We’re making babies! No, not those kind of babies. We’ve been busy designing and getting ready to roll out our whole new Farfalla Baby line of letterpress and photo announcements. Stay tuned for the official announcement and sneak peek.
Hand cancelling at the post office… June 21, 2008
Don’t waste your time.
I think waiting in line, and bribing the postal worker to hand cancel your invitations is incredibly unnecessary.
Each invitation you send, will be hitting another machine, if not multiple machines, as soon as it leaves your postal workers desk, on it’s way to the next post office. All mail runs through machines for sorting and such and there is really no benefit to hand cancelling the stamps.
Just my random thought.
June Monthly Special June 8, 2008
So the economy is sucking for everyone, we’re doing our part to help. After getting feedback from previous clients, and some helpful prospective clients, they all unanimously voted that we just keep the 20% discount going throughout the summer. So we’ve listened to the people.
June Letterpress Special
20% off all orders placed by 12midnight on Monday, June 30th.
No catches or fine print. Fine print annoys us too.
Farfalla Samples May 21, 2008
We have officially restocked our sample supply. We were running low for awhile there but it’s back and fully stocked once again.
If you are interested in a sample of some recent work, just shout. Samples are $5 each and include one letterpress piece, and coordinating envelope. The sample fees will be credited toward any future orders.
Happy sampling!
2008 Wedding Stamps May 8, 2008
Here they are- Dun dun dun dunnnnn
I’m not very impressed, all they did was change the color for the 2007 set. But oh well. So the bigger question is, when will these bad boys be for sale? Well no one really knows at this point, but the gossip is that you can buy them starting in June. I did some hunting and the official release date is June 10th. So if you just have to have them, at least you know if they fit your timeline.
But remember, very few people will even notice your stamps, so use whatever postage is appropriate, don’t worry about having to use bells, or landmarks, or butterflies.
May Monthly Special May 5, 2008
We’re bringing it back. The ever popular 20% off all orders. March was the first time we went this route, and it was immensely popular, so if that is what the people want, that’s what we’ll provide.
I consider our letterpress pricing to be among the most reasonable as is, but understandably it is a more expensive route overall. So we’re here to help!
May Letterpress Special
20% off all orders placed by 12midnight on Saturday, May 31st.
No catches or fine print. Fine print annoys us too.
Only one week left! April 22, 2008
April is almost over, so for any last minute invite order we just wanted to remind you of our April special.
Free envelope design or free envelope liners, plus 10% off all orders.
No minimum orders or trickery. It will automatically be deducted from your invoice. Happy shopping!
Invitation Wording 101 April 15, 2008
There are a few basics when it comes to invitation wording. The best place to start is: who is hosting your event, and is it in a church or an alternate location.
Hosting:
One set of parents are hosting, and it’s the bride’s parents: Easy enough, they are listed at the top and traditionally, the last name of the bride is left off. There are some cases where it would need to be listed, but this is the 101 version of wording:
Mr. and Mrs. John A. Smith
request the honor of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter
Jane Ann
to
Chris John Doe
Both sets of parents hosting? The bride’s parents would be listed first, followed by the groom’s, and the groom’s last name would still be listed. You would also change “daughter” to “children”:
Mr. and Mrs. John A. Smith
Mr. and Mrs. Jack A. Doe
request the honor of your presence
at the marriage of their children
Jane Ann
to
Chris John Doe
The couple is hosting:There are a zillion options. Just make sure you use “Together with their families” or “together with their parents” in the mix somewhere. I don’t personally like to do:
The honor of your presence
is requested at the marriage of
Jane Ann Smith
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John A. Smith
and
Mr. Chris John Doe
son of Mr. and Mrs. Jack A. Doe
I don’t think the names of the bride/groom should be seperated by parents. I prefer:
Together with their families
The honor of your presence
is requested at the marriage of
Jane Ann Smith
and or to
Mr. Chris John Doe
Church or not?
Your ceremony will/will not be within a church, or other religious venue?
“Pleasure of your company” should be used for any ceremony that is not within the walls of a truly religious building. “Honor of your presence” should only be used for ceremonies that are within a church, synagogue, temple, mosque, house of worship etc.
