Love is in the Air!

What a cute couple- full of energy, smiles, throw-your-head-back laughter and oh-so-fresh in their white coordinates!  All of the elements were just right for an Engagement Shoot at the beach.  So the little story for this couple's photo session stems back further than just that day:

Intro text on September 1st from the Bride:  "I just got back from Rome and Piotr and I got engaged!!"

Talks begin and a September 19th Photo session is planned.  The bride cannot wait...

Thursday, September 17 text to Bride:  "Yay!  If the sunrise and sky is anything like today on Sunday then we'll have some fab backdrops for your photographs!!"

Thursday's response:  "Yay I hope so!"

 Good communication with the bride, moralle is high...

Saturday, 8:00p.m.- Socializing at our HS Reunion with my husband whilst I don't know:

Husband says, "Congratulations!  I hear Erica is taking your pictures."

Bride says, "Yes, Sunday morning."

Husband says, "Yes, early.  Very early time, huh?"

Bride responds, "Well, Erica told us that was the best time of day..."

Husband informs, "Well, Erica is not much of a morning person! (insert rum-and-coke laughter!)"

Brides face...well, I can only imagine her face.  Actually, I lay awake until 4a.m. that night contemplating how to rebuild said bride's presumed wavering confidence.

Sunday, 7:00a.m.: alarm goes off, it's time to do jumping jacks to revive my spirits and shake up the juices (well, I did mental jumping jacks, if you will, but the thought was there!).

Sunday, 7:32a.m. text to Bride: "Morning!  See you in a few- get excited!!  It's beautiful out!!!"

Response from Bride is a "Yay!" so confidence is restored.  Whew!!

So all previous worries were quickly pushed to the wayside when the couple arrived, the camera came out and the joke about how early in just happened to be was stated.  Thank goodness for all of the giggles along the way from kissing in front of a camera, running-start leaps into arms and the ocean washing away our pretty sand declaration of coupledom moments after completion!  It was such a marvelous experience and I'm proud to say that the pictures prove it.  Here's to a happy life together that's forever as playful as today's images (Congratulations Genevieve & Piotr!!)!

 

And if I may add, for those of you wondering about the status of my husband, he is fantastic and made strides toward betterment in my eyes by empathizing with the Gator graphics on their form of payment today.  I believe his words were, "well I hope she was charged more for that...".  All words of camaraderie aside, I love him to pieces and am beyond thankful to have experienced my giggly engagement moments with him.  Cheers!  ...and Go 'Noles!

Calligraphy 101: How to Avoid Mishaps

Mistakes happen.  You live and you learn.  What doesn't kill us makes us stronger.  Every artist was first an amateur.  Thank goodness for these quotes and the last one, a Fortune Cookie unfolded.  I've found that not only with the progress of WP inks but also in other aspects of my life that keeping perspective and being taken back a step once in awhile is important for growth.  So, with a recent manageable blunder in mind, I've decided on sharing a few pointers with those of you who choose to take on a task of writing out pretty letters and seeing through to the end-user in proper etiquette fashion:

1.  Start at the end of your client's Address List and work your way to the top.  I find that the nerves are a little bit calmer as the last of the list is less daunting than the newness of the first page.  Perhaps this theory stems from daunting marker-drafting projects in Interior Design school?  Being able to erase pencil is one thing, starting a complex multi-day requiring floor plan that builds off of each pen stroke and must be restarted from scratch with one slip of the pen definitely causes one to analyze the approach!

2.  Know how to spell out your numbers before you begin with One hundred... and continue with ninety-ninth.  It's embarrassing when your client ends up being a former English teacher and advises you that a letter "e" isn't used in the spelling of 9th (Thank you to those of you who don't live on a numbered street, it has helped me to save face!).  

3.  Ask your client if their Invitations include the use of Ribbon.  While ribbon is positively gorgeous, it's an embellishment that takes time.  We all know that "time is money".  So when you're hired to inscribe, assemble and stuff it helps to know if you'll be looping the bunny ears around the tree (or however the shoe-tying rhyme goes).  Not to mention snipping frayed edges and plumping a good bow afterwards.  

4.  Be mindful of the spacial needs of your letters.  As an architect once told me during my Florida State drafting class, "Spacing is everything".  Much like a drawing, the layout affects how the eye perceives the balance, and therefore beauty, of the writing.

5.  Keep it consistent.  Once you curve the bottom of your "H's", curve all of them throughout the job. 

6.  Know how to saturate your paper.  It's taken me time to get used to the different paper weights and texture.  This totally affects which writing utensil I use for the task. 

7.  Label your Client's List.  This is was sparked the "Calligraphy How To".  It's one thing if you know that you're practicing the list before you begin to put ink on the real envelope.  It's another thing altogether when you don't realize that you're writing the wrong names on the wrong paper.  Two unlabeled lists can do that to you.  Here's to having multiple jobs...now they just need to be kept in-check! 

Wishing all of you just enough hiccups in your everyday life to be able to work past them and have much better overall experience in and with life because of it!