Texas - Left Handed Calligrapher

Southern Tradition: Bury the Bourbon

July 6, 2020

Have you heard of the southern tradition to “Bury the Bourbon”? As the saying goes:

“Bury a bottle of bourbon a month to the day to keep the rain away.”

You take a bottle of bourbon, and bury it at your venue a month before your wedding. Make sure to receive permission from your wedding venue first! The bottle must be buried one month to the day, full, and upside down. Then, on the day of your ceremony, you and your new partner dig up the bottle together as a part of the celebration. The freshly dug-up lucky bourbon is then incorporated into your party, either as a toast or shots with the wedding party.

So, how do you incorporate this tradition into your wedding festivities? Here are the rules and grab a shovel!:

The bottle needs to be completely full.
It needs to be real Bourbon (your call on what brand).
You and your partner need to bury it together.
It needs to be buried upside down.
It has to be buried exactly one month before the wedding– and preferably on a day of good weather.

A special treat is to hire out an engraver to personalize the bottle with your wedding date and names! Then you can enjoy the bottle for many celebrations to come if it isn’t finished off on the day of your wedding.

Dallas Ballroom Wedding

March 20, 2019

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.

The Invitations

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.

The Day Of – Dallas Ballroom Wedding

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!

How to Write on a Macaron

February 12, 2018

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!

Dallas Wedding Calligraphy – Italian themed

January 9, 2018

Dallas Wedding Calligraphy – Italian themed

I love working with the team at Emily Clarke events. Their table settings are top notch. They always make my work look so good…especially for this Italian themed Dallas Wedding Calligraphy.

These little tags tied around an olive branch atop the napkin and menu are just so welcoming! This is a seat that I would want to sit in and laugh and talk with my table mates all night! We used my Olivia script on these sweet place cards. The ink was a custom mixed green. The olive branches on the napkins were fresh picked. Fresh greenery adds a touch of warmth and intimacy on any table. The florist is really important in bringing life to a table setting. When floral and calligraphy are pulled together, magic happens!

And this great set up is where the escort cards display went for the rehearsal dinner. The little tags were pinned into the fresh produce. I loved the red color and a bit more casual script on these! We used my Mitty hand. They were tiny at only 1 inch tall.

This display is so lovely. I think it would be great for any intimate rehearsal dinner or party. It looks so effortless and simple, but I’m sure there is more work than it looks like. Emily and her team are brilliant at styling these escort card displays. I love this idea for a co-op produce exchange too. How fun to make that into a party to celebrate the bounty for the season.

Spring Wedding Elegance With Some Serious Flower Power

November 3, 2017

Spring Wedding Elegance With Some Serious Flower Power was recently published! Working with a team of talented vendors on a wedding is one of my greatest joys. I adore that everyone with different talents brings their skill to a project to make a magnificent piece of collaborative art. The event will communicate all the feelings the Bride and Groom want to convey to their guests through each piece. This wedding was definitely full of thought and life! You can see more on Style Me Pretty but I wanted to shout out to my fantastic vendors and show just a bit here.

Dallas, Texas Arlington Hall ceremony reception

I used my Talia calligraphy for the table signs, table numbers, escort cards and place cards. The blue and taupe combination was really dreamy and kept the stationery feeling spring and full of elegance. The escort cards were displayed on the bride’s family silver serving trays. It was such a nice way to bring a bit of home into the reception.

calligraphy escort card display

calligraphy place card

This was the perfect set up for a spring garden stroll after the ceremony. Bows and Arrows really did a splendid job with all the floral pieces looking right at home in the gardens.

The reception tent at Arlington Hall kept the Spring Wedding Elegance With Some Serious Flower Power going. I’m a sucker for a clear top and some twinkle lights though. The low and lush florals make a perfect statement on crisp white linen covered tables.

Dallas, Texas – Arlington Hall tented reception

The Vendor Team:

Photographer: Stephanie Brazzle Photography; Planner/Designer: The Wildflowers; Floral: Bows and Arrows; Stationery: Yonder Design; Wedding Venue: Arlington Hall at Oak Lawn Park; Wedding Cake: Panini Bakery; Catering: Food Glorious Food, Hair and Makeup: Samantha Landis, Lighting/Band: Absolute DFW, Transporation: Premier Transportation; Tent: Sandone Productions; Ceremony Choir: Concord Church of Dallas Choir; Rentals: Melodys Joy; Rentals: Posh Couture Rentals; Draping: Stageworks; Bridal Salon: Warren Barron Bridal; Wedding Dress: Romona Keveza; Bridesmaid Dresses: Jenny Yoo; Grooms Attire: The Black Tux