Calligraphy, Envelopes and Stamps, Oh My!: It's All in the Details, Part I

With the save-the-dates beautifully printed and in-hand, it was time to address them. I have to admit, I definitely wasn't looking forward to this part. I wouldn't quite say I have chicken scratch for penmanship, but it's not exactly...well...envelope-worthy?

Let me show you:

Personal photo

Notice how each line has a tendency to float up as it moves to the right? How about the wibbly-wobbly inconsistency in letter size? Yeah. Meh.

So after a few unsuccessful practice rounds, I figured it was time to accept defeat and find a calligrapher before I ran out of envelopes. Calligraphy definitely wasn't something I budgeted for, but thanks to my good friend Etsy I was able to find the most amazing (and affordable) calligrapher. Check her out here: NJW Calligraphy. I managed to catch her when she was just starting up and was offering crazy low rates.

For the next week or so, my poor roommates (brother Seal and Mr. Seal) had to hear all about the "Frederick" font, and the "Virginia" font and my personal favorite (and late arrival to my calligrapher's repertoire) the "Citadel" font. Despite having already budgeted and paid for the lesser-priced Frederick font, my heart was secretly set on the newly-introduced Citadel (confused yet?). Eventually, my heart lost the battle and I opted to not upgrade.

Or so I thought.

I sent off my envelopes to the calligrapher and, a few days later, was informed by owner Nellie that she had begun work on my project. She told me to check her blog in a few hours for some pictures of her progress—I, demonstrating excellent patience, checked every 15 minutes thereafter. And unbeknownst to me, I was in for a big surprise.

Nellie is so lovely that she decided to surprise me with the Citadel font I so desperately wanted (without charging me extra). Do not lose hope in humanity, apparently there ARE still amazing people left in the world!

Personal photo

All below photos courtesy of NJW Calligraphy. Kindly disregard the weird blank spots, I had to edit them for privacy:

I am so thankful to have found her.

Next Up: The STD stamp and send-off

Did you address all of your STDs or did you hire a calligrapher? Has a vendor ever pleasantly surprised you?

With love and appreciation,

Seal