Calligraphellie

It's been kind of quiet around this blog.  That's because for the past few months I've been spending most of my dwindling calligraphy time to helping my friends Dzung and Nate with their wedding!  Dzung and Nate are friends from church, but also the masterminds behind their respective businesses, Honeysuckle Catering and Fotomokio.  Together, they also produce cooking demonstration videos on Honeysuckle Catering's YouTube channel.  (How adorable is Dzung in those videos!)  Since this was the only wedding I committed to in 2014, I really wanted to be open to whatever they wanted to do.  

First, I created a "logo" and did some spot calligraphy for them to use on their Save the Date cards, invitations, and website.  Oh la la!  

For day-of wedding things, I started by painting these wooden arrow signs:

Here is a sign I did as the ceremony program:

This is the seating chart I did.  This is definitely the biggest chalkboard I've done up to this point.

Also, they needed a lot of menus and food signage.  With Dzung's passion for food, you can imagine that the menu for this wedding was going to be extensive and delicious!  To begin, I wrote on these little tags for the crostini bar:

Here are the two bar menus I made, including one for signature cocktails.  I'll take one of each!  (Just kidding, I'm a total lightweight.)

For dinner, I created this buffet menu.  Out of all the signs, this one is my personal favorite.

And then I wrote these cute little chalkboard signs for the dessert bar.  Instead of just one wedding cake, they had a whole dessert bar of eight different cakes and pies!  I'll take one slice of each!  (Not kidding.)  Out of everything I did to help with this wedding, I think my favorite was that our other artist friend, Aislin, took the wedding logo I designed and laser cut it into a spectacular wooden cake topper! (Sorry about the blurry pics.)

Also, here is the sign for a fun photo booth.

And of course, what young, modern wedding isn't complete without its own Instagram hashtag?  I wrote it in sidewalk chalk near the entry way.

It was also fun to see how Dzung and Nate incorporated the logo I made into different aspects of the wedding day, from a bag for throwing flower petals to the little recipe books that they made as wedding favors to adorn the table settings.

So as you can see, I've been busy for the past couple of months.  I had such a wonderful experience working with Dzung and Nate.  Their wedding day was so joyous and fun.  I loved seeing them use their creativity and style to create a truly beautiful and memorable wedding.  Cheers!

My dear and wonderful friends Emily and David were married on July 13th in Berkeley.  It was a truly joyous occasion that combined 3 of my favorite things: calligraphy, Berkeley, and Emily&David!  The reception site was about 0.5 miles from the church, so they thought it would be fun for guests to take a scenic stroll through campus and asked me to write some sidewalk chalk signs to help guide their way.  Writing these signs throughout campus was so thrilling for me because it had been years since I'd been back.  If anyone told me 10 (er....15?) years ago as a student that I'd be back doing calligraphy signage, I think I would have been thoroughly confused.  Just goes to show you that life is always wide open.  Join me on our walk...

Left this fun message on Christina and Seth's doorstep for when they return from their honeymoon. Wasn't sure if I could fit in the trip, but there seemed to be a good moment on the way home from the kid's ballet class. And luckily I happen to keep emergency sidewalk chalk in my glove compartment. You know, for calligraphy emergencies. :)

The baby thankfully stayed calm in her carseat for this extra side trip. And the kid was happy to help me draw a smiley face and picture of Christina on the side. Too fun.

Congrats to my friends Katie and Chris!

My friends the Quartons had their second daughter this past weekend.  I though it would be fun to make something pretty to greet them when they got home from the hospital.

Writing with sidewall chalk is pretty fun and actually rather quick and easy.  I should do it more often.