Posts Tagged ‘calligraphy’

Beautiful Flourishes by Primele Calligraphy

I came across the amazing calligraphy of Patricia Mumau. She has a wonderful little etsy store for her gorgeous artwork and also runs an interesting blog. I really love her work — the big flourishes, use of the whole envelope, the little details. So amazing!


A purple, chocolate and gold invitation suite by Lilah Paper

I’m so excited to be able to share our invitations with you!! As many of you know, the first item I purchased for our wedding was my shoes. They’ve been my muse for the entire event and have guided me toward the most amazing gown, linens, and paper. When I set out to have our invitations designed I knew of only one designer who would be able to take my shoes and make an invitation out of them!

Paper is one of my loves, and Kalyn from Lilah Paper and I have worked together on several events and her style really compliments my own. We came up with a custom invitation suite based on a variety of different inspirational pieces that I sent her through out the process. When she sent me our first round of proofs I was blown away. It wasn’t something I had envisioned but it was exactly what I wanted — which is a true testament to her talent! Much like a proud mama, I happen to think I have the most beautiful wedding invitations ever made.

We started out with a pretty belly band holding all our paper goodness together.

Inside, a tri-fold invitation suite. It starts off with lyrics from our soon to be first dance song by Van Morrison…

Our actual letterpress invitation to the ceremony with double backing layers. Photographs cannot do it justice! It is so gorgeous!!

Our pretty letterpress enclosure cards. We’ve gotten so many compliments on the cute vintage inspired food selections. We’ve also received A LOT of interesting first dance songs!!

Our envelopes were hand written by the extremely talented Lisa Ridgely of Pen and Ink Calligraphy. I LOVE working with Lisa — she is SO good to my brides and it was so much fun to be one of hers! We chose this gorgeous red ink color for a fun pop.

I had so much fun working with Lilah Paper and absolutely love the couture suite she came up with for us. The quality was so important to me, and our invitations are above and beyond what we could have imagined. We were SO thrilled to mail them all out (except for the $.78 stamps on each one) and have gotten so many RSVP’s back. Its a joy every afternoon to run out to the mailbox!

I’ll have some prettier pro pictures after the wedding with the rest of our amazing paper!


Matt + Kim = Mr. & Mrs. Uccellini: Saugatuck Rowing Club, Westport Connecticut

Matt and Kim were married on May 30th, 2009 at 2:30 in the afternoon at the Assumption Church in Westport, Connecticut. Immediately following, guests enjoyed a gorgeous preppy and nautical inspired fete at the Saugatuck Rowing Club in Westport. Kim and Matt were an amazing couple to work with! At our initial meeting I knew we’d be a good match — they wanted a preppy, tailored, and nautical wedding in blue and yellow with pops of red.

The day began with Kim getting ready at her apartment with her parents and bridesmaids. Kim had her makeup done by the talented artists at Naomi’s Makeup Studio out of West Hartford. Kim wore a gorgeous and simple Matthew Christopher satin gown with an elbow length Mantilla Veil, purchased at Bridal Trousseau on Main in Branford. Her bridal bouquet (by Peter’s Wholesale Florists in Stamford) was made up of white peonies, yellow ranunculous, and white hydrangea wrapped in yellow and white polka dot grosgrain ribbon. It was absolutely stunning!

Matt and his Groomsmen spent the later morning and early afternoon having lunch at his parents house. They wore gorgeous seersucker jackets from Brooks Brothers with a navy brooks brothers tie and khakis. The groom wore a head of ranunculous as his boutonniere and his groomsmen wore a single yellow rose. The flower girls and ringer bearer were all Matt’s nieces and they wore the most darling little red and yellow polka dot dresses!

After their beautiful ceremony at Assumption Church in Westport, Matt and Kim went to the spot that was very meaningful and sentimental to them. A place where they spent many nights watching the sun set as a couple. They love Combo Beach in Westport and try to visit at least once every weekend during the summer months. Her love of rowing and his love of the water really drew them together. After the ceremony, Kim took off her gorgeous veil and pinned a fabulous little white flower in her hair. Doesn’t she look STUNNING?

