DIY Wedding Sign - Simple Calligraphy Project
Discover how a simple DIY wedding sign sparked a love for calligraphy. Enjoy this easy wedding sign idea and be inspired to make your special day even more personal and beautiful.
CALLIGRAPHYLIFESTYLEDIY
3 min read
Nearly 11 years ago, I was getting all my ducks in a row for a day that many women spend years of anticipation waiting for: my wedding date.
I consider myself a pretty decisive person. By 9:00 p.m. on the day Luke and I were engaged, we had already decided on a wedding date (February 20, 2016 in case you were wondering), confirmed with our pastor that he would be available to marry us, booked the church, agreed on a wedding reception venue, and I am sure a few other important items were checked off within that first 24 hours. One of my younger sisters was set to be married barely three months before us so I knew that a few DIY projects would be waiting along the way.
I love a project. Sign me up.
A wedding planner didn't make it into the budget, so Pinterest and I became close friends pretty quick. Talking to a few friends about what they did and didn't do seemed like a cost effective approach to building a "to-do" list, so that approach got added to the tool belt, too. Some obvious big ticket to-do's included: an invite list, a dress, time of day for the ceremony, do you want to feed your guests or BYODinner etc. Our engagement was 5 months (would have gotten married sooner if not for that sister of mine!) so it really felt pedal to the metal in terms of the planning.
One thing I noticed as I got further and further into my Pinterest/Google deep dive was that people actually hired other people to create beautiful, hand written wedding signs. Not only that, but they also actually paid people to address their invitations for them! How did I not know this was a thing? The more I scrolled, the more determined I became to some how incorporate custom lettering props and accents into the wedding decor. My mind took off - is this something I could do on my own? I was seeing where people took old picture frames they found at Goodwill or a garage sale, took the art out of the frame, replaced the glass, and did either a chalk paint for a background or simply painted white acrylic letters on the glass. I really had no idea that custom lettering was a world all on its own and I really did not know where to start, but the $2 DIY route made possible by Goodwill felt right.
Long story short, I gave my first custom lettering attempt for our wedding. In an effort to cut down costs we skipped out over a ceremony program, so I painted a sign telling guests where the reception would be and placed it by the entrance to the church. I also did little chalk board signs for places like "gifts here" and "please sign our tree". I even tried to do fancy addressing for our invitations, which honest to goodness turned out laughable. I am giggling to myself as I think about them now (imagine a red metallic paint pen on a light weight white envelope, embellished with some sort of vine looking stamp I found at Hobby Lobby dipped in gold ink). What started off as a sort of necessary learn-it-quick-skill, if I wanted anything remotely resembling calligraphy, turned into a legitimate creative outlet that I would turn to again and again even after the wedding.
That little ole' reception sign that I painted over a decade ago is still with us. Yes, the paint is peeling a bit (a lot) but I see it everyday when I pull into our carport. I would never charge a soul for its re-creation, but I am proud of that little sign. Since then, I have done a number of lettering projects for friends, family and clients, ranging anywhere from watercolor bedroom door signs, addressing envelopes, wedding signs, custom art and more.
Being a stay at home mom with three small children means that the nibs and paint pens need extra secret storage space (a toddler loves a craft) and that my time to take on commissions changes depending on the time of year, but getting to share this hobby of mine with my children has been dear to my heart. My oldest daughter (4) "addresses" letters to her stuffed animals, her brother and sometimes the mailman. I love it. I love that she is watching that penmanship is important, that it says that the writer took time and thought into sending someone something beautiful.
The circumstances stances just happened to be right all those years ago for me to learn something new about myself. What a blessing that it - to learn something new about who you are. Calligraphy has been a source of joy for me and I am grateful to be able to share a little bit of that journey here with you.