Calligraphy

This Wedding Wednesday was a bit exciting for me to share! Our save the dates went out a couple of months ago, and although I’m a little late in sharing this, it was still exciting finding the pictures of these beauties to share with you all. As many of you know from prior post, I’ve been practicing some calligraphy on my free time. I’ll be honest, I haven’t picked up my nibs or my ink in a little while. But like I said, finding these pictures definitely sparked my interest once again to keep going and getting better at it! So what better way to share a new hobby with those whom are special to us and will be sharing our special day with us? Well.. By adding a little personal touch to our save the dates of course! I must say I was entirely excited for this project, it was two things that were special to me and I got to share them all at once!

To begin with, what bride doesn’t get excited to send save the dates?!? Umm… I’d like to think all brides do! It’s such a special moment, knowing that you are finally able to literally share that date in the near future that will be one of the best days in your life! It’s a love filled announcement to all those special people who will be sharing with you that day. To me at least, it sounds priceless. So for me sending these out was a big happy deal and being able to personalize them with my own personal touch made it more special.

Xavier and I wanted to make sure we sent out something that said “us.” Our save the dates would have to be simple, clean-looking, yet classy and warm. So when picking the style for our save the dates, we made sure to find what fitted those wishes. I think we did a pretty good job at finding save the dates that defines us. I also wanted to make sure that we brought in our wedding colors in some way and start to kind of give people the feeling of what our wedding day will be like. Grey, white and Gold were all incorporated and these simple yet classy save the dates from wedding paper divas suited us perfectly! We were very pleased with them and the quality and most importantly their price! They always have such good deals going on. Perfect for bride and grooms on a budget! The envelopes were plain white but this is where I got to be creative and add that little personal touch with my calligraphy. A little flourish and some pretty handwriting and pretty colors did the trick! I was in love with them! We’ve gotten so many compliments and couldn’t be more happy with them! Hope you all enjoy them as much as we did.

Some advice for your save the dates!

-shop around, many websites have coupons and special deals on amounts or specific dates along with free samples

-order extra envelopes, whether you’re the one addressing your envelopes or hiring a calligrapher, we all make mistakes. Ordering a couple more will give you some room for error with no stress

-return address stamps like our lovely stamp from littlemamapretties, will save your hand some tiredness and save you cash! Ordering return address labels can cost easily above $70 for maybe 100. Our pretty stamp cost us,$20. And we will be using it for our wedding invites later on! Score!

-pretty vintage stamps are hard to find, and can add up as well. Your local US post office has a variety of wedding/love stamps for your occasion. I loved our vintage like stamps we purchased at our local post office in sheets!

-envelope sealing stickers are a cute and easy way to spice up the look of your invites! We purchased our “love” stickers at our local Michael’s arts and crafts store for $5.

-make a wedding website online for extra information for your guest and add your wedding website to your save the dates, people will have a good idea of the arrangements they will have to make and some sites even have RSVP options, we already have a couple and haven’t even send out invites!

Did you personalize any of your wedding paper goods? If so, how so? We’d love to hear!

Jen ❤

*all images are property of La Vida, life as it comes

Calligraphy in the works! I was super excited and super nervous to share a project I recently finished for one my good friends Desiree and her fiancé. I was super excited for many reasons but super nervous for many other reasons as well. For those of you who don’t follow my instagram, to catch you guys up a little bit I figured it was most important to share this post with you. The past couple of months, I had a recent ‘goal’ or ‘hobby’ to put it into better words. That hobby being, Calligraphy.

Since I was little, I could remember always doodling and writing and probably not being the best with ~~going green~~…sorry trees! ( I really do love the environment, I swear, lol) When I was younger, I could remember being the happiest and most at peace, just writing random words, or doodling and even drawing. Clearly I did not become an artist, but I could definitely write in decent cursive. After running into some calligraphy work and seeing the work of some fellow bloggers and a wedding around the corner, a spark of interest fired and I figured it was worth a shot! I may not be a professional calligrapher or know everything about it, but little by little I’m learning more. I’m also learning about myself more, and how much I enjoy getting away from the hassle of life sometimes and just being in my own little world. It works out actually, especially since while practicing, it allows me to go into my own little world and relax and enjoy time with my pen and paper.

One reason the spark came about and whats pushing me to get better little by little, definitely has to do with wanting to address our own envelopes for our wedding. So here and there during the week, my nibs, paper and ink come out to play and I..practice! Well, with that practice came a little showing off..lol… and of course like a normal person, I enjoyed showing my progress with my family and closest friends. I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but I have a couple close friends to me who are also getting married. Well jokingly, I would tell them that I would give them the “friend discount” and I would address their envelopes too. Little did I know it, I was really about to get my hands on some of their envelopes!

My friend Desiree is also getting married this year and actually it will be two weeks before Xavier and I. To put it simple, its been fun, sharing the experience with her! And to make a long story short… She one day decided to ask me a serious question..lol Want know what it was? She said…”Jen, will you seriously do our save the date envelopes?” I secretly jumped in excitement..lol…But right after, I questioned myself and asked my honey, if he really thought I could do it! I couldn’t ask for someone more supportive than him, because of course, he said YES! So… my response to Desi was.. YES!

Lets just say, before getting my ink on her envelopes, my palms were sweaty and I was hesitant to make the first stroke… but before I knew it I had the first envelope done! fewf! After a couple or so, my confidence grew and I became less scared as I finished yet another envelope. It was time-consuming but I was determined and was actually enjoying every minute of it! Like I said, I’m not a professional calligrapher, but hey I’m proud of what I was able to do for my dear friend. Her happy face was sufficient for me to feel I did good! I’m so grateful for the trust she placed in my hands with her save the date envelopes and hey… maybe this is the beginning of something great! I always have wanted to start a little etsy shop.. =) What do you all think???

Here is my first clients addressed envelopes! Enjoy!=)

Any inquires!? lol