The Truth About The Wedding Business - PART 1

If I had listened to my business adviser, when I first started all those years ago, I would be where I am now.... only I would have got there quicker!

As many of you know, I've been a Calligrapher and Lettering Artist since 1988. My work has been wide and varied. Some jobs you want to do, others were quite frankly a pain in the bum. Each had it's own merits and challenges.

Professional, qualified, Calligraphers are getting pretty thin on the ground. We are becoming a specialised industry. While there are still plenty of Calligraphy Groups around, they are more 'interest' groups rather than anyone wanting to take on work and use their skills.

I live in North Yorkshire. The county is wide and spread out. Fewer people even know what a Calligrapher does these days, never mind needing their services and the ones that do are pretty reluctant to pay a decent hourly rate for the work involved.

"Surely, you just pick up a fancy pan,

 filled with ink and write, don't you?"

I wish it was that simple. The 'in' joke amongst Calligraphers is that you can become a brain surgeon in less time! And actually, it's not too far from the truth!

I remember, when John, my business adviser with Action For Blind People suggested I specialise in Wedding Stationery, I laughed! At the time I was lucky enough if I did 1 or 2 wedding orders a year. The thought of ditching all the other work, in it various guises, made my stomach churn. I just about made enough to keep the doors open at the studio. To ditch the small amount of work that was coming through seems nothing close to madness!

I resisted.... well, I actually, didn't resist fully, I made more of an effort as far as I was concerned, made up some Wedding Invitation portfolios and got them into shops.... the business didn't come my way and I continued to take on small jobs, which took a great deal of time and effort, but had very little reward.

I did this for a further 3 years. I did it till I could take no more. I felt the life was sucked out of me and this also coincided with the break-up of what I thought at the time was a 'perfect' relationship (Please excuse me here,while I laugh my stripy socks off!).

For the following year I took stock of not only my life, my relationship (and the no good for me characters, I seemed to attract!) but my business and my feeling towards that too. I'm a big believer in "If you always do, what you've always done, you'll always get, what you've always gotten!". Things had to change... I had to change! My attitude and my fears regarding my work had to change.... and change it did!

This wasn't over night... it was a long journey and there's lots to tell.... so I'll write more about this in another post...

I have things I need to 'get off my chest' and most of all, I hope my story, in time will give hope, inspiration and motivation to others. 

Personalised Wishing Tree Tags

Paul came to see me after we had first met some moths earlier. He'd been married for year and clearly didn't want or need Wedding Stationery.

What he did discuss was whether I could make some Birthday Invitations.... but with a twist.

Paul explained that it was not only his 50 th Birthday, but after 3 long years, it was also the end of his 9 year old sons treatment for Leukaemia. Therefore they were having a joint celebration!

Here's what we came up with....

Paul came back a little later and wanted to have a wishing tree instead of a guest book, then guests could wrote their wishes for both Paul and Thomas and would be a lasting reminder of their special day.

This is what I came up with......

I foiled the cards in 3 different colours....

Green, Purple and Blue.....

I then came up with a little poem...

OK so I'm no poet Laureate! :-)

The poem read:

Choose a card, Green, Purple or Blue,

Write on a wish, you want to come true,

Tie on string, attach to the tree,

Whisper those words and you let them go free!

It was nice to see the Wishing Tree and tags being used for something other than Weddings. In March, it will be used for a Baby's Christening :-)

We at Inspired by Script want to congratulate Paul on his
50 th Birthday and sending lots of love and special wishes for Thomas's continued health.

Personalised Birthday Card for my mum :-)

It's been the busiest week ever!

And it's my mum's birthday tomorrow...

So the card was done in a hurry,

with not a spot of hand lettering in sight....

Plain and simple.

14.5 cm x 14.5 cm

Hand Made by Sue Simpson
at the studio of
Inspired by Script

Foiled Christmas Cards Using Customers Artwork

It would be easy to think, by looking at my blog, that I have spent the last 3 weeks twiddling my thumbs. The fact is, I have pictures to share and blog posts to write, but somehow there doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day.

