Wednesday, June 9, 2010

wedding stuff: calligraphy is an absolute MUST.

hi. my name is zhing and i am addicted to fonts. i'll admit it,  i collect fonts like how some girls collect shoes. actually, i collect shoes too. and fabric. and ribbons. but anyhow, im most addicted to fonts and pay tons to download fancy fonts on my computer. and of them all, i absolutely love calligraphy. i wish i paid more attention to my own handwriting but yours truly has the handwriting to make a 5yo's mum proud.

if you pick up any international bridal magazine (which i gather most of my wedding inspiration from), calligraphy is an integral part of most stylishly assembled weddings. at the start of my wedding styling, i thought, save the money and use some awesome scripty font but i tried an it was just not the same. there is just something unique and personal about hand calligraphed stationery. and definitely something for keeps!! its not cheap mind you cos its like art! but good things don't come for free!!! this, my friends, is the entire speech i told daniel when i convinced him that we need to shell out our hard-earned $$ for some much coveted hand-calligraphed place cards and invitation suite. guess who won! :)

so i was out with my good friend, shan, one day going talking about weddings when she saw a thumbnail in my inspiration board. and she said "hey! are you hiring a calligrapher?" and i said "yeah! those damned calligrapher cost an arm. a leg and a spleen!" and she said "yeah! but if you would like, i can give it a go!" *ding!* why didn't i think of asking her. she is one of the artsy-ist friend i have, she doodles ALL the time on my notebook and has been calligraphing since we were 17. and im a sucker for sentimental elements in weddings. and perfection so we agreed to give it a go. ie interview the calligrapher! (so so terrible right? i didn't say yes immediately) she doodled a bit on my organizer and fiddled around with styles i like (ie swirls, quirky twists and dark heavy writing, not wispy and loops) and she came up with THIS!!!


pages and pages of options!!! :) amazzzinggg!!! it was so hard to pick our favorites!

and after a few rounds of edits, we settled with THIS!!! :) because i love the kisses in lieu of dots and my "Z" and my "C" and Daniel's "A" looks like a little flower and i love his "R". thats how i write my "R"s! :) even in lower case, i write my "R" in upper. i don't know if that makes sense to you. cos it sure doesn't to most people! :)

then my dad fiddled around in photoshop and turned it into a clean jpeg that i then turned into a stamp and embosser and use on everything possible, invites, napkins, coasters, programs... like everything possible. i will one day make my child tatto this on their arse. just kidding, mom!!!

THEN a few months later, i met up with shan again to talk wedding. ok, if you're a personal friend, you know i don't do it intentionally but if you ask me how your wedding planning is going, please be prepared to hear me go on and on for an hour, ok? but anyway, we were talking wedding when she asked me what i was up to when i pulled out a map i was working on.

im allergic to those freebie hotel maps, generic, boring and usually completely skewed out of proportions. my thought is, if your guest really needs directions, there is always road directory and googlemaps. so i thought to turn mine into something cute. after the wedding i plan to have it water painted and framed up for our home!! desperately channelling the 5 yo artist in me, my hand-drawn map was really looking a little sad but A* for effort. shan took a quick glance and told me to draw a proper one and she will help me with it. *little voice* but shan, that WAS the proper one already... *tear* but in two hours, she came up with this.



which went immediately to print as part of our wedding invitation suite! no edits :) i love it! thanks shan, you're a darling! :)

and for the brideys out there with limited art skills, like me, shan is now free-lancing as a writer and artist so she is open to working on more wedding calligraphy! the above is just a style that i prefer she has many other tricks up her sleeves! :) you can contact her via her website at shan.sg or email me for her contact! :) she is a absolutely talented lady and a delight to work with!!

kick-ass calligraphy & map- check!

19 comments:

  1. lovely script font - FEEL :) costs a bunch but is so precious.
    you should put a before/after! so we see what is proper in the mind of Ms Zhing. Hah.

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  2. nono... it was too painful to look at my own. i shredded it up! i don't believe that daniel actually told me it was nice! *grrr* guess he was just being a dutiful husband.
    i love feel!!! its gorgeous! :)

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  3. So you're a font database!
    I like what Shan did up for you. It's very lovely.

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  4. WOW...
    I attempted to do a monogram the last time for the wedding and kenny thought it looked like a symbol for a traid when its meant to look like a 4 leaf clover! Sigh... how i wish i had those artsy genes too. Just a bit will do : )

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  5. OMG!! U guys r all getting married at Ripponlea!!! What a beautiful estate!! :) we used to live in Melbourne too n i've seen so many Wonderful wedding pictures there! :)

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  6. absolutely love it!
    one small detail: is it supposed to read Sandringham LIne instead of Lane?
    trish

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  7. yeah! she did a fabulous job! :) i love it and its so special! :)

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  8. hahaha!!! :) kenny's response is hilarious! :) i think monograms are so bad-ass and cool!!
    its ok, what we lack in, we make up in enthusiasm!!!
    how many more days till your wedding,dear?

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  9. hahahah! you have such a sharp eye!
    you're right! good thing we caught that before we printed and digitally changed that ittybitty part! :)
    i visited mr ong last week for my dad's suit! he is such a sweet sweet man!

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  10. yeah we're getting married in ripponlea but not in the estate!! that place is massive and so so gorgeous!!! :) we took a look and fell in love!!
    but eventually settled for quat quatta instead cos it fit our guest count! :)

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  11. Shan is awesome! I didn't know she's freelancing her art/calligraphy now - we should definitely pimp her out!

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  12. pretty fonts!! shes talented!
    hmmmmmm shall i ask her if she can do mine?! :D

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  13. Its on the 26th June.
    I thought yours was in June too.. since yours is in Aug, you have tons of time!

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  14. AH!!! two weeks!! exciting exciting! :)

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  15. yes you should ask her!! :) she can do heaps of styles and is great with design concepts! :)

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  16. I'm just a little nervous now... wished i hired a wedding coordinator.. like u!!

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  17. she is freelancing as a writer actually but she definitely can draw and write prettily! :) :)

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  18. hahaha! :) no worried babe, you're very organized! you'll be able to pull it off! :)

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