Wedding Blog
I was SO happy to mail my invitations and get them out of here I thought I was going to burst. We finished the invites about a month ago, but getting all of them assembled, numbered (I almost forgot to number the RSVP cards, even after lots of bee advice!), addressed and stamped took awhile!
My mom and my grandmother helped me to put the finishing touches on our envelopes. First, my grandmother carefully glued these liners into our envelopes:
We only used two different papers because we ran out of the first, but I ended up liking them both.
Then, my mom and her perfect schoolteacher handwriting addressed all of our envelopes in gold ink:
Does your calligrapher accept payment in the form of chocolate? Mine does 
After all the stamp debate, we ended up going with the simple and pretty dragonfly stamp.
Thank you so much to reader Manda who suggested it!
I didn’t quite know what to expect when I got to the post office, since there have been so many varied experiences with asking for hand cancelling. Well before I could even open my mouth I nearly had a heart attack as the postal employee took one look at my envelopes and announced that I was “way off on postage”. She took a closer look and saw that the dragonfly stamp said 62 cents and changed her mind - I knew that I actually had 3 cents worth of postage more than what I needed, but I did get nervous for a second.
Then I asked about the hand-cancelling and she said that there would be a 20-cent surcharge for each envelope! I said that I was pretty sure that it said online that it was free. Then she said even if it were free, she wouldn’t have time to do it. Luckily I had learned from other bees that it was possible to do it yourself. I asked, and she moved me to an empty counter and handed me the stamp!
It took me about 10 minutes to hand cancel all of my envelopes, amid lots of funny comments from a busy post office line. My grandmother watched and said I should consider a job at the Post Office if this whole Optometry thing doesn’t work out I’m a big dork and so I’ll admit that it was actually a little bit fun.
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Very talented ladies in your family–looks beautiful. And good for you for standing up for yourself at the post office!
Yay Miss T! Its so exciting now to check the mail every day from now on! I just dont get why postal employees are such jerks? It seems like they throw everyone through hoops with the handcanceling. Do you think she would have pocketed the 20c per envelope? I mean, if it SHOULD be free? I just dont get it. And why don’t they say off the bat that you can just do it yourself? My only hope is that its their policy not to suggest people can do it themselves, and not because EVERY SINGLE POSTAL EMPLOYEE I’ve ever heard of are a bunch of jerks (which is kind of my suspicion).
to the previous poster (miss penguin): your assumptions about postal employees is extremely disrespectful and rude. both of my parents work for the post office and are not “jerks” as you say. i’m sure there are other blog readers who know post office employees and are probably just as offended as i am. please think before you post.
Yay ‘daughter’…I agree with you! My FIANCEE is a postal employee and is the most kind, generous, patient person in the world. I’m sure there are a few ‘jerks’ for sure, but you must remember-your comments and blogs are read by a ton of people!
I think Miss Penguin was simply trying to express her frustration with the postal system in general, which has somewhat steadfast rules but postal employees don’t seem to understand or abide by them all the time. The fact remains that as obsessive brides, many of us go into the post office after doing comprehensive research and are met with resistance upon asking for hand-canceling — something that we know is free and do-able (either by the postal employee or by ourselves). Asking for an unusual, time-consuming service may be met with resistance, but that doesn’t mean that anyone should be lied to about simple facts.
And Miss T, your momma’s calligraphy is absolutely beautiful!
I loved the liners your grandmother glued into the envelopes. Was that difficult to do? (Would you mind if I stole the idea?)
I believe that you are taking her comments about postal employees a bit too seriously. Try being married to a lawyer…the jokes never end, I can promise you. But you know what, some of them are spot on and you just learn to laugh at them. More often than not, postpeople are not very helpful. It’s not our fault that is the case, is it? But, it’s quite common in my neck of the woods the post offices in large cities aren’t known for being helpful and nothing will ever change that probably. Does that mean everybody who has ever worked there sucks? Nope, but it sure puts a black cloud over dealing with them. I’m sure there are plenty of nice helpful people at all post offices, but they don’t seem to let them work the front desk when I’m there. This is a place to share your thoughts and feelings about your wedding planning (my vow renewal planning) and frustrations with the post office and it’s employees are bound to come up now and then. I mean, they did coin a whole term for going crazy based on the post office…So, don’t go “postal” on us about it, we’re just venting. Hee hee.
p.s.~ I swear my postman has it out for me, by the way.
@emily:
I think paper-source has a how-to video or instructions on their site. I know that they have templates to line their envelopes.
yeah, I have to say I’m continually surprised by people’s uneven experiences with USPS employees. In what other nationwide industry would a customer have to be well-versed in the company’s own policies in order to ensure receivng fair service?
Yes, there are good USPS employees and there are brides with unrealistic expectations. And USPS rules are definitely super complicated, but you’d think all of their service-oriented employees should be well-versed… and at least do their best to avoid the appearance of making up rules on the fly…
I’d like to know what she was going to do with that 20 c surcharge too
Those are beautiful and I love how they are addressed! The zip code looks great!
As someone who has worked for a postal company and had to deal with USPS rules, I have a LOT of sympathy for them. The rules are changed much more often than you would think, and the number you have to memorize is incredible - hundreds of pages of rules, and they are changed VERY often. Having to deal with USPS stuff made me pretty grumpy too because of how strange and out-of-the-blue the rule changes were sometimes. However, it’s true that an employee shouldn’t be changing rules and making things up - she should just have let you do it yourself from the start if that was okay in the end. Anyway, I think there are good and bad postal workers but as with anyone working in service, they need a little sympathy because they get more than their share of angry customers who don’t understand what’s going on at all. But that’s not you, just a response to those who say that they see postal workers as overall pretty grumpy 
I’m glad you enjoyed hand-cancelling all those, haha!
@rebecca: I agree, it is very frustrating to be more informed about a company policy than the employees themselves, which has been my experience many times at post offices. That said, most of the workers I’ve ever dealt with have been very kind overall. I don’t think Penguin was trying to insult anyone, but it’s really frustrating to be jerked around- it’s not right to try to charge for something that is supposed to be free, no matter what store you are in- that is a ripoff.
Thanks to all, my mom is very flattered because she doesn’t think her handwriting is nice at all- ha!
@emily: Please steal away (not really my idea to give though I definitely stole it too)! … it was a little time consuming to trace and cut them (I got my template at target randomly, but paper-source and other places have them or you could easily make your own), but gluing went quickly and I think it was a nice- and worth it- touch.
Ooooh, when I do get to see more?!?! They are so pretty. I love the liners! Thanks for the hand canceling information. I didn’t know about this until I read your post. I guess I kept reading about it, and didn’t really get it until now!
I love it when customer-service people don’t know how to help you, and instead of finding someone who does, they just make stuff up! That’s so fun! I especially love when it happens at the post office! It makes me really look forward to going there!
Seriously though: the USPS