I think I am getting on top of things :-)

Jill came to see me with an idea and I printed and foiled her design onto card, so that she could finish them off herself....
Here's what we came up with....

This is the finished item as it was when I gave it to her...

foiled in lovely Royal Blue....

Then Jill of course put her own slant on it......

Don't they look fab?

Artwork (c) Jill Williams 29012 

What sets Inspired by Script apart from other Wedding Stationery Suppliers?

What sets Inspired by Script 

 apart from other 

Wedding Stationery Suppliers?

A Bride came to the studio and saw the Wishing Tree Tags, hanging in the wishing tree. 

Wishing tree tags are roughly 7 cm x 10 cm, so that guests have plenty of room to write on the back. The cards are personalised, printed and foiled, to match  the Brides colour scheme.

Kelly loved them, but wanted something a little less

'In your face' for her wedding as it was a simple and small affair. 

She asked if I could make them in any size?

"Of course" I replied, "All the printed items we sell are designed, printed and made up by us, on the premises.... So you can have exactly what you want".

This is what sets us apart from 

other Wedding Stationery Suppliers.

"So, let's discuss your ideas and I'll see what comes to me".

Kelly's theme was Black and White and as I said earlier.... a simple and small affair.

We love working on orders large or small and everyone gets the same service. Kelly looked around at all the items we seel and decided that she particularly liked the mixture of hand lettering, combined with a typewriter style font. 

GOOD CHOICE! They contrasted well together!

Then we chose a quotation....

All because two people met.....

and fell in love.

But Kelly was also drawn to 

another quotation and 

couldn't decide between the two.

Two souls with a single thought,

Two hearts that beat as one.

As we design, print and make everything ourselves, we were able to do a mixture of the two! Normal printers charge a design fee which would have made these pretty expensive, especially when you par PER design. Even though the order was relatively small, I was quite happy to make these for her. I I love turning Brides ideas into something tangible. Of course, sometimes the ideas aren't possible for a variety of reasons, but together we usually come up with something.

Kelly is going to tie them onto her wedding favours with string. Here's a photo of one tied to a mini bucket,

using white ribbon

And here's the other one,

tied to a jar filled with a mini candle.

So many of my ideas are brought to me by Brides. Some Brides have great ideas, but are not particularly creative. By getting our heads together, we can usually come up with something, making it totally personal to them.

I LOVE my job! 

Have you an idea or do you need something really different and you can't find anyone to make it at a reasonable cost?

Give us a call 

(CONTACT DETAILS)

We are happy for you to email us, but it's far easier to get an idea of what you want exactly and how we can best help you, by giving us a ring. 

I'm looking forward to hearing about all your wonderful ideas! 

IMPORTANT INFORMATION for Brides in particular!

As a fully qualified and professional Calligrapher and Lettering Artist, my work over the years has been wide ans varied.

While sorting some papers at the studio before the Christmas break I happened to find my original business plan. In the plan, I set out all the ways I wanted to take my business, what work I was looking for and how I would go about it.... that was some years ago now.

As anyone knows who works in the creative field, the clients and market,  drive you, not the other way round.

My business is called 'Inspired by Script' in the early days I did everything including poster, poems, commercial work, bookbinding, greeting cards, framed and mounted pieces for both private and public clients. I did work for many big names too!

Then just  over a year ago, I got asked to design and make some Wedding Invitations. I had done a couple of orders before, but the small amount of work I did do, did not warrant me focusing on Weddings alone.

In order that clients weren't confused by all the other work I did, I set up a separate 'North Yorkshire Weddings' website and North Yorkshire Weddings blog, to help direct the Brides to 'Wedding Only' stuff.... still keeping the 'Inspired by Script' stuff separate and cross posting any wedding work onto my main Inspired by Script, blog. My Inspired by Script website, simply has a tag which takes clients to my Wedding Website.

