Real Weddings: An Elegant Island Affair

I love to get photos from brides. These came in just last week, and I was so excited to see them. If you would like me to feature your wedding in my blog, please send me some photos! Read on to get the full story on the calligraphy for this Hawaiian wedding.

When Lauren contacted me a year ago and explained she wanted calligraphy for her wedding reception in Hawaii I was only too eager to help. You see, I love destination weddings, I love Hawaii, and I love the "beach casual" theme. However, I would say, after all was said and done, that it was more of a "beach elegant" affair. What Lauren wanted initally were the sanddollar placecards. She wasn't going to hang them from a tree, or put them in a box, though. Since there were only 30 or so people at the event, she elected to have one at each place setting. What a fantastic idea instead of a paper card.

Next, she wanted menus, to match the calligraphy on the sanddollars. The menus were to be on Tiffany blue paper of course with chocolate brown writing. We did a custom monogram for her as well and put that up at the top. Each was individually mounted on a thick, shimmery brown paper and tied with a hand-dyed silk ribbon (in bridal ivory of course). I adore the hand-dyed silk ribbons. We sell them on my website and there is no ribbon more luxurious and elegant than this.

Finally, we needed to create a 5 page program to match the menu. What we did was design the cover (seen below) and then each header was written out in calligraphy (Bickham Swash Capitals) while the main text was done in a typeset font. They came out so beautifully, we could not resist tying the programs together at the top with a different color of the hand-dyed silk, this time it was the french roast color. All in all, I'd say it was an elegantly understated beach affair. It took place last June, but I was thrilled to get the photos last week! By the way, all the photos (except my little scan above) are by Jessica Claire Photography.