FAQ: Fonts

It is no secret that I am a font lover.  In fact, since I started this business about two years ago now, I now notice fonts everywhere - in movie posters, flyers, church bulletins, and signs at my doctor's office. So when others are like, "hey, doc, thanks for the information on the hours your practice is open," I'm like, "why would you use papyrus font to tell me this? what a horrible choice. i'm changing doctors."

There is also a chance that I've become a font snob.

Last week, I started a series of posts called "FAQs." These are questions I get asked regularly by brides. This week, I thought I'd focus on some fonts. 

As far as fonts go, typically brides like to have a script font for their names and a block font for the rest of the invitation wording. 

Like this.

Images by Stevie B. Photography

Or less formally, like this. 

Image by Amy Sayre Photography

Or you might be a little more modern and decide that you want to use all block lettering. That can look great, too. 

Image by Bella Pictures

Image by Capturing Subtleties

No matter what you personal style is, there are a ton of fonts out there to help create your perfect invitation. I've narrowed down some fantastic fonts right here and I'll break them into script fonts and block fonts for you. 

I want to give a little extra attention to the first two script fonts because they are by far my favorites right now. But you might not realize how great they are just at a glance. 

SCRIPT FONTS

First up, Samantha Script. 

Now, when I show you Samantha Script with any ordinary names, it might not necessarily catch your eye.

But here's a little secret. Samantha Script (and most other fonts that you will pay a little bit of $$ for) comes with something called glyphs. They are those super fancy swirly things that you can add to the font to give it a little extra flair.

Check these out.

So those same names above can look like this with these fancy glyphs.

So much better, yes?

And (wait, there's more!) Samantha Script also comes with a whole bunch of catchwords that you can use. 

So then these names can look like this. 

Consider this an official advertisement for Samantha Script. Let's just go ahead and call it my favorite font of 2013.

But let's look at another one that I am loving these days.

Another favorite for 2013 is Melany Lane.

Melany Lane comes with a ton of glyphs as well. Check out the transformation of these words. 

And while it's not quite as noticeable as Samantha Script was, here's the change using just a few of the glyphs.

Here are some more script fonts that I think are great. If you click on the link, you can put your own names in there to see how they'll look.

Hiatus.

Albermarle Swatch.

Baroque Antique Script.

Mardian.

Dear Joe.

Allura.

Lavanderia.

Halo Handletter.

 Black Jack.

 Gelato.

I'd recommend figuring out which script font you'd like to use first. Once that decision is made, here are some block fonts to look at.  If you click on the links, most of these will let you type in your names to see how they would look in each font.

BLOCK FONTS

Trajan Pro.

Optimus Princeps.

Birmingham.

Big Caslon Medium.

Sanford.

Bentham.

Here are some that are a little more modern. 

Copperplate. 

Estilo.

Hero.

Novecento Wide.

Of course, there are a massive amount of fonts out there, but a lot of brides appreciate when I narrow things down for them (considering they have about a billion other decisions to make during this bus time in their lives). But, if you are wanting to browse a little more, here are some great places to do it. 

Free fonts:

dafont.com

1001freefonts.com

fontspace.com

fontsquirrel.com

Not-so-free (but fabulous) fonts:

veer.com

myfonts.com

Next week's FAQ post is going to be on the important dates you need to know as far as when to send our your wedding invitations. See you then!

More FAQs:

Want to find out how to address your envelopes? Go here. 

Want to find out how to word your invitations? Go here. 

Want to hear more about the value of custom invitations? Check out this post. 

Brynne and Shawn's Wedding Extras

The one thing that has been such a wonderful surprise about this business is the incredibly kind and gracious brides I've worked with. When I first started out, I didn't know what to expect when it came to having brides as my main client base. Every girl that's had a wedding can attest to the fact that at times wedding planning can make you a little crazy. For example, this conversation happened with my mom during my own wedding planning:

Mom, casually in a conversation about what pictures would be taken during the wedding day: I'd really like it if when I'm helping zip up your wedding dress, the photographer would take the photo from above so I don't have a double chin. 

Jennifer, abruptly, as if demon possessed: OUR PHOTOGRAPHER WILL DO WHATEVER SHE WANTS AND YOU WILL LIKE IT.

(I don't remember exactly how the conversation went, but I'm pretty sure I captured the gist.)

But even during an incredibly stressful, busy time, my brides have yet to lash out at me like I did at my poor mom. Instead, they've responded to my emails in such good-hearted, complimentary ways, making me feel like the luckiest invitation designer ever. 

Take, for instance, Brynne (whom you may remember from when I did her lace wedding invitations here). By the time she and I were done designing her wedding suite and her wedding extras, it was a little bittersweet to say goodbye to her. I remember an email exchange basically saying "it will be weird not to email so often!" She wanted to be a part of the design process and we truly went through each piece together, going back and forth with ideas for everything. When I think back on that it makes me realize just how fortunate I am to work with such amazing ladies.  

At the end of my time with my brides, I've started asking them if they wouldn't mind sending over some photos of their wedding day so I can see how everything was pulled together. I get to see a little snippet of their style when they come to me for invitations, but I love seeing the big picture and have been nothing short of delighted when they've sent me pictures.

