Wedding Blog
I recently realized that I never gave calligraphy a second thought. I always figured I’d be devoting several weeknights to mastering curlicues while clutching a bottle of Wite-Out. Then, I started obsessing.
I can’t use Wite-Out if my envelopes are blue! What if I mess up and scribble on the envelope and I can’t use Wite-Out and I run out of envelopes and someone gets an envelope that doesn’t match the others and then finds out that theirs was different than all the others and gets totally offended and doesn’t come!?Yes, these are the things that keep me up at night. I shove those qualms about foreign affairs aside and devote my worries to handwritten invitations. Seriously. This has to be some sort of sickness.
I decided to give myself a little assignment. Since I also act as the administrative assistant at work, I would perfect my handwriting by practicing my cursive on any packages or letters that had to go out to clients. This lasted all of Monday, until I realized that I couldn’t handle the pressure of having to have impeccable handwriting. I kept getting nervous and crossing my l’s and dotting my o’s and before I knew it, I was on Google researching calligraphers.
That’s when I came across this gem, Betsy Dunlap. The totally affordable, down-to-earth calligrapher who declared me as her new best friend in our last e-mail correspondence. She is the bomb dizzle, if I ever saw one. And yes, I just used the phrase “bomb dizzle.” I’m quite relieved to know that I won’t have to stress myself out over misspelled addresses and non-matching envelopes in the near future!
(This is the style we’ve decided to go with)
We decided this one was a little too informal, but still love it.
Fiesty.
Gorrrrrrrrrgeous, but a wee bit hard to read for the old-fashioned folks.
(All photos courtesy Betsy Dunlap)
Have any of you decided to tackle the calligraphy yourselves? Any pointers for those brides with more patience than myself?
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Betsy’s calligraphy is beautiful! And I know you’re SUPER excited, and you should be. But I did want to share something with you…just for you to think about. I had some trouble receiving a letter with her calligraphy on it (it was lost in the mail). Please just make sure that she writes *very* clearly, especially the zip code! You don’t want your invitations with the pretty blue envelopes to get lost in the mail or, even worse, to have “return to sender” stamped all over them!
She’s one of my favorites! She’s also super sweet and great at communicating in a timely manner, which is important to me. I’m a dork. Vane at Brooklyn Bride had all her invites addressed by her and I didn’t hear of any issues. Maybe you could email her and check. It might have been your postman. Mine is a bit vindictive. He seems to misplace stuff on purpose. Also, Crystal Kluge has beautiful work. It’s very pretty, but not too ornate. It’s cooler than the traditional stuff, but not really frilly. I think her website is crystalkluge.com I also found Jenna Hein via Brooklyn Bride as well. She’s awesome! Google her and I think her site will pop up. If not and you want to check her out, I’ll try and find her site.
I love Betsy’s work! I’ve been talking to her via email to do some words/phrases for our wedding which I plan to incorporate into the designs of our printed pieces…we have a lot of time though (next August =P). I’m also debating whether or not I should have her do the invites too. It would be such a lovely touch but kind of a splurge for me since I’m pouring a nice amt of budget into the creation of the printed pieces themselves ;).
it looks very pretty!
it was a kinda difficult to read them though, but not impossible.
good luck.
Mrs. Petunia used Betsy Dunlap. Her work is gorgeous! That said, I have not yet received samples from her that FI and I requested and paid for through Paypal. I need to send her an email . . . .
Just some advice from a calligrapher. The post office does not like the zip code to be on a line of it’s own and those pieces usually take much longer to arrive at their destination (or worse, lost in the mail).
If you are trying to tackle calligraphy yourself, practice tracing someone else’s work on tracing paper and don’t worry about the white out in the beginning - you learn from your mistakes. If you are still not satisfied, take the leap and go to a calligrapher who might offer discounted prices for handwriting only rather than using a dip pen and ink.
Hope this helped all those aspiring for beautiful handwriting!
Nicole
i did my own calligraphy (much more traditional, easy style). i have some tips here:
beautiful! if we had it in our budget, we’d totally use her. thankfully, my fsil has lovely handwriting and not only did a fab job on our save-the-dates, but has also stepped up for the invites as well. woo hoo!
If you are worried about it being read, sample two is much easier to read than sample 1. Just my opinion. I love everything she does.
p.s.~ How much are her samples?
I heart Betsy. Plus, everyone received his or her envelope, so I wouldn’t worry one bit about the post office, etc.
@Amy H.: Doesn’t sound like Betsy at all! I’m sure something’s up and it will get sorted out.
I adore this calligraphy. It’s very different and makes everything seem that much more personal.
We’[re going to ask our FMIL to do ours because she has gorgeous handwriting and it’s a great way to make her feel involved.
Hi all! Just wanted to mention in the comments here that Betsy sent me an email yesterday saying that our samples are on their way and apologizing for the delay . . . . The craziness of wedding season really ramps up the demands on her time, which I completely understand! I’m so looking forward to seeing these lovelies in person.
I’m fortunate to have a stepmother with lovely handwriting who was willing to address all the envelopes (also, a huge moneysaver). Though if we had decided to go with a caligrapher, Betsy would have been my first and only choice - I discovered her stuff months ago and it’s so gorgeous!!
Her calligraphy is gorgeous! I was a little delusional thinking I could take a class and do it myself, but being a perfectionist, I wasn’t satisfied with what I learned. I love the Paper Source, but was disappointed with the calligraphy workshop!
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Mrs. Candy Corn, Philadelphia
Age and Occupation: 24, Senior Editor/Writer & Freelance Illustrator
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Inventory Manager for a Music Publisher
Engagement Date: September 1, 2004
Wedding Date: October, 2008
Blogging Since: May 6, 2008
Venue: Pennsylvania Museum of Archaelogy and Anthropology
About Me: I enjoy people watching (especially in New Jersey malls), obsessive collecting, drooling over contemporary art, browsing flea markets for vintage finds and eating an absurd amount of cheese. In my Philadelphia abode, I create mixed media artwork and one-of-a-kind home accessories in the company of my farmer-tanned husband, our Westiepoo (Betty White), our three rabbits (Cadbury, Willie Nelson and Applesauce) and our two frisky chinchillas (Ethel Funk and Maude).
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