The reception was held at the Saugatuck Rowing Club in Westport. The views? Stunning. It was obvious to them that it was the perfect location, which would marry her love of rowing and his love of the water. Guests were greeted on the blue slate patio overlooking the Saugatuck River and the docks that lead out into the water. They enjoyed Matt and Kim’s signature cocktail, the Pimms Cup, served from large sea glass canisters into high ball glasses which were garnished with a lemon wheel, cucumber spear, and a seersucker swizzle stick. Heaven.

The tablescapes were gorgeous and filled with SO many details. We used navy linen as a base, and brought in beautiful beechwood chiavari chairs with white pads from Party Rentals, Ltd out of Greenwich. Centerpieces were of one tall, french galvanized bucket filled with white peonies, ranunculous and hydrangea. They were fluffy and tightly filled — so gorgeous! There were three satellite arrangements of yellow and white gerbera daisies in smaller galvanized buckets. Each bucket had the same yellow and white polka dot grosgrain ribbon from Kim’s bouquet wrapped around them. The taller, french galvanized buckets had thick red grosgrain ribbon.

Each place setting had a rattan charger with an accompanying blue polka dot plate and clear glass saucer for the chilled gazpacho, all rented from Party Rentals, Ltd. Their navy napkins were rolled and tied onto them was a menu “tag”, which we created in the round. It had a seersucker boarder and a cute little yellow grommet, tied together with white grosgrain ribbon. Each guest received a cute little galvanized bucket filled with red swedish fish. We created red and blue favor tags with lyrics to their first dance song by U2 and tied it on with red grosgrain ribbon.

Each table was named after a New England town that held special significance to the bride and groom. Places like Westport, Newport, Nantucket, Block Island, Bar Harbor, Mystic…. we even inserted the GPS coordinates of each location onto their table sign. A fun little detail we carried through out the event — like on the custom stamp we made for their invitations!

Guests dinned on chilled gazpacho, surf and turf with filet mignon and lobster tail with steamed red potatoes and corn on the cob. There were even toothpicks on the table for pickin’ corn out of your teeth! The entire event was catered by the Club’s restaurant, Riverview Restaurant. Chef Danny and his team did a fabulous job!

Their delicious cake was made by Sweet Cakes out of Fairfield, Connecticut. Suzette did a fabulous job bringing Kim and Matt’s vision to life. The guests REALLY enjoyed the cake and complimented on how delectable it was! We displayed escort cards on a red linen wrapped cork board with some retro metal pushpins. It was perfect! We also had custom napkins, swizzle sticks, and coasters made for the event. The beautiful calligraphy was done by Lisa Ridgley of Pen and Ink Calligraphy out of Westminister, Maryland. I LOVE Lisa. She is so good to our brides and does AMAZING work! One of the little details I loved most about this wedding that you may not be able to notice was the lowercase letters we used on everything — even their yellow monogrammed letters that were tied to the back of their chairs. When I think preppy I think kate spade and j. crew, so we channeled some of their branding. A little detail that goes a LONG way! In lieu of a traditional guest book, guests also signed rowing oars. They also dropped their cards in a lobster trap.

Guests danced the night away to music provided by Jim Nuzzo of Dance to the Music Entertainment. He did an AWESOME job! Photographs are courtesy of Kelley and Todd Whittaker (website coming soon). Matt and Kim made their grand exit via a sparkler send off and rounded out the evening across the street with their family and friends, sipping Margareta’s at Vivas!

The day was captured on video by Matthew Fink of Digital Media Odyssey. He already has their teaser trailer up! Check it out below!

Thanks Matt and Kim for letting us share in your SPECTACULAR day. It was a pleasure designing your event and working with you.


Calligraphy

Calligraphy. . . a word that may strike fear into the hearts of brides to be.  But just about anyone can do Calligraphy, its not as bad as it sounds.  The first thing you will need is a Calligraphy pen and ink.  When I first started doing Calligraphy 9 years ago I purchased a Sheaffer Calligraphy kit similar to this one.  You will also need 2 pieces of paper, one of which will be for the writing and the other will be your guide to make sure that your writing stays in a straight line.

