engraved print on the stationery. Today, thermography and flat printing are affordable alternatives to engraving and are also "green" friendly since tissues are not needed to protect the print. Envelopes were hand addressed by a calligrapher or someone's mother or aunt who had perfect old school penmanship -- ie the Palmer handwriting method.

In modern day, wedding etiquette, invitations, styles and wedding locations (ie destination weddings) have evolved considerably. A lot of etiquette rules have changed because of the electronic world we live in and because brides are looking for something unique and different, reflective of their personal taste. Still many brides on their 50th anniversary look forward to saying, "I am so glad I selected that dress, those shoes, that cake, and we chose elegant wedding invitations because they are all timeless. I still love them!"

I enjoy the new invitation and wedding trends, but I will always love simple, traditional, minimalist everything -- the kind of taste of Audrey Hepburn, Jackie O. and Princesses Grace and Diana. White and ivory high quality stationery, handwritten text or traditional wedding font, clever response sets, basic invitation wording and hand illustrated monograms -- combined they result in a timeless wedding invitation.

So be clever, be different, be unique . . . but remember - the little black dress theory. Every woman has her own little black dress that makes her look incredible and feel special. The same can be true of your wedding day choices and invitations. :)