This is a hard review to write. I hired Katherine to hand-write names on 80 table placecards for our July wedding. She charges $1 per placecard (invitation set prices are higher). She responded promptly to my emails and has a detailed website with calligraphy samples, so I felt I had a good idea of what I was getting into.
I had our table placecards custom designed- they were ecru matte cardstock with a skyline image of chicago covering the bottom 1/3 of the image. The Sears Tower (where we held our wedding) appeared on the right side of the placecard, extending almost to the top of the placecard. The most important thing that I explained to her is that instead of doing table numbers, we did Chicago neighborhoods, and these neighborhood names were pre-printed on the bottom of each card in the skyline. I gave Katherine a detailed spreadsheet of each guest, their meal choice, and the neighborhood table they were seated at.
She called a few days later to tell me the order was complete and we set a time for me to pick them up. When I saw the cards, my heart sank. Although the penmanship was nearly perfect (beautiful!) she wrote the names near the bottom of the card, covering the skyline. Even worse, she had been directed to put a B (for beef), C (for chicken) or V (for veggie) on the card. She put the letter on the top of the Sears Tower, covering about 1/8 of it and making the fact that it was a Sears Tower much harder to distinguish.
If I did this again, I would have asked for a sample on our placecard first to be sure she was doing exactly what I expected. I suppose I was wrong to assume that she would write in the cream space above the skyline and put the meal choice in the upper left, leaving the Sears Tower unobstructed. But I had presumed that if your business is artistic like this, you would have the good sense to know where to write the names.
Two stars because she is very nice, and has great hand-writing. Three stars taken away for no asthetic sense, which I believe is an important part of her job.
If you choose to work with her, get a sample of your specific piece before you commit! read more