Engage!22 Live Calligraphy Event

Posted on by Renee

Engage!22, a luxury wedding business summit for event planners, began on Monday December 12, 2022 at the Ritz-Carlton Dove Mountain here in Tucson.

Jodean Cooper (Desert Plume Calligraphy) referred Creative Director Jenni Thye, co-owner of Imoni Events, to me for live calligraphy during the Registration and Gifting event.

Visit the Engage Summits Instagram to see the beautiful photos and videos! Hover over each photo in the post to visit the photographers’ websites.

A white card with a hand drawn black frame around the edges. Gold calligraphy in the middle of the page reads, "Engage!". This page is standing on top of another page that reads, "Darcy Miller, Celebration Expert".

Engage!22 Opening Event

Renee McAdam and Darcy Miller are seated at a table at Engage!22, smiling and ready to draw and write! Photo by Xiaoqi Li.

I sat beside Darcy Miller, Celebration Expert and Former Editor of Martha Stewart Weddings Magazine, as she created fun, live sketches of Engage!22 attendees.

Darcy was so warm and welcoming to each person, including me! I loved all the lively details she included with her sketches — cameras, print fabrics, hats from the TPD Design House hat bar, and gold embellishments. It was a treat to see each drawing as I prepared to add gold calligraphy to it.

Preparing for Engage!22

I’ll be the first to admit — I felt a LOT of pressure in the days leading up to the event.

I was concerned about making mistakes like crooked calligraphy, misspellings, and other calligraphy mistakes that just happen to the best of us.

Sample images from previous events showed modern calligraphy, which really needs guidelines to ground it.

A view from above of Renee McAdam at Engage!22, writing names in gold calligraphy on Darcy Miller's sketches. Photo by Garrett Richardson
A left hand with red fingernails holds 2 white cards in place, one on top of the other. There is gold calligraphy written on the bottom card. To the right of the photo, a shadow of a right hand holding a calligraphy pen is visible across the cards. Photo by Jacqui Cole at Engage!22

So, I refreshed my modern calligraphy by practicing ahead of time!

I didn’t feel that drawing guidelines was appropriate in this situation, so I placed a card over my writing area to act as a visual reference. This also protect Darcy’s absolutely charming drawings!

Lastly, and possibly most importantly, I wrote slowly and steadily through the whole day.

Engage!22 Photographers in this Post

Photos 1 & 2 by Xiaoqi Li

Photo 3 by Garrett Richardson

Photos 4 & 5 by Jacqui Cole

Live Calligraphy & Engraving

Your guests already love your products, but they’ll really love this added personal touch.

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A right hand holds a toothpick to stir gold ink during the Engage!22 registration event. There is a jar of water and a jar of gold ink next to the inkwell. In the foreground are pens and pencils, slightly out of focus. Photo by Jacqui Cole.

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