Recently seen on Wedding Chicks and Artfully Wed.

For those of you following along on Instagram, you know that my life has been nothing short of insanity over the last few months.

It’s a long story, but TL;DR: I moved to New York to Los Angeles in September. I moved from Los Angeles to New York in December. Yes, of course I moved all my stuff each time. Like a completely sane person.

The incredible silver lining to being in moving purgatory for the last six months is that I’ve had the opportunity to work with some of my favorite teams on both coasts.

In my brief LA “stopover” (slash “permanent move” that did not stick at all), I collaborated with HoneyFitz Events on a shoot celebrating besties.

Photo by Tyler Chase Photography

I’m fortunate to design pieces for celebrations of love, of two families becoming one, but I don’t commonly get to design pieces for celebrations of a friend family.

Photo by Tyler Chase Photography

I personalized these cute lil candy dishes as take home mementos for each gal.

Photo by Tyler Chase Photography

We even created a 5’ wide banner as a backdrop for photos!

Related: Are you a New Yorker who happens to be trying to plan a party at home? And the only space big enough to fit more than 2 people is in your living room? And the centerpiece of your living room happens to be a widescreen TV?

Pro-tip: a “backdrop for photos” is also a convenient way to hide it.

I mean. If you’re anything like me.

Just hit up your local fabric store (mine is Mood) and grab a few yards of fabric.

Photo by Tyler Chase Photography

Add florals at the base and you’re all set.

And obviously invite your super talented floral artist friends, if you have ‘em. Like Pinky here, working magic and arranging blooms beneath the banner.

Photo by Tyler Chase Photography

I capped it off by treating the gals to a keepsake hand-dyed ribbon for their bouquets. These are a perfect way to dress up your future arrangements.

Photo by Tyler Chase Photography

Galentine’s Day over Valentine’s Day 4E.

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Vendors: 
Venue: The Fairmont Miramar Hotel
Planning & Design: HoneyFitz Events
Photographer: Tyler Chase Photography
Florals: Lark Farnum Designs
Sweet Treats: Vanilla Bake Shop
Linens: La Tavola Linens
Chairs: LA Best Rentals
Tabletop Rentals: Borrowed Blu
Wardrobe & Styling: Rose & Sage
Hair & Make-Up: Glam+Go
Calligraphy: Song & Pen
Custom Jewelry: Edward Avedis

One of my very favorite things: getting inky. Er, in this case: getting gouache-y. (Rhymes with “washi”.)

Just gouache me.

This week I’ll be providing live calligraphy for Etsy’s Wedding Trends 2019 Press Event at Gary’s Loft in Manhattan, and I am so stinkin’ excited.

In preparation, the Rye Workshop had sourced pressed floral escort cards for a hanging installation, and we worked together to create a versatile palette of earthy, feminine tones for the accompanying calligraphy.

After a bit of experimentation, we landed on blush, mauve, terracotta, ochre, copper and lilac.

Gouache is my medium of choice when it comes to custom “ink” for escort cards, inner envelopes or signage – matte and metallic. (Pretty much anything that doesn’t have to be waterproof.)

The opacity and texture can be so rich. I used Reeves for the below, but I’m also preferential to Winsor & Newton Designers Gouache.

Mmm, texture.

It’s sensitive enough to mix easily with water, but durable enough hold together without separating for an acceptable amount of time while I’m lettering. I can usually get at least 10 escort cards out of the ink before having to stir.

I generally premix each primary color I need with a bit of water (here I started with primary red, zinc white, and primary blue), then use a pipette to add just a bit, then a bit more, then a bit more, until I get the color I want.

Like the mauve below. (It should be surprising to no one that’s visited this website that mauve is pretty much always the color I want.)

You put the white with the mauve-y blush and stir it all up.

For metallics, if we’re doing just a few (as we do for an event where I’m lettering live), I always love the tactile experience of Finetec.

Call me a masochist (or just a calligrapher) but I can’t get enough of manually mixing the ink with a brush onto the nib.

Manually mixing the pigment from the Finetec palette onto my nib with a brush.

Stay tuned for the uber creative escort card installation sneak peek next week.