It's been difficult at times, explaining to Brides that I have a dedicated website called North Yorkshire Weddings, but my business is in fact called Inspired by Script. At times I'm sure it's been confusing to them and for me.... Well I felt I was living some kind of 'Double life'.

Work can get a bit over dramatic too.... one day you can be making a Wedding Album and the next you are painting a large wall canvas, then the next you can be writing out place cards... all very different aspects of what I do.

Finally, most of the work I do is either Wedding or Baby related or has something to do with celebrations in some way, like Birthdays or Anniversaries. Because the Wedding and Baby stuff has taken off so well, I know have to pick and choose what work I do. I am more focussed and less scatter gun and everything is far easier to control.  I have to turn down work that although I would like to do, I just have not got the time to do it, like long poems and small ones too! Small commissions have had to go too.... these were never cost effective anyway and I used them as pot boilers and a way of filling time. Some work is just too many hours for very little return.

This next year will see big changes. It will all happen gradually. I will, bit by bit integrate the 2 websites and blogs and go back to my original branding... the one I spent so many years building up. This will take so much pressure off as maintaining one website and blog has to be easier than two, hasn't it?

The amalgamation and transition will not happen over night... but it WILL happen.

Ohhhh.... I am SO excited about this year!

So.... Inspired by Script....

happy re-birth year!

Here's how you can find me:

My Website

My Blog

My Facebook Page

My Email Address

To all our clients, past, present and future....

To all our clients, past, present and future....

Thank You!....

To all my clients, past, present and future... thank you for your valuable custom and supporting my business. I really couldn't do this without you!

May you have a wonderful holiday break and I wish you all the very best for the coming year.

Love and Best Wishes....Sue xoxox

Personalised 40th Birthday Concertina Card

I was asked to make a very special 40th Birthday card

From a friend, to a friend,

Containing a personalised poem.

I made it into a simple styled 6 page concertina

Using type for the poem in gorgeous purple 

and hand lettering the Greeting in pink

The balance of subtle type

worked well with the quirky lettering

A Butterfly charm with the words....

hand made especially for you 

matched the Butterfly on the cover

I attached a swing tag to the front...

omitting the '40th' bit!

People love receiving these cards. When recipients untie the bow at the side, the concertina pops open to reveal the secret contents inside. They are just loved by everyone! :-)

Personalised Made To Order, Wedding Concertina Card, In Champagne, Silver and Royal Blue

Personalised Made To Order, Wedding Concertina Card, In Champagne, Silver and Royal Blue

I was approached by Kat to make a special wedding card for her sister and future Brother-In-Law.... but as the wedding is in 2 weeks there was a bit of a sense of urgency about this one. 

I really didn't want to panic, but sometimes when I get asked to do something at such short notice. I'm quick to answer... 'Yeah no problem' then find out that the customer wants a ton of extras and makes almost impossible suggestions that are really not possible in a short space of time.... if at all. 

I must admit that I cautiously asked questions first BEFORE I said I could... It's took me a long time, but I'm finally getting ALL the information before I jump in with my big mouth.

I didn't have to worry... the brief was easy:

Champagne Wedding Dress, Royal Blue Bridesmaid Dress and a hint of Silver... Oh and Butterflies too.... and 'Do it however you think best'

The card was for Rosemary and Michael

From Kathleen-Ann, Rob, Chloe and Jude,

Who is not yet born, but as he is due sometime around the Wedding Day... he will be in attendance one way or another I expect, so I added him too :-)

For the covers I decided to try something a little different, seen as I was given a free reign and made a little tag with their names and Wedding Date on it, rounding the corners to soften it slightly...

I knew I had some gorgeous Champagne Japanese Silk Paper somewhere.... saved for a something special kind of moment and this was it! I wasn't sure how it was going to work with Blue.... but had to give it a try.

Mow, 'normally' I use thin 3 mm ribbon to wrap around and close the book, but this time I wanted to try something totally different. I used 1" Organza ribbon.....The tag is tie and fixed onto the front cover, with the longer piece of ribbon glued and threaded through the back cover. This forms a bow at the right hand side when tied. 

