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There’s something about a hand-addressed envelope in a pretty font that makes me swoon. While definitely not necessary, calligraphy can add a little extra elegance to an invitation suite or an escort card. I’ve been drawn to calligraphy ever since I was little. My aunt even bought me a calligraphy book for my birthday one year when I was about 10, and I practiced until I ran out of ink! Lately I’ve been drawn to less traditional forms of calligraphy. I love how these invitations found on Brooklyn Bride are addressed. They look casual and slightly messy, like the person who addressed them wasn’t even trying to make it look pretty. And I love the look of using all lowercase letters.
It’s finally time to show off our invitations! I was SO happy with the work Laura Hooper did for us on both our STDs and invitations! Here are a few shots of the final product! If you see any smudgy-looking spots it is due to my POOR photo editing skills (I took out some personal information).
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My family has a curse. It has afflicted my mother, father, sister and myself. It is the curse of horrible handwriting (seriously, we should all be doctors!).
When the task of addressing our beautiful Arturo envelopes came to mind, I started to have a mini panic attack as I imagined my awful scrawl splattered all over the front of the cottony goodness. Labels were always an option, but somehow I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.
I spent many hours researching calligraphy and found myself fantasizing about the incredible work of Laura Hooper and Michele Clark. Unfortunately these lovely ladies were completely out of my price range.
As they say, timing is everything, and as my dreams of calligrapher envelopes were about to be dashed, one of my favorite bridal bloggers opened her own calligraphy shop! It was fate, I tell you! Sarah’s work is beautiful and classic and she has been a joy to work with!!
These babies are on their way back to me as we speak:
Me: Do you think we should try to do our own calligraphy?
Mr Piggy: Oh I took calligraphy classes in high school. I can do it.
Me: (1 week later) Hey! I bought a cheap calligraphy set. I’ll start practicing.
Mr Piggy: Here here here, give it to me. I’ll show you. I’m gooooood. You angle the pen like this. See?
Me: (peeking at his writing) What’s that say on the bottom?
Mr Piggy: My name. Mrrr Pig. Mrrrr Pig. Mrrr Pig. Mrrr Pig.
Me: Umm. I’m going to practice. Maybe you should, too.
To Miss Kitten’s point in her recent post, I love that Mr P is so involved with the wedding planning; hoooweeverrr, I’m not sure if calligraphy will be one of his responsibilities. 
Has your fiance volunteered for a wedding task that you wished you’d have just done yourself?
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Scene: A slick haired salesman in crocodile shoes approaches the reader’s computer screen. Miss Avocado lags behind a bit out of shyness and apprehension surrounding the critical response.
*knock knock*
A seasoned Weddingbee reader, one who has seen gorgeous DIY invites come from the likes of Miss Shortcake, Mrs. Cupcake, and Miss Pomegranate comes to the computer screen.
Reader: “Hello?”
Salesman: “Special delivery, brought to you by Miss Avocado, Mamacado, and Elizabeth Anne Designs!”
Reader: “Oh, do come in. Miss Avocado teased me with a preview over a week ago, and I knew this day would be coming rather soon. I can’t wait to have you show and tell me everything!”
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DIY-ing the calligraphy the invitation envelopes was no easy feat. In all, it took over 50 hours to complete the calligraphy - and that’s not including the 20-odd hours I put into learning how to do it properly. 
With that in mind, calligraphy is NOT for the the faint of heart, but can be replicated with many different script fonts on your printer, and can even be done fast-and-dirty style with calligraphy markers. However, if you are willing to put in the bride-hours, calligraphy is an immensely satisfying project - but one that is perhaps best-suited for brides with long engagements or ample spare time! 
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Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
Let me preface the joy of receiving our envelopes from oh-so-fab calligrapher, Michele Clark that collecting addresses is near impossible! I’m not joking. I think 25 addresses changed between sending our save the dates in March and now. Stop moving people! 
The envelopes are absolutely beautiful. I think Mr. Coconut was a bit skeptical about paying someone to address our envelopes. Yes, he was totally convinced this was Item No. 254 “unnecessary expense” that contributed to our busted budget. However, when I opened the box this week like the first gift on Christmas morning, there was a glee in his eyes, too! He will never admit it, but he was impressed.
Michele is seriously awesome. She flowed with the aforementioned 25 address edits, and made her wispy style slightly more “wispy.” I had to cut off the addresses, but here’s a sneak peak. I promise to show you more when I reveal our invitations!
I decided long ago that I was going to teach myself calligraphy and that I was going to use said skills on my wedding invitations. I have always wanted to learn and now would be a good time. So I bought a book, studied it, practiced it and became slightly confident in my skills. Then my invitations came- my beautiful, meticulously designed and carefully crafted letterpress invitations. They are my pride and joy. How was I going to mess them up with that slop that I was calling calligraphy? I panicked and started considering labels, printing or just buying a nice gold pen and trusting in my normal handwriting.
Fortunately, my mother knocked some sense into me. I had already spent a decent chunk of change on the book, pens and inks, not to mention hours of practice. Even if it wasn’t perfect, it would still make me happier than throwing in the towel and using labels. So I bought some gold ink that perfectly matched the gold ink already printed on my envelopes and I went to town.
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I arrived home to a package last week…our envelopes are back from the calligrapher! As you all know, the past few weeks haven’t been the easiest in terms of wedding plans, so having the envelopes in my hot little hands was better than Christmas.
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 have always had a fascination with nice handwriting. I think it began in third grade when I saw my friend Melissa dot the “i” in her name with a little heart. Fortunately for me, there is also an “i” in my name. This led to good grades in handwriting- until I decided to write my name in entirely lowercase letters because I thought it looked better.
I often scrap a complete thank you note because I realize that the text had a slight slope. I will spend long periods of time playing with the pens at the Paper Source, trying to find the best tip. This obsession has created a nagging voice in the back of my head, begging me to learn calligraphy before the wedding. So, I bought a book and pens and here I go!
I bought the Complete Idiot’s Guide to Calligraphy.
…not to mention just simply classic and darn pretty! When I began designing the game plan for our invitations, I figured we were going the functional computer-printed address label route. Though I loved the personal touch of beautifully hand-addressed envelopes, I just didn’t know where I would find the time. That was when I discovered a secret…that our very own Mrs. Snow Pea was a passionate calligrapher on the side! I took a look at a few of her samples and was quickly sold. These were two of my favorite samples…
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.
Thanks to all of you out there who offered so many great suggestions and helpful hints about how to do my calligraphy. I went out and bought all kinds of pens and markers and other tools of scribal warfare. I hunted them down, got them home, and set to work practicing to get a sense of what kind of writing I could do with them. The answer: too big. I was looking for an instrument that could do detailed, frilly work. I had a vision in mind, you see, something grand and girly and graceful. Something like this…
{from A Lucky Orchid Wedding}
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