    

Once you have a Calligraphy pen my first suggestion is to play with them.  Hold your pen at a slight angle and draw squiggly lines so you can start to get a feel for the flow of the ink.  There are different nibs that come with your kit.  What is a nib you ask?  Well, the nib is the tip of your calligraphy pen.  The thicker the nib the thicker the line you will end up with. 

     

Now that you have started to get the hang of your calligraphy pen you can begin to experiment with lettering.  Most letters you will need to use at least two strokes to complete the letter.  For example here is step one of the letter ‘a’.  Your basically drawing what looks like a ‘c’.

Then you are going to add the back and the tail end of your ‘a’.

One more example is the letter ‘g’.  Again you are drawing a ‘c’ using your second sheet of paper as your straight edge. 

Now you will add the side and bottom of the ‘g’.  With calligraphy the fancier the better!

When doing a full name you can see here that due to the straight edge you are not able to add on the bottom of the ‘J’.  This just gives you the opportunity to focus on how you would like to add to your letters.

step 1:       step 2:

Lastly when doing mailing addresses you can do two different things.  One, you can center the address on the envelope.  Secondly, you could stagger the address on the envelope.  These are two very different looks and my suggestion is to try both out and see what works for you.  Enjoy!


In Love: Calligraphy

I love calligraphy. There is no denying that when you receive an invitation hand addressed by one of these artists, you feel so special! Having your wedding invitations hand calligraphed may seem like an antiquated tradition that you don’t need to do (printing envelopes on the computer is so easy, right?). Well, it is an old tradition, but one you shouldn’t skip if you can afford. A wedding invitation isn’t just any old invitation to a party: it is something extremely intimate and important and it should be treated as such!

Take a look at some of this calligraphy eye candy. Notice how the styles are so different? The options out there are truly endless. These are some of my absolute favorite calligraphy artists.

Lisa Ridgley; Pen & Ink Calligraphy

http://www.penandink-calligraphy.com

 

Kathryn Murray; Kathryn Murray Calligraphy

http://www.kathrynmurray.com/




Laura Hooper; Laura Hooper Calligraphy

http://www.lhcalligraphy.com/




Jessica Slutsky; Jessica Slutsky Calligraphy

http://www.racetothealter.blogspot.com



A Bit of Vintage: Our Save the Dates

It is an exciting weekend for this event planner — our save the dates went into the mail! I wanted to share them with you as they were designed and crafted by yours truly. I went back and forth several times with the idea of creating them myself. I certainly have the means and tools to do so, but as any artist knows, it isn’t easy to take on your own projects. I searched endlessly for an easy way out and couldn’t find anything that I simply had to have, so, it was off to Illustrator to begin designing!

I wanted to tie in our wedding’s color scheme with the save the dates so I went with varying shades of purple, gold, and white. After many designs, Mike and I really loved this one the most. It has a very subtle vintage feel and gives a peak into the romantic vintage-style fete we are planning! So, without further adieu, here are our save the dates! Be sure to click the images for a larger version!


The front of the purple envelope with gold metallic lettering and a Betty Davis stamp.

The interior custom lining which mirrors some of the design on the actual save the date.

The beautiful hand calligraphy envelope seals in shimmery gold metallic card stock. These gorgeous creations were made by the very talented Lisa Ridgely of Pen & Ink Calligraphy out of Westminster, Maryland. I found Lisa through her etsy.com shop and knew that these envelope seals were the one touch of glam our envelopes needed. She was such a doll to work with and I can’t wait to recommend her services to my brides. Thanks Lisa!


Oh, I am so thrilled with how they came out! My most favorite part is the varying font style. I have huge love affair with fonts. Am I crazy?

All the elements together so you can get the full “experience.”

Up close and personal!

I’ve already started receiving phone calls about how much our guests love them which makes me so thrilled. I hope you enjoyed them too!


Credits

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