Real Wedding Example at Goodwood House, Chichester
I was thrilled when Anya got in touch with me via another calligrapher. She initially had a calligrapher in mind, local to her in Chichester, who referred her to me - and we proved that it’s more than possible to provide calligraphy services at a distance! At this stage, her wedding was still six months off but, being fiercely organised, she was getting her wedding vendors in place. Her save the dates and wedding invitations were already in place so she was looking for on-the-day wedding stationery and signage.
Initial Consultation
We had a phone call the same week so that I could hear about the plans she had in place and the vision that she had for her wedding which was to take place at Goodwood House in Chichester. Goodwood House is a wonderfully grand (and yet welcoming) country home set in parkland with an intriguing mix of rooms from the magnificent and ornate Ballroom to the more intimate areas such as the Music Room and Drawing Room. It also has a stunning portico for your guests on arrival.
Anya let me know she had been to several Balls and events at Goodwood House and, understandably, wanted her wedding to feel very different; it was important to her that there were marked changes to the “standard” set up and her wedding stationery was an idea place to start. Her wedding breakfast would be in the Ballroom, a very grand room in the French style of Louis XV with crimson drapes and portraits of royalty and the nobility in ornate gilded frames. Anya’s wedding day was going to be quite traditional and classic - so when we started looked at calligraphy styles for her on the day wedding stationery it was important to find something that (a) she loved (b) suited her style and that of her wedding and (c) suited the room in which it would be seen.
We also discussed her basic requirements of the calligraphy she was certain she wanted. Goodwood House supply printed place cards and menus, but Anya was clear she wanted these to stand out from previous events there, and that hand written placecards and personalised menus were a priority. We discussed the merits (and flaws) of a mirror table plan, together with other personalised items which could be incorporated into the day.
The next stage was me pulling the ideas together of what I could provide, with clear pricing attached. There’s enough to think about when planning a wedding without having to get through five phone calls with a supplier before they will hint at their price point! I created sample place cards showing a traditional calligraphy style and flourished copperplate calligraphy in a gold ink and sent them to Anya. I created a basic design in order to get a costing from my print supplier for the menus and table numbers. I also thought about Anya’s decision to not have a mirror seating plan as she was concerned about legibility but I’d sensed her disappointment… so I included a quote for a “Welcome to our Wedding” mirror which would give the timings for their day, and included a photograph of a mirror I just happened to have at the time.
In a second phone call, we soon whittled the options down to the items Anya felt would really tie the event together, and the joy of treating the stationery and calligraphy together would be that there would be consistency throughout.
Large ornate lettered “Welcome to our wedding” mirror at Goodwood House ,featuring flourished copperplate calligraphy, timings of the day and the couples linked initials as a monogram
Welcome Mirror signage
In the end, the lettering on the large mirror ( vinyl cut to give a really long lasting, opaque and crisp finish) was a combination of Flourished copperplate and typeface. I created a monogram for the bride and groom of ‘A’ and ‘S’ which was applied on the mirror towards the base, which along with their flourished names at the top framed the timings in typeface. I delivered the mirror on the morning of the wedding and placed it in the portico, to be surrounded with large lanterns, trailing garlands and flowers to greet the guests on arrival at Goodwood House.
Handwritten wedding place card with flourished copperplate calligraphy in gold ink
Place cards
The same flourished copperplate calligraphy, this time in gold, was used to create the place cards which caught the light beautifully as it streamed through the large windows into the Ballroom. Anya had decided very early in the process that she really wanted to focus on having hand written gold calligraphy placecards. The Ballroom at Goodwood House has crimson drapes and a large number of gilded ornate frames around the numerous paintings, together with a minstrels gallery so the gold placecards were perfect. The flowing and flourished gold calligraphy on her place card was the first time Anya had seen her new married name!
Menus
The menus featured the same typeface used on the welcome mirror (I did tell you it all tied together!) and the border surrounding the text on each page was the same simple art nouveau style used on the seating plan cards. The whole menu was digitally foiled in gold.
Seating Plan
Although it probably seems a strange thing for me to do, I recommended to Anya that we didn’t go ahead with the same flourished calligraphy on the seating plan cards but that we went ahead with the (less costly) option of classic copperplate. I believe that at the point where guests are trying to find their seats, they have often been standing for a while, there are numerous people looking at the same time, and clarity is key! Although all the flourishes looked gorgeous on the placecards, I think it’s more helpful - when there are ten or twelve names together on each seating plan card with limited space and there are 12 cards to scan - to make things easier on your guests! I knew that Anya loved the flourishes as much as I do so I did add in some rather fancier capital letters along the way…. Each seating plan card was digitally foiled with a simple gold border to echo the printed menus.
Handwritten wedding table plan in traditional calligraphy using gold ink. Gold foiled border.
The Ballroom at Goodwood House showing handwritten wedding place cards, gold table numbers and monogram stickers on the wedding favours
Table numbers
Anya wanted the table numbers to feature copperplate style numbers in gold to tie in with the rest of the calligraphy on display in the Ballroom. I created digital versions of my own copperplate number calligraphy. These were then sent to print to be digitally foiled to match the foil on the menu. For added luxury and to be completely user friendly, they were double sided and very sturdy indeed as at that point we were unsure if they would be propped or in holders. These could just as easily have been Table Names and made in the same way,
I am a ‘detail’ person so of course the placecards, seating plan cards, table names and menus all were printed on the same cardstock (at different weights) to avoid different tones of white or textures.
Wedding favours
Anya was organising macarons in green and ivory to match the flowers. These would be encased in clear cubes and placed on the napkins at each place setting. To make them really personal, I had small circular stickers printed with their monogram (already seen on the Welcome Mirror signage) in digital gold foil……. which tied in beautifully with the foiled table numbers and menus.
I was thrilled to receive the following testimonial from Anya and to also, as a result of the work seen by Goodwood House, be asked to become a Trusted Supplier to Goodwood House.
“Claire was a dream to work with and I would recommend her to anyone! Our visions perfectly aligned and there was so much attention to detail, right through from initial ideas to the final product. The work Claire produced on our wedding day bought the whole event together … our guests continue to comment on how beautiful it was. It perfectly complemented the grand nature of the venue, and this is something Claire captured so well. In the evening, the candlelight set the gold of the calligraphy off flawlessly and I will treasure those memories forever.”