Design*Sponge » Blog Archive » diy wedding idea: faux-fancy handwriting

after just finishing hand-addressing 75 wedding invitations i can tell you that sometimes it’s tough to keep a steady hand. unfortunately calligraphy wasn’t in our wedding budget so when it came time to send out invites i was left with two options: computer printing or hand writing. because i stupidly stuffed the envelopes and sealed them before addressing my only choice was to hand write each address (the contents weren’t flat enough to run through a printer).

after about 7 envelopes i was cursing myself for not having better writing and not being able to write in a straight line to save my life. so when i heard from jennifer about her great faux-fancy handwriting idea i was so excited. jennifer was writing out her own invites and wanted a calligraphy look without the high cost, so she came up with a really clever idea for a great diy alternative. basically, she chose her favorite fancy font on her computer (you can buy some great ones here) and printed each address on the envelope in a slightly darker ink color so it was faint enough to see after printing. then jennifer went back over the lettering with a white paint pen, covering up the printed portion and giving it a more hand-written look. the result is a combination of the neatness and elegance you’d expect with a printed address and the handmade qualities that come from putting actual pen to paper. jennifer’s full steps are spelled out right here and they’re a great idea for anyone planning a party, a wedding or any event where invitations are involved. thanks, jennifer!

You can also buy some beautiful handwritten calligraphy fonts at http://www.calligraphyfonts.com. I used them for envelopes, place cards, programs, table numbers, etc. and they looked handwritten. They don’t have a huge variety, but what they do have is very pretty.

Love this idea, have to save this idea when I get my act together enough to have wedding invites. Hey Grace, would love to hear your ideas on how you even got started with the wedding stuff…to me it’s all really overwhelming…I think we have at least decided on a coast - but have yet to figure out where on the east coast! Any tips you have would be great.
Shashi

melissa

i’m going to out myself as a huge dork right now, but last week i watched a pbs special on how the usps sorts mail and things like this actually get read pretty easily. anything that can’t be read by the computer (you’d be amazed at what it CAN read) gets scanned and hand-entered by usps workers, so these are definitely safe to send.

i always wonder how more decorative calligraphy gets figured out but apparently the usps has seen it all before and can handle it. they’re a pretty impressive group ;)

grace

These are sooo beautiful. Even though I’m an artist, I would not have the patience to do the process outlined by Jennifer. She had to go over the lettering twice with her white opaque ink to get it to show up on the brown paper.

This is a great idea! I’m a designer and have ornamental handwriting, but not everyone does (including clients who are on a budget). An awesome DIY.

On the issue of postage and practicality. . . well, I always joke that the post office hates me, because I love to send nonstandard and hand addressed mail. There is a surcharge for mail that is “nonstandard” or “nonmachinable” so it might be a good idea to take these down to your local post office and see if they require additional postage.

Another great idea is to print out the addresses in a fancy font, like Bickham Script. But print the addresses out backwards and on a Laser Printer. It must be on a laser printer for this to work. Place your print out face down on the envelope. Then using Acetone (which you can purchase at any hardware store) on a cotton swab on the back side and it will transfer onto your envelope.

Plus, it gives a great grunge look. Just do a few practices, before you get started. Makes for a great faux printed look. Good luck!

Oh, this would have been a great way to handle our invites! My mom, my husband and I hand-addressed our envelopes, but my mom was the only one who had pretty, decorative cursive! Mine looked like a 4th grader, so after two attempts, I switched to my print handwriting (which I like, but it certainly didn’t look wedding formal!) And my husband’s? Well, let’s just say it was good he was able to write legibly enough for the Post Office to decipher. Should I ever have to help address wedding invites again, I am keeping this in mind! Thanks for the post.

(Hey everyone, this is the author of the original post) Since it’s come up a few times… I did take the first one I made to the post office down the street to make sure they were legible, and they said it shouldn’t be a problem :)

A great idea, but not really time-saving…

After adressing 346 invitations by hand (yep, I’m a survivor), I’d really wish poeple would stop saying “it’s more personal when it’s written by hand”. Sure, it is, and it’s more elegant too, but it is so long and boring… Gosh, I wish I had had the guts to use that function on excel that prints adresses automatically…

As a result, it took me almost six months to write our 250 thank-you cards (husband had a really good excuse for not helping). By my own, very tired hand.

Good idea! I tried another variation of faux calligraphy: I printed the addresses out on regular paper, then slipped them inside the envelopes and traced them over a lightbox. It was a little labor intensive, but probably less time than I would have spent trying to learn actual calligraphy. Plus, I was able to use my favorite Feel script! Here are some pics of my results:
http://fata-felice.blogspot.com/2008/05/godspeed-my-friends.html

ok, so i JUST got back from mailing some additional wedding envelopes and they said that something like this is no problem.

my envelopes are made from kraft paper and i used white ink as well and they’re sadly no where near as neat and legible as these- so if mine are ok, these are definitely ok. there’s no extra charge for using white ink or doing something decorative like this. the only extra charges are related to weight or envelope size/shape.

Wow, Grace you are totally an awesome and loveable dork for watching a PBS show about how mail is processed! But look how it comes in handy, haha! I am another bride who is also completely stealing this idea, props to jennifer for figuring this out!

and the coup de grâce? i spent 2 hours today working on a roundup for next week while watching on-demand episodes of “the dog whisperer” and “dog town”. i love a good national geographic show ;)

When I see things like this, I think.. how did I not think of this before? I love it. I love hand addressing everything, but it would be nice to swap out my own handwriting for my favorite font once in a while.

I did something similar to what Elizabeth did. Didn’t have a lightbox, though, so I used our glass table and stuck a lamp with the shade removed under it. I used a very bright bulb and it was quite easy to complete.

i did a similar “cheat” on my wedding invitations. i printed the addresses in beautiful font. then i placed my ecru envelopes on a light tracer- or you can use an overhead projector, and traced the font with a calligraphy pen. it looked beautiful.

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