Today I came across this unique ”letterpress” boutique shop (Bella Figura) that prints, amongst other things, wedding invitations.  The shop is quite unique in that it uses old-fashion printing machines with antique cast-iron presses to add a special old-fashion touch with fine artistic calligraphy.  In keeping with the theme of “green” decisions from my earlier entry, the shop is 100% wind-powered and carbon neutral.  It also supports the environment by donating 1% of its sales to the “1% for the Planet” cause.

Following are some wedding invitation samples:

The Nantucket design:

 The “Printemps” design (btw, “printemps” means “spring” in French):

Special promotion for our readers: If you order their products, you can get a 10% discount by using this reference code: EWTPR1 (valid up to December 31, 2007). 

Finding a design and creating wedding invitations is one of the most important elements of planning a wedding because invitations provide guests with all the relevant details of the wedding. Most invitations use standard wording to describe things such as the location of the ceremony and reception, the date, and the number of guests invited. I’ve recently came across an invitation that was sent to my brother. In that invitation, details of the wedding ceremony and reception were provided. Also specified at the bottom of the card was the phrase “Do not bring gifts.” When I read that, I wasn’t sure if that meant come empty-handed or please give “cash” only.

These days, I can understand why couples request for cash gifts since weddings can be expensive and cash gifts can help cover for expenses related to the wedding event. If you want to receive cash gifts, I suggest you find a way to express that clearly in the invitation instead of stating it in an ambiguous manner because if that invitation was sent to me, I would have come empty-handed.