Calligraphy....yay or nay?

We did it.. it was a gift from my Godparents. They turned out ahhhmazing, and I really love them!! I would not describe the wedding as formal, but I do like the way the writing looks.

That said, if my Godparents hadn't offered this up, no chance I was paying for a calligrapher for an envelope that gets tossed in the trash (just my opinion). You can download free fonts (http://www.1001freefonts.com/) and you can get envelopes that you can print directly on. Some stationary places will address them too. If you are ordering enough, you may be able to get them to toss this in for free. (at least ask! the worst they can say is no)

I wanted really pretty envelopes and calligraphy, but I just couldn't justify the expense to myself. So instead, I did my own DIY using my printer and a gold gel pen. I printed very lightly on the envelopes on the printer, and then I traced with the pen. It gave it the look of being handwritten, however much neater and fancier than I could do with my own handwriting

https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/my-cheating-calligraphy/5374572c0fdf94cb.html

Other brides have had great results by using a lightbox technique and then tracing, rather than printing directly on the envelopes.

I would say it's not worth it, unless you only have to send like 20 invitations, it is a crazy amount to spend on something the majority of people don't notice. I think people notice that it is nice, but if it isn't done, they don't say - now that looks ugly!

I'd spend your money on more drinks or food - stuff people really will notice.

DIY

cheating calligraphy

https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/my-cheating-calligraphy/5374572c0fdf94cb.html

LOL - Mrs O posted it while I was looking for her post.

GREAT job Mrs O

I believe someone said they used their I-Pad as a lightbox. Put the printed paper on top of the I-Pad and let the light shine through so they could trace the names on to the envelopes.

Http://pinterest.com/pin/154811305912158622/

another pin idea... I think I'm gonna go with this, print and trace

I used calligraphic font on Avery clear lables. But then again, my wedding wasn't super formal.

Cate also did the same thing for her formal wedding.

I'm doing it; but FH best friend's wife does it so we are getting a pretty sweet deal on it.. other wise... I would just find really nice font on the computer and would have done it that way.

I did it (I think it ended up being $2-3 per envelope) and am SOOO glad I did! It looks wonderful & I've gotten more compliments on it than on he invitations, lol! And the best part... I haven't had to spend hours addressing stupid envelopes!!!! I hate doing it & it always gets sloppy near the end. Totally worth every penny!

I did the same as Mrs. O. and they came out great!

I did it. $5/envelope. They are absolutely gorgeous, though. I have shaky hands so there's no way I could've done the tracing thing, although I think that's an awesome hack!

I won a calligrapher from wish upon a wedding and I got tons of compliments - I won 150 envelopes for $110. I see Calligraphers on craigslist all the time as well for very reasonable costs.

For the last minutes invites that I didn't have time to send to the lady - I used the basic script font from Word and printed them off in bold. They looked great as well.

For the return address I bought a custom stamp and hand stamped the backs of all the envelopes as well as the RSVP envelopes. The fonts were almost identical

We were a formal black tie wedding BTW so the whole look of invite was very important to me

Thanks, everyone!

We did it and the invites looked awesome. I found a lady on etsy that did it for $2 per invite and she was really quick. The shop is Calligraphy with Style and her name is Renee Polcher. She was super responsive and great to work with. I even had her do the place cards and seating cards.

We're doing it - we have a friend who is a calligrapher so we'll be helping out her business as well.

We're doing the message in a bottle invitations (beach wedding), so I think it will look cool with fancier handwriting

@Caitlin, what are message in a bottle invitations? Do you send an actual bottle??

Yes - they come with packing material and a small box...they're a little more expensive, but we thought they were cool!

pic below of the idea.

Your invitation quietly informs your guests how formal or informal your Wedding Celebration will be. I personally love Calligraphy for invitations, because when I receive an invitation with Calligraphy I feel that the invitation was designed for me specifically and it encourages me to attend the Event.

I thin it's great if you can afford it but also it depends on how formal of a wedding you are having and your theme too. I am having a vintage style wedding so I think it would be perfect and I plan to DIY it but it all depends they say etiquette is that it should be used for more formal weddings but I say do what you want and can afford. It's very pretty!

@Mrs O, thanks I might try that. No way I can justify $200 on writing. Just for me, I can understand if people have that kind of money. I can find a few more details I'd rather spend it on..lol

I am doing the calligraphy myself. Looks pretty good so far. Maybe I should try making some money off of this? Had no idea that people paid for this.