The Wedding Stamp: Make a Fabulous Statement

Don’t you love getting mail? —Retrieving those little treasures from your mailbox, gushing over the beautiful stationery.
Your wedding invitation is the ultimate piece of mail, and as such deserves a lot of attention.  Those few pieces of stationery will set the tone for your wedding, long before the first guest arrives at the ceremony.  When guests receive your invitation in the mail, they should immediately feel aware of the formality of the day, while reflecting your own sensibilities.  It is a great compliment to hear, “It looked so like you!”

Your wedding invitation serves as announcement, but just as importantly, to build excitement and anticipation for the day to come.  I find that brides (and grooms) make careful choices regarding the stationery, but they often neglect another component of invitations that can make them truly extraordinary—the stamps.

While it may be convenient to purchase the wedding stamps sold by the post office each year, stamps which reflect the unique sensibilities of the couple can elevate any invitation to the next level.  Remember, many of your guests (even those who may surprise you!) will notice and appreciate the small details.

For my wedding, we were able to find beautiful $.10 stamps with pocket watches on  them.  I immediately fell in love with the lush green tones of the stamps, especially since my groom-to-be has collected pocket watches since childhood.  I was already in love with them, but the connections to us as a couple kept getting even better.  Since we were getting married on 08.04.07, we were amazed the hands of the watch were set on the eight and the four!  Actually, the stamps were released the year prior on August 4^th. They were PERFECT—and after many calls from family and friends who had received  invitations, I soon realized that my little stamps had made quite an impression!

You can find your own perfect stamps,too. Here are a few things to remember:

· Don’t be intimidated by small denominations of stamps.  It can afford you the chance to make a beautiful arrangement on your envelope.  With my invitations we tried a variety of arrangements, including a 1, 2, 3 stack like a wedding cake.

· Vintage stamps are always an option.  Search ebay for stamps sold by collectors.  The usps website will also have things to order, with most arriving withing a few days.

· Visit multiple post offices.  They have different inventory.  I traveled to all of the post offices in the Lexington area to get enough stamps for my invitations.  It can be a hassle, but believe me—totally worth it!  You’ll love those first oohhhs and awwws from family and friends receiving your invitations.

· Your stamps can be anything that you find beautiful or reflective of yourself or your groom.

· You can always mix and match stamps from a color palette.  Make a striking statement with a stamps series in one color.

Happy Stamp Hunting!

warmly, ~Katherine~