Ellen Weldon may have received an F in sixth-grade handwriting, but that didn’t stop her from making the ultimate turnaround: She perfected her penmanship and made it into a career. Mastering the art of elegant script has propelled Weldon to calligraph for clients including Cartier, Tiffany & Co. and Estée Lauder, and to form Ellen Weldon Design for her refined custom invitations. “I do not have a catalog; each job is unique,” says the New York City-based Weldon. “We do watercolors, maps, home drawings, hand engraving, silk-screening, letterpress—whatever each client wants, we create it.”

 

Weldon recently introduced her designs to an intimate group in Montecito over an alfresco lunch at Sandi Nicholson’s Solana estate. Personal note cards tied into the lavender palette and floral arrangements with ink to match. Currently color is trending, she notes, adding that dark aubergine and smoky blues are big for fall, in addition to hand-drawn monograms on neutral backgrounds. “The paper stock may be white or soft cream,” she says, “but the colors chosen are bright and cheerful, full of life.”

 

With global clients spanning L.A. to Paris, Weldon continues to perfect celebrations, infusing personalization and fine etiquette into the modern world. In her scarce spare time she teaches calligraphy, sparing F’s for several lucky schoolkids. weldondesign.com

Written by JENNIFER BLAISE KRAMER.

 

This article originally appeared in the Fall 2017 issue of C Weddings.