The word Calligraphy comes from the Greeks meaning ‘artistic and beautiful writing.’

Romans adopted the Greek alphabet for Calligraphy and after the collapse of the Roman Empire, the use of letter and writing were sequestered with the scholars in churches and monasteries.

Calligraphy made a strong return during the Middle Ages, but with the invention of the printing press in 1436 by Johannes Gutenberg, this fine art form once again faded into the background. However, Calligraphy made another revival during the nineteen century and is still considered popular today.

Type of Calligraphy Styles
There are five major categories of Calligraphy. Celtic, Roman, Arabic, Oriental and Western. From those five categories there are thousands of variations on each of these styles.

The most popular scripts seem to be the Chancery Italic, Uncial and Gothic forms.

Gothic – Otherwise known as Fraktur, Blackletter and Old English.  This was the most widely used for book writing with a compressed, vertical style.

Chancery Italic - The letters are on a slight slant and allows for a free, flowing style.

Uncial – This is a rounded type of style.

Of course these examples are just tips of the Calligraphy iceberg and are the most widely used by beginning Calligraphers.

Find one to suit your personality and taste. Once the choice has been made, there are two options, have a professional Calligrapher address the wedding invitations or try to do it yourself. If the decision is a professional, contact your local invitation or paper shop and ask for the name of a professional Calligrapher or search the Internet for a Scribe near your town or city.

The great bonus about Calligraphy is you can match the ink colour to the colour scheme of the wedding along with the coloured envelope liners, if this option is chosen.