Calligraphers in the Tampa area and invitation questions!

Gorecbrie2011

Hi ladies! I'm going to be sending my invitations out at the end of this month but not sure what to do about addressing the invites. I know that most people barely notice the outside since the envelope is thrown away, but I still want them to look nice. My handwriting is OK but not the best so I'd like to have someone else write them out. Does anyone know of someone in the Tampa area who can write them in calligraphy? I wouldn't even know where to begin or how much they would cost, or if it's even worth it. What is everyone else doing to address their invitations? 

bananafanafofashley

We had this discussion not too long ago. I think most people were ok with printing it on the computer, but if money isn't an issue I would send it to a calligrapher.

This place is on North Dale http://invitationgalleria.com/products/social

teachermegs

I printed them at home. It was very easy.

cjohnsen2010

Diane at www.tampacalligraphy.com did mine.  She does computerized calligraphy, but has a couple of hand-drawn styles that have been converted to the computer and thousands of fonts.  I chose the font that matched my invites.  She did my place cards, menu cards, programs, and table numbers and did a beautiful job.

I think the best part was she knows the proper way to set up the invitations and she caught some of my spelling/typo errors and fixed them.

She charges $.50 each with no set-up charge and had everything ready in 1 day.  She's in Westchase, but met me at Crate & Barrel at International Mall.

BriarRose84

My original plan was to print on the computer....I asked about this in a previous post. However, my mom picked up a calligraphy pen for me and I was surprised how nice my regular handwriting looks using this pen! So now the plan is to hand address them using a calligrpahy pen. If I find that I keep messing up and/or writing crooked, I am going to use the computer.

Kristin789

1.  Your bio says your wedding is April 9.  Here is the traditional timeline:

Q.How far in advance should you send invitations? What is the proper date to ask for the reply card?
A. Invitations should go out six weeks before the wedding -- that gives guests plenty of time to clear their schedules for the day and make travel arrangements if they are out-of-towners. It also lets you make the RSVP date a little earlier -- say three weeks before the wedding date -- so you can get a final head count and start making a seating chart (if you'll have one) before the final-week-before-the-wedding crunch begins.

So you don't send your invitations out at the end of this month, or even the end of January.  You'd send them Feb. 26.

2.  You wrote:  What is everyone else doing to address their invitations? 
That depends on how your invitation wording begins. 

In my case, my mother's name was on the top line as the host of the wedding, and she was extending the invitation to the guests.  So my mother insisted on hand-writing the envelopes for HER invitations that said that SHE was extending these invitations.  I sat with her, and we looked up the addresses, then I stuffed and stamped and later mailed.

But if your parents are not on your invitation's top line and you and FI are there instead as inviting people to attend, then you would be making the decisions regarding YOUR invitations.  I would suggest a calligrapher, because that's just a special touch.  If your wedding is very casual, like on the beach, maybe someone in your WP would have nice handwriting to help you out.

Kristin789

NWR:  Your pics on your Knot profile are stunning.  Very beautiful. 

Gorecbrie2011

Thanks for the suggestions, girls!

Kristin - thank you! Our photographers are Scott and April Patterson from Life's Highlights and I absolutely love them! The one in my signature was our save the date magnet.