So here are the pictures of Brynne and Shawn''s wedding extras. All photography is by Jean Smith Photography.

We originally made Brynne and Shawn's monogram to go with their lace wedding invitations, but we wanted to carry it into some aspects of their wedding day, too. The programs were an easy way to do that.

Brynne had me make tags for the box mailers that she used to ship her invites. Well, we ended up using the same tags for the little favor boxes, too. I printed the 'L' on the tag and then Brynne had the guest's names and table number added on. How beautiful do they look?

If you pay attention to the little details at weddings like I do, then you must have noticed the linens, the chairs (oh, the chairs!), the amazing floral arrangements in the background, the enclosed tent, and the beautiful china they used on the tables. I am 100% completely in love with everything about this wedding. For crying out loud, WHY DIDN'T I CRASH IT?!?

We designed the menus just like we did the programs. I love the classic elegance of Brynne and Shawn's style.

A huge thank you to Jean Smith Photography for taking such gorgeous photos and to Brynne for sharing them with us!

(I want a roll with butter now.)

Want to hear more about the value of custom invitations? Check out this post. 

Rachael's Baby Announcements

If you've kept up with this blog (and may I say a huge thank you if you have) you've heard of the BFFs. I write about them frequently. In case you've forgotten, they look like this. 

A few months ago, Kauri, Heidi, and I bought plane tickets to Boston. We knew that Rachael (far left), who had just moved there with her husband and their little girl, was expecting her second baby in January and we figured that March would be a great time to visit. 

I realized as I was on my way to Boston that I hadn't seen the BFFs in the past year. The last time we all got together had been my birthday in 2012. I usually head down south every October to see them, but this year I hadn't been able to and I suddenly felt every bit of that 12 month break. Even though I keep up with these girls on a weekly basis through emails, I still missed just sitting down and talking with them face to face. These are my girls. My people. You know the feeling.

My trip there was eventful. My flight got into Boston at 3:11 AM. It was three hours late. I broke down and cried in the airport twice. I was disappointed with how my trip was starting out. I was disappointed because I just wanted to see my friends. 

But the incredible thing about being with some of the people that you love most in the world is that once you get to them, every other little worry melts away. Seriously. Somehow, I woke up at 8 AM the next morning and was just so happy to be with them. 

This trip was different from other trips though. It was the first time that we were all together when Rachael's daughter, Elizabeth, was old enough to really have fun with. While us girls still had plenty of time to just sit around and catch up with each other, we also had plenty of time to hang out with Elizabeth, and quite honestly, act a little like kids ourselves.

There was sledding. 

Who is having more fun here - mom or daughter?

 There were snow angels.

Again, I'm pretty sure I am enjoying myself more than Elizabeth.

There was fort building.

In my pajama pants...YUP.

There was a snowman.

The cigar kills me.

There was an extreme makeover.

I set out to make a lovely braid in Elizabeth's hair...it ended up being a pretty normal ponytail.

And there was story time.

I don't have a good caption for this photo.

There was also quite a bit of dancing, but I choose not to disclose the video of that. :) 

It's safe to say that Elizabeth officially has three more friends now. 

(It should be stated that Rachael's second child, Charlie, was there, too. I don't want to give him the cold shoulder. More about him in a minute.) 

As I was flying home (a much less eventful trip with zero tears, thank goodness), I was reflecting on the time I just had with my friends. I realized that even though I had been with Rachael when she had Elizabeth before, this was the first time seeing her with two kids. It was the first time I really got to observe her in her mom role. She was now balancing two little humans - this was a whole new ballgame (I think my husband will appreciate the sports reference). 

I feel like there are just so many emotions when it comes to how I feel about Rach as a mom. She is so loving and kind. She tells us all the time how she feels like disciplining is a struggle for her, but she did it with such grace and gentleness. And she just does what she needs to do. No opinions about how other mothers should do their thang. Just her, trying to do what's best for her kids. It was really encouraging to see.

But let's shift gears now. 

I'd like to introduce you all to handsome little Charlie. 

"Dude...this chick is scaring me."

Charlie was born about two months ago and Heidi, Kauri, and I were thrilled for Rachael. Even though we wouldn't see them for two more months, we wanted to do something for Rach as a joint gift. 

Kauri called me one day with the idea of doing a baby announcement for Rachael (I didn't even have to force her to do this!), and I gladly said I would get to work designing one. Rach sent me a picture and I began designing a baby announcement with her style in mind.

Here's little Charlie's announcement. 

This font was a recent splurge and I was really excited to use it on this announcement. It's Melany Lane and you can find it here.

Rachael has such simple, classic style and I wanted something that kept to that. A few weeks after I did them, I was delighted to see that Rachael's sister-in-law had posted this picture on Facebook of her own little daughter enjoying Charlie's announcement.

Another reason to buy from Vivian Elle - kid approved. :) 

So that's it. Another great trip with some of my favorite ladies. Thanks again to our gracious hosts, Rachael and her husband, Jonathan (who chauffeured us girls back and forth to the airport many a time this weekend).

I'll be back next week with a set of Save the Dates that I just love. See you then!

Want to hear more about the value of custom invitations? Check out this post.