Dallas Calligrapher
It’s always a party, and this Dallas Baby sprinkle designed by Gro was one for the books. The menus were layered with vellum on top of a cute pink umbrella. I then added the names in a pretty white ink and sweet script.
Isn’t the entrance just divine? I adore the umbrellas and balloons just floating.
Here is the thing about a Dallas ballroom wedding, you can seat hundreds of people comfortably and stylishly. This ballroom wedding was certainly stylish with this super cool bride and groom duo.
I worked with The Details Department and Emily Clarke Events to provide calligraphy for the invitation suite. all photography is by Sarah Kate. This suite featured foil, a custom crest and stunning calligraphy. Again, a little bit of calligraphy and type combo really highlights the important items. Black and white wasn’t drab with a little accent of pink in this stationery. I really like how the floral envelope liner was black and white and the envelope was blush. Also, how they used a black and white photo for their save the date design.
This show-stopper features my Flourished hand foiled on a black card. The lux design is a chic introduction to the celebration.
Day of calligraphy was a proud moment for me. The groom is a baseball player and the escort card display featured a home plate design. These little cards were made of white acrylic and have my flourished hand in black ink. I had to write very tiny and carefully to make this work, but I am so pleased with the outcome!
When the guests entered the ballroom at Union Station they were greeted by supreme hospitality. Each seat had its own cheese tray by Wolfgang Puck catering. And each tray had the guest name calligraphed in white ink with lots of flourishing. One thing I love about a classic Dallas ballroom wedding is how magical everything feels when entering a room.
Each name was a mini piece of art and no one had to share their cheese and crackers. How yummy does that look?! You can only imagine how quickly that little appetizer cheese tray was eaten as soon as guests sit down. I can almost never resist a cheese tray. Much less a personalize one!
I had to learn how to write on macarons last valentines day and thought I would share what I learned with you! So this will be the first of a few “how to” posts I have planned for the year. Hope you enjoy!
HOW TO WRITE ON MACARON:
1. Gather your supplies. You will need: Fresh Macaron cookies, Gloves, clean fine tipped brush (not one you use with calligraphy ink!), icing color – I used the Wilton brand you can find at any craft store, a little bit of clean water, plate or wax paper, steady hand.
macaron calligraphy supplies
2. Plate a bit of your ink and test. Not all ink works the best. You can see in the photo above that I have a marker, some gel edible ink and then pots of ink. I found that I like the pots of ink the best for the bold coverage I wanted. Sometimes you also need to mix a drop of water (and I do mean 1 drop) with the icing color to make it flow on your brush for calligraphy. I liked the brush the best to not crack the delicate shell of the cookie.
ink testing for calligraphy on a macaron cookie
3. Keep your cookies in the refrigerator until you are ready to write on them. I cycled through about 10 at a time to keep them chilled and not spoil or go soft on me. (I’m not wearing a glove in this photo because I had already cleaned up and forgot to take an “in progress shot” – but please do wear gloves if you are serving to people for consumption).
calligraphy on a macaron cookie
4. Use a very light touch to work on the cookie shell. They can easily be punched through and that is an expensive mistake. I love the way the brush turned out better than the marker. You can use this method with any color and mix custom colors with the little pots of ink.
Also, I would like to note – this is a small surface area, it is more impactful to keep the design simple. One word or 2 with some capitals mixed in with your calligraphy is definitely the way to go. It was tough to fit all this on the little cookies.
calligraphy on a macaron cookie
5. I allowed my calligraphy to dry for 2 hours after writing on the macaron. This helped prevent the “ink” from transferring from one cookie to the other when stacked.
pretty cookies drying
6. Serve and watch people be in awe of your amazing work.
Hope you enjoyed this little how to. I have a few more planned throughout the year so keep checking back in and creating with calligraphy. Also, I’m still figuring out how to get a video on my blog… but until then, I do have a short video on my instagram of me writing these so you can see it all in action. Thanks!
As an event calligrapher- This past week I had the absolute joy of contributing to the Inner Circle Experience by personalizing menu cards for the attendees. Ceci New York created the stunning designs. I had the joy of calligraphing each attendees name on each of the menu cards in my signature flourished script.
unique place card calligraphy
Look at these custom shapes & beautiful bronze foiling. The calligraphy ink matched perfectly. The menu was large at 12 inches tall also! All of the menu details were foil printed on the backside in a matching bronze color.
dramatic menu place card calligraphy
dramatic place card calligraphy
For the gala on the last night Ceci created the most unique menu cards. Based on the origami design from the invitation, the patterns on each layer and the folding design had me smitten. You can see the foiled patterns and how it stood tall on the plate in the top picture. The bottom photo is one I took of the menu cards flat and you can see a bit of the menu text that was on each panel. The black paper with matching pink gold ink was perfect along with my signature flourished script. As an event calligrapher, I am always a big fan of place cards that have the guest’s first name only because it means it is an intimate event full of conversation!
Here is a photo of the invitations and gorgeous black gusset envelopes with pretty pink gold calligraphy ink in my signature flourished hand. These were about 1/2 an inch thick with a patterned liner printed on the inside that created a real wow factor when the guest opened it. Ceci then had an origami folded invitation with her signature patterns that opened up to a couple of informational cards. It was really a piece of art!
unique invitation origami wrap
I loved sharing a little bit of my calligraphy for this nordic romance styled photoshoot with Each and Every Detail. The gold calligraphy on this gorgeous pink agate turned out to be stunning on the table and a really nice pop of color.
calligraphy on agate
moody fall desserts
I also was smitten with these rich colors from the florals!
What do you think about the mini tarts and moody lighting for this display. It feels like a warm party is going on with a terrible chilly storm raging outside to me.
This was a styled photoshoot to display what some wonderfully talented creatives can do. They really pulled it all together so I’d like to give credit to all – visit their websites and see what you can do with some amazing Dallas wedding vendors.