Weddingbee

In college, I took a Chinese calligraphy course that was great when I could focus, but my biggest hurdle was patience. Mama Canary had told me that older Chinese folks practice calligraphy for peace and tranquility– a Zen sort of thing. I found it quite frustrating! My fatal flaw is perfectionism and with calligraphy it’s hard to get there when you’re a novice.

Before deciding to hire a professional, I thought I’d give DIY calligraphy another shot and discovered that I really enjoyed it. I found a fun Wedding Crafts Book at Joann’s that had some calligraphy how-to along with a few cute wedding project suggestions. While there, I also purchased a calligraphy practice pad and four different sized felt-tipped calligraphy pens.It took me about 2 minutes to form each letter and even then I made a few mistakes. I started to imagine the task of addressing 200 envelopes. AAAAAAAH!

My first attempt. Unfortunately, I never completed the entire alphabet.

Thinking about it for a few moments, I decided right then and there that I wouldn’t be able to calligraph my own invitations and with our guest quantity, it would just be too much work. So I set out to find a local calligrapher.

Out of all the great options out there, we decided on Mrs. Onion’s fabulous calligrapher, Michele Clark. I’ve been in contact with Michele via email and phone and she is super responsive and quick! During the whole invitation design process, I would share ideas with Michele about the envelopes and she was always great about answering my questions. Now, we’re down to the wire and finally get to pick the font and are deciding between two. Michele was gracious enough to sample both fonts on the actual invitation envelopes (which are gold and didn’t scan so well, but look SOOO great in person) and got them back to us in less than a week’s time!

Here are our two choices:

Fine Chancery Italic

Fine Script

Our initial choice and overwhelming favorite was Fine Script; our only issue is that for invitations traveling to Asian countries like China or Thailand where the Latin/Roman alphabet is not primarily used, they might get lost. Our solution: create a separate list of addresses that will be in Fine Chancery Italic. Problem solved! And it’s not like many of our guests live near each other and compare, “Hey you got Fine Script and I got Fine Chancery, no fair!”

Michele books up months in advance, so it might be tough to get a spot for this season, but if your wedding isn’t until later in the year or next year, book early! Her rates are very reasonable.

Michele doesn’t have a Web site, but you can email (calligraphybymichele@verizon.net) her and she can send you samples and a quote.

If you prefer a more whimsical approach to calligraphy, Jenna Hein would be the perfect match. Jenna is also a local New Yorker, based in Brooklyn and her work has been featured in Anthropologie and Real Simple. Visit Jenna’s Web site/blog for some samples of her work. You won’t be disappointed!

And finally, for those of you still on the DIY kick or anyone who’s interested in more formal instruction, in New York, there are few places you can check out:

• The Center for Book Arts, has classes pretty frequently on specific styles.
  
• Society of Scribes, also has classes in various styles as well as a beginner’s course. The main website is a trove of information for anyone who has an interest in calligraphy as well as a very good directory listing of calligraphers in the tri-state area.

So how did everyone else fare with addressing envelopes? Did you hire a calligrapher, DIY, or make labels?