Planning Wedding Calligraphy: A Timeline That Actually Works

Almost every wedding calligraphy enquiry I receive begins with the same sentence: am I too late? Usually the answer is no, but the calmest weddings are the ones where the stationery is planned alongside the venue rather than after the flowers. Here is the timeline I work to.

Nine to six months before

This is the moment to book, particularly for a summer or December date. Calligraphy is slow work done by one pair of hands, so a Saturday in July can only ever belong to one couple. At this stage you do not need your guest list, your final wording or even your colours. You need a date, a rough idea of the pieces you want and a budget you are comfortable saying out loud.

It is also the right time to think about the whole set rather than one item. Couples who order invitations now and remember the seating plan in week two of the final month usually end up with two pieces that do not quite match, because the lettering style was chosen for a small page and then stretched onto a large board.

Five to four months before

Wording is finalised and design begins. I draw layouts to your actual words, which matters more than it sounds: a long double barrelled surname and a short one need different spacing, and a venue name that runs to six words changes where the eye lands. You see concepts, we agree the lettering styles and the palette, and everything downstream follows from that decision.

Three months before

Invitations are written and hand addressed. The standard guidance is to post invitations twelve weeks ahead, more if guests are travelling or the date sits near a holiday. Send me your guest list as a spreadsheet with names exactly as you want them to appear, including titles, and order around ten per cent more envelopes than guests. Ink does not have an undo button and a spare envelope costs pennies.

Six weeks before

On the day pieces begin: welcome signs, table names, menus and order of service. These are quicker to make than invitations but they depend on decisions that are often still moving, so this is the point at which a final numbers deadline genuinely helps both of us.

Two weeks before

Place cards and escort cards are written last, because they are the thing most likely to change. Guests drop out, a plus one appears, a table is rearranged. I always write spares and leave a few blanks so a name can be added on the morning if it has to be.

The week itself

Everything is delivered or posted, packed flat and interleaved so nothing smudges. If your venue is in Shropshire, Staffordshire or Cheshire I usually drop signage off in person, which also means I can check a large seating plan actually fits the easel it is going on.

If you are already inside this timeline

Ask anyway. Short notice work is often possible, especially for place cards and signage, and I would rather tell you honestly what can be done than have you assume it cannot.

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