Wedding Chat with Sande - Calligraphy

Took a break from editing and flipped through Modern Luxury Brides magazine. Came across an article called "BACK TO THE SCRIPT". According to this article ~ Calligraphy is making a comeback! And my first thought was "yay!!".

When I was a very young student, I remember being taught penmanship. We were encouraged to write beautifully. I remember in Jr. High trying different ways to write to make it pretty.

Not too long ago I noticed that many young girls have a very messy handwriting. Their handwriting could surely be described as "chicken scratch." You kind of expect that from boys, but girls usually did try to write pretty - at least in my day. I asked a teenage girl once "have you ever heard of the word penmanship?" She looked at me as if I was an alien. It was obvious she had not heard of the word. Students are not being taught cursive handwriting! It made me sad.

So this article did delight me that calligraphy was back in style. I think it works wonderfully for invitations and envelopes. I went to the website of a couple of the designers who were highlighted in this article and borrowed some of examples of their work.

My favorite photos in the article were from Artful Designs by Rachel Nieman. Here is an example of her work:

I really love this envelope - I love the way that it is slanted.

The other designer I liked was Nib and Pixel. Here are examples of their work:

I truly love the envelope lining!! These are all beautiful aren't they? They have such an luxe, elegant look!

Calligraphy is beautiful for the invitations and envelopes and it would also be lovely on wedding signage, menu cards, programs - anything!! If you are inspired by this - beware - this comes with a price! Remember that it is an Art!! Rachel Nieman's prices start at $3 for invites and $2 per envelopes and Nib and Pixet are $500 for 100 invites plus $3 per envelope. It is time consuming so plan to order early.

Both of these designers are based out of Houston, Texas.

Well - my handwriting is not as beautiful as these examples but I still try to write pretty. Even though I'm tempted to save time by typing a note to my clients, I don't feel that it comes across as sincere so I always try to handwrite my notes to them.

When my granddaughters are with with me and are working on homework - I have frequently used the word "penmanship" with them and encourgage them to write neatly and pretty. I am also the kind of grandma that reminds them to sit up straight and "be a lady". That should never go out of style!!!