Today we have a very special guest post from one of our good friends, Steph. She spent a lot of time looking into DIY wedding stationery, and today she’s sharing her experience with you. She’s talking all about styles of calligraphy and how to achieve them.
“I’ve always considered myself to be quite creative, so when I got engaged it made sense to sort the wedding invitations out as soon as possible. After all, they don’t go off, so where’s the harm in having them sit around? If only life (and wedding planning) were that simple! It’s taken us over a YEAR to finally settle on an invitation that we are happy with and we feel expresses us as a couple.
When researching invitations, I noticed that a LOT of examples I saw included Calligraphed envelopes too. They looked absolutely stunning. I was inspired to learn more, so I took to the internet and began teaching myself Hand Lettering. All you need is a thin pen (such as a fine-liner) and a felt tipped pen (something like a Sharpie works well). The basic principle involves writing a letter in your thin pen (a handwriting style such as cursive works best) and then thickening each down stroke with the felt tip.
Once you’ve mastered this, the world is your oyster! Now you just have to decide how you want to put this new skill into practice. I tend to combine my ‘Calligraphy’ with a simpler block print handwriting, to ensure that the postman has no issues delivering the invitation you spent so much time on! I purchased a stencil called a Lettermate online to ensure my addresses are always neatly spaced, but this is purely optional. These are a few of my favourite styles of address, using both types of handwriting:
Split Style
This is one of my go-to styles of addressing because I really love the contrast between the “Deliver To” section and the address itself. I feel like it strikes a good balance between modern and traditional. It took me a little while to get the “D” right as it’s a bit fancier than I’m used to, but practice makes perfect!
Informal
I really like this style for more casual acquaintances. This is probably the style we will choose for most of our friends as it seems a little more fun than the traditional styles. To create the names, I simply used the felt tip on this one.
Focus on the Family Name
This style works really well for those guests who will appreciate the flourish of Calligraphy, but don’t necessarily need anything too fancy. I also like this style for older guests who are widowed as I feel that it doesn’t make a huge deal of the “Mr. & Mrs.” element of addressing. It’s also a nice, easy style to get you started as you are only doing one word in your ‘Calligraphy’ style.
Mr & Mrs Flourish
Although I love the visual appeal of these envelopes, I did find the flourishes a little tricky to master. I think the overall effect works well though and this allows you to address guests using their titles and their forenames at the same time.
Traditional Style
I call this one traditional as it addresses the guests by the man’s name only. Whilst I think this is a little outdated now, there are still people who prefer this style of address. Again, this is a fairly simple but effective style of writing for the envelopes.
Mix and Match
This is my favourite style for addressing unmarried guests who live together. I love the mix of printing and ‘Calligraphy’ on this one and I think the “and” adds a modern and quirky twist to the envelope.
Hopefully, this will have given you the confidence to attempt your own Calligraphy for your envelopes – weddings are expensive enough without having to spend money where it isn’t needed! I also happen to think that these styles of writing photography beautifully and would look right at home in your wedding album.” – Steph
Next we’re talking to Bijou Bridal Boutique to get some wedding dress shopping tips.