ou
have your heart set on having the most elegant wedding
this side of the continent. You’ve spent a great
deal of time, effort and money in acquiring
the most stylish and graceful wedding elements. You
spent hours going over color swatches to make sure you
pick the most elegant and sophisticated color there
is for your wedding’s motif. You had your initials
embossed on the table napkins. You made sure that your
gown, from the smallest stitch to intricate beadwork,
was entirely by capable hands.
So how
would you feel if we tell you that something as seemingly
mundane as the envelope you put your invitation into can ruin
all the preparations you made to ensure that your wedding
is as opulent as it can be?
You might
not believe it, but there are great issues involved in addressing
the envelopes that will hold your wedding invitation.
Did
You Know
The term “calligraphy” comes
from the Greek words “kallos”
(beauty) and graph? (writing). Calligraphy
therefore, is the “art of beautiful
writing.” While the art almost
died after Johann Gutenberg’s
invention of printing in the 15th century,
calligraphy still, thankfully, figures
prominently in the art scene.
According to etiquette experts Nancy Tuckerman and
Nancy Dunnan, there are two things marrying couples
must never do when addressing envelopes. First is
addressing it using “sloppy handwriting.”
Sloppy, or even mediocre, handwriting shows that you
don’t care enough about your wedding to ensure
an acceptable over-all appearance for your invitation.
The second is addressing them using a computer or
typewriter. This, according to the two, is “just
not done.”
Fortunately, your, um, less-than-acceptable penmanship, does
not spell the end for the special and elegant wedding of your
dreams. When all your attempts at handwriting the addresses
on the envelopes yourself fail, you can always call on professional
calligraphers to give you a hand (no pun intended.)
Professional hand calligraphers are artists that use
the painstakingly delicate and time consuming techniques
of writing beautifully and artistically to label your
envelopes. They use their masterful eye and skillful
hand to address your envelope and turn ordinary paper
into exquisite works of art. Every detail, curve and
emphasis they put on the letters serves to add distinction
and old-world elegance to your wedding invitations,
a feat impossible to achieve with computers and printers.
Tips
from the Expert
If you want that artistically-penned look
for your invitations but is trying to keep
wedding expenses at a minimum (and not following
proper wedding etiquette is the least of
your concerns) then you might want to try
downloading fonts from the Internet. Websites
like 1001 Fonts and Font Paradise offer
free downloadable fonts you can have your
printers use for your envelopes.
Hand calligraphers offer you the chance to personalize your
invitations. Unlike in using computers where your only option
is to work with what fonts are installed in your hard disk,
hand calligraphers, as professional calligrapher Janine Cuenca-Dario
points out, can add “embellishments” or simplify
the font’s style, depending on what you want. She further
states that in contrast to printers, hand calligraphy gives
you the absolute freedom to choose what kind of paper you
want to use, thus, ensuring that the over-all look of your
invitation truly reflects your taste.
You have to realize that your wedding invitation is
not simply a piece of paper you use to announce your
impending marriage-- it is the very first glimpse to
your wedding that your guests get. It gives them an
idea of what to expect and, as calligrapher Apple de
Guzman said in an interview, it “sets the tone”
for your wedding.
Just like other things handmade, having your envelopes
addressed by a professional hand calligrapher costs
more than having them printed by computer.
But Ms. De Guzman gives the best reason why shelling out a
few hundred pesos more for a hand calligrapher’s work
is worth it: it “sends the message that this wedding
is a bit more special.”
Check out Kasal.com's
Wedding Resources Directory for contact details.