Here's the fully opened out book... all 10 pages of it.

The inside verse is The Apache Wedding Blessing....

suitably perfect for ANY wedding.

I had almost come to the conclusion, that I would not be making any more concertina cards. They are a lot of work for little return. Many clients want you as an artist to create something for them, they like your work, but then when you agree, put forth ideas that are totally unrealistic.

Working on this commission, I realised that if the artist is left to get on with creating something in a free and trusted manner and with only a small outlying brief, they can come up with something that's truly from the heart.... something they are proud to hand over and say... "I made that and it represents the work I do best". Put handcuffs and restraints and give too much input and the artist is not really creating something of themselves. Not only that, it puts an awful lot of pressure on them to interpret exactly WHAT the client wants.

I'm hoping Kat is please with what I come up with and I hope her Sister and future Brother-In-Law love it even more. If they do... then it's a job well done.... I will let you know.

COMMENT FROM KAT:
Oh my word Sue!!! The card is absolutely beautiful. It's just perfect, I can't begin to tell you how much I love it and appreciate what you've done.

I left a comment on the blog page, however, it needs to be approved by you. 

I cried for ages this morning when I saw it. Even Rob had a tear in his eye, when he saw Jude's name

If you want to see more Concertina Books

 I have made click here

Hand Made Personalised Sign

Personalised Vinyl Sign

As I explained in my last blog post here my work can be wide and varied. At the end of last week I was asked to do a sign for a Wedding Photographer friend Mark Johnston, to put on his stand when at Wedding Fairs.

The board will stand on his table and greatly enhances branding. I can't claim the design of the graphic as this was already done by a friend of his.

I make lots of signs for all sorts of reasons. From children's bedroom signs to quirky quotations and even Wedding Signs.... I sometimes think I should have called my business

I LOVE LETTERS!

You can see Marks work at:

http://mark-johnston-photography.co.uk/

And keep up to date with his latest work

by following his BLOG

http://markjohnstonphotography.blogspot.co.uk/

What Mark said about this:

Thanks for the sign Sue, I could not have asked for anything better. It's awesome!

To all prospective clients you will receive OUTSTANDING service, true quality and the unique creative vision of Sue's work. I recommend her to you all!

Personalised Save The Date Fridge Magnets

Personalised Save The Date Fridge Magnets

I've worked 3 weeks solid over the last 3 weeks... both Sundays I've been to 2 Wedding Fairs... which sort of takes it out of you.

At the latest one however I was approached by Sam and Steve to make some Save The Date, Magnetic fridge magnets as their wedding is some way away yet. 

People love this idea for Save the Dates as Magnets seem to be so collectable these days. Also, by sticking it to your fridge there's less chance of it getting lost as there is with a conventional Save the Date Card.

The magnets are available direct off my Wedding Stationery Website at this link here. At the moment there are 9 designs to choose from... but I am working on more :-)

I've also considered making these for Baby Birth Announcements as I have the facilities to fully personalise them and I think that adding a photo of the new born, would look quite cute..... and there are probably tons of other ideas I can come up with too.

Have you any wild suggestions you think could take off?
I'm offering 10 personalised magnets to the one who can come up with the best idea! Just email me at: inspiredbyscript@yahoo.co.uk  or alternatively, leave a comment below.

Post by Sue Simpson (c) 2012

Personalised Baby Christening Announcements

Personalised Baby Christening Announcements 

My work is wide and varied. Coming from a Calligraphy background, my commissions can range from large pieces of work like full song lyrics to small and personal invitations and social stationery.  This week a lovely change from Wedding Invitations... this time, Baby Christening Invites for

'Anna Sofia Davies'

I was asked to design, print and make, just 30 little invitations.

Just 10 cm x 10 cm

in soft Baby Pink foil.

A little butterfly on the top right hand corner seemed 

to fit just perfectly.....

Small, simple and although not the largest order I've ever done....a nice, relaxing commission and something a little different :-)

Post by: Sue Simpson 

Email: inspiredbyscript@yahoo.co.uk