IN THE STUDIO // SIMPLE GREEN EFFORTS

In an effort to "green-ify" our studio Armato Design & Press has gone paperless where possible. What this means for a letterpress studio that deals in paper is that receipts and invoices (well, anything) that can be sent electronically are sent via pdf in an email.

Other green efforts include:

• Composting our un-inked paper scrap and recycle our inked scrap.
• The energy used to run the press is wind power.
• We encourage creative re-use of our cards. For example, the front of the card makes a great post card. Cut the back off and pop it in the mail. Do you have other ideas for creative re-use? Please comment below.
  
• As much as possible we re-use packaging materials (though not at the expense of the safe shipping of your product).
• All letterpress wedding stationery is printed on treeless, 100% cotton paper.
  

IN THE STUDIO // EASY BEING GREEN

We all want to "Go Green" in our lives and our weddings are no exception. There are very simple ways you can be conscience of the environment without sacrificing style (and often you'll save a bit of money along the way). The following are a few ideas for greener wedding stationery:

• Skip the inner envelope. Very few brides ask for it anymore but still, it's a great, simple step to a greener, less wasteful wedding. Ditto that little blotter tissue. Not needed.
  
• Use 100% cotton paper aka treeless paper. ADP uses Crane's Lettra for all of our letterpress wedding invitations. Not only is Lettra a green choice but it is a luxury paper that is made for letterpress. The impression that can be achieved in letterpress printing with cotton just can't be achieved by any other paper. It can also lend a beautiful feel to flat printing.
• Ditch the reply card. Have guests reply via a wedding web site such as theknot.com or ewedding.com. This way you save the paper and energy that goes into printing this piece and the work of organizing your guest responses is done for you. Then you just place a line on the bottom of the invitation, after the location line, telling your guests where to respond [see detail below]. It is always best to supply a telephone number for those guests who don't have internet access. You could also make sure your wedding site has directions and accommodation information as well, saving you even more paper, energy and money.

SHOP // NO MORE NAKED ENVELOPES

The new love stamps are available now from the US Postal Service and they are the best I've seen. So colorful, they'll go with so many envelope colors. Designed by Derry Noyes and Jeanne Greco, they are based on images from 18th-century French playing cards.

Stamps are a great way to impress guests right from the start. Martha Stewart Weddings has done a great job of using vintage stamps in the styling of their wedding invitations for Weddings magazine. Here's one of my favorite shots:


Champion Stamp has a huge catalog of vintage stamps. Here are some of my favorites:


UPDATE {6.3.09}: Just found this story via 100 Layer Cake blog with more ideas on how to use and where to buy vintage stamps. Fabulous photos and great ideas. Check it out.

HELLO WEDDING WORLD

Welcome to The Wedding-phile, the new Armato Design & Press blog. Armato Design & Press is a small design and letterpress studio located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Co-owners Amy and Tim Armato create Celebration Stationery: custom and semi-custom letterpress wedding invitations, special event invitations, baby announcements, custom stationery and note cards. We also do freelance graphic design for individuals and businesses and finally, but certainly not lastly, we are letterpress printers.

The Wedding-phile will post 3 days a week and will cover new trends in wedding style, advice and tips on issues in wedding stationery, cool products, inspirations and what's going on at our studio.

Do you need help with your up-coming wedding or special event? Contact me or check out our web site, armatodesign.com.