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Photos by Savannah Schmidt.
Jan Pruitt, the spokesperson and lead calligraphist at Annabelle’s stationary store in Hoover, designs a wedding invitation.
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Photos by Savannah Schmidt.
Jan Pruitt, the spokesperson and lead calligraphist at Annabelle’s stationary store in Hoover, designs a wedding invitation.
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Photos by Savannah Schmidt.
Jan Pruitt made the wedding invitation for Nick Saban’s daughter in 2015. She writes the invitation design by hand on paper before scanning it.
Jan Pruitt’s work has created a community of “Jan fans” at Annabelle's stationery store in Hoover.
Pruitt has worked as a professional calligrapher and spokesperson at Annabelle’s for more than 10 years. Her passion for penmanship started when she fell in love with the handwriting on Christmas cards that arrived at her childhood home.
Despite a growing digital market for announcements and invitations, Pruitt still sees a large client base who wish to honor wedding guests, family or friends with handmade cards. “For example, with the way weddings have shifted, the invitations are a commemorative document of a monumental thing,” Pruitt said. “The three things you keep after your wedding are your photos, spouse and invitations.”
Since they work with many couples, Pruitt believes that the face-to-face nature of her job allows her to help them “set the tone for weddings” while also following invitation etiquette. The digital world can feel exhausting sometimes, she said, and it prevents users from breaking free of conventions. She keeps in mind that “the heart is greater than the rule” when she designs a card.
Pruitt loves crafting wedding and life announcements because “she gets to be a part of a special time in people’s lives.”