If you are having a full Catholic mass, but it’s outside at a 5-star resort, you should techincally still use “pleasure of your company”.
Now of course, there are exceptions to every rule, and every single event will have different circumstances. These are just basic guidelines to get your started. Now, there are no invitation police, no one will hunt you down if you don’t follow traditional wording rules I promise.
It can’t be done, can it? April 4, 2008
Colors are everywhere this year. I feel like it’s half of what we post about. We recently got a request for a 5-color letterpress invitation. While almost unheard of (and typically extremely expensive) we got to to work and came up with a more reasonable alternative using some swatches, some photoshop, a little magic and a lot of help from printer friends .
Moroccan Tile – full color
We opted for full color offset printing, followed by black letterpress for the text and crosshair type bars around each tiles. We were a little unsure of how the two would work together, but the bride was completely excited, so we want ahead. The result is an almost stained glass effect! It’s truly stunning. Each colored tile looks like a little piece of glass, surrounded by the recessed areas around the tiles, it truly make each color pop off the paper.
Names/Locations/Even fonts have been changed to protect the innocent.
Unique color combos April 3, 2008
Be adventurous! There are no rules when it comes to your wedding colors, and choosing wedding colors. If you like purple and your spouse-to-be loves orange… do it. I promise that not one single guest will balk at your selections. Be wild, be a little crazy…. there can only be so many weddings in the world that are aqua, peach, blush or other pastel.
or 
Botanical in Lavendar Botanical in Lavendar and Tangerine
Your invitations are a great way to incorporate all your colors into one medium. Test colors, play with them, see how they look together. You just might find that you like orange and fuchsia together.
Botanical in Fuchsia and Tangerine
April’s Monthly Special April 1, 2008
We were a little undecided on what to do for our new monthly special. So after some deliberating last week, we decided to dedicate April to:
Free envelope design or free envelope liners, plus 10% off all orders.
Envelope designs are a fun way to include graphics on our outer and/or RSVP envelopes. Here is an example:
Envelope liners are a great way to add a punch of color, and a super way to save $$. You can print your pieces in a single color, and use the liner to tie in another color for your event. Here is an example where we custom printed the graphic and then lined the inner envelopes for an invitation ensemble.
Monthly Special Reminder March 20, 2008
Just as a remember, there are only 11 more days before we change our monthly special. That means you still have 11 days to get 20% off any standard orders. We’ve had a ton of brides-to-be take us up on the offer and because it’s moved so far down our list of posts, we just wanted to give it one more go ’round for those who haven’t seen it yet.
Quick recap of the details: Any standard order will receive 20% off (pre shipping and applicable tax, if any, of course). There are no minimums or other gimmicks. We like to keep it as easy as possible. If you need Save the Dates, that’s 20% off. Invitations, RSVPs, Menus, Place cards, and thank you notes? That’s 20% off as well. The code to use is WP20, just type that into your order form ‘coupon code’ spot and you are done.
Who said you couldn’t get affordable letterpress?
Choosing wedding colors March 18, 2008
If you need help with choosing wedding colors, check out this site that I LOVE: Color Palette Generator
You upload a photo, click create, and out pops a complete color palette complete with hex key color codes. You can use those codes to match ink colors for invitations, or even paint colors for you house. It’s super cool if you need a specific shade of blue, or green, or pink, or red, or yellow… you get the idea. Here’s an example.
Here is the original picture of some adorable glass table card holders that we used:
and the coordinating palette with a million uses:
Letterpress and Thermo and Flat Printing… oh my! March 7, 2008
There have been a million things happening at once these last two weeks for Farfalla, a new office of course, and the more exciting part, new printing options!
We occasionally would opt for flat or thermography (raised) printing if a client made a special request, and now we are making it official by expanding our business to include thermography and flat printing full-time for all our products. Both as more budget friendly than letterpress and a great option for the brides-to-be. We are currently working on new price lists that reflect these options, but please feel free to email us if you would like to get a quote for your project Contact Us .
And don’t forget, until the end of March, you can deduct 20% from all normal orders.
Letterpress Giveaway! March 5, 2008
As a thank you to all the letterpress lovers out there, who are keeping us incredibly busy, we want to have a drawing. To enter you just need to visit:
and make your way to the Contact Us page, enter your info and wait until Friday, March 8th when we will announce the winner here on our blog. What are the rules? Really, there aren’t many. You need to fill out the contact form, so we know how to reach the winner. You must submit the form before 12:01 am on March 8th, 2008. And you must love letterpress naturally.
What do you win? 50 free invitations in any existing or custom design. The details:
50: 5×7 one color letterpress invitations panels
50: envelopes with letterpress return addresses on the back flap
50: 3.5″x5″ RSVP cards, printed in one color letterpress
50: RSVP envelopes, with your address printed on the front
Additional sets or embellishments are not included, but available if needed. You may email us if you have any questions! Good luck.
Postage March 4, 2008
We all know by now that rates will be going up once again with our friends at the USPS. You may also be aware that the new “Wedding Stamps” design has yet to be revealed. While custom postage from various vendors will always be an option, why not consider the wide variety of choices from the USPS? The wedding stamps are cute, but there are tons more to choose from, and may better incorporate your personal wedding style.
Pros for using standard USPS stamps: You aren’t paying a surcharge for stamps. They actually have a lot of great ones. It’s easier and faster to make a trip to the local post office… I hate shipping wait times.
Look at these great stamps that some recent Farfalla Wedding clients have opted to use.
Wedding of the Week : Deliciously Urban March 3, 2008
This week: Deliciously Urban. What does “deliciously urban” mean you say? It’s a little phrase that I take credit for creating during my years in NYC; it refers to anything that is reflective of being chic, urban, and having classically clean design… and it is so dripping with big-city stylings that you can just taste it.
Farfalla letterpress discount… shhh February 28, 2008
Now, through the end of March, 2008, we are offering a 20% discount on our invitation ensembles in honor of our anniversary. Simply use code: WP20 on the order form and POOF! we’ll take it off for you, who knew it could be so easy?!
www.farfallawedding.com or www.farfallawedding.com/order.html.
There are no rules, other than you must order by March 31st at midnight. Cheers!
And remember, we have a special every month, select the Monthly Special section to the right to view the current month.
Fresh Envelope Linings February 27, 2008
We’ve found a great new outlet for accent papers that can be used as backing layers, or envelope liners. Here are a few of our favorites.
Tablecards vs. Placecards February 25, 2008
Just from planning FYI:
Tablecards instruct your guests to be seated at a specific table. Once they find their table they can select any seat they prefer. Tablecards can be issued as one per couple, or family. An example would be:
Mr. and Mrs. John Smith
Table Twelve
or
Mr. and Mrs. John Smith
Miss Ashley
Table Twelve
Placecards instruct your guests to be seated in a specific seat AT a specific table. Placecards are typically paired with a seating chart or other means for guests to narrow in on their table. Once they arrive at their table, they will look for their placecard and sit in their pre-selected seat. Placecards will be individual, each guest will require their own card, and no table number would be listed. An example:
Mr. John Smith
or
Mrs. John Smith
to include a child that would be lap seated with a parent, or otherwise is incapable of sitting in their own real seat, I would recommend:
Mr. (or Mrs.) John Smith
Miss Ashley
Wedding of the Week February 25, 2008
Occasionally we have couples who don’t quite know what they want from their invitations, but they are having a “fill in the blank” wedding. So each week, in an effort to inspire, we’ll select a different wedding style and include inspiration pictures, fresh invitation designs, favor ideas etc.
Inspiration February 25, 2008
You can tell you love your work when every color, pattern, or piece of paper immediately gets turned into a new invitation design. This pattern and color palette will certainly be inspiration for some new letterpress designs.
No trees were harmed in the making of your invitations… February 21, 2008
Eco-aware, a little term we use around Farfalla to describe our work. What are we talking about? It means that we are aware of the environment and do all we can to help protect and nourish it. All our letterpress papers are 100% cotton. That’s right, no trees, not a single little limb, nor a leaf, nor a cute little sapling. Viva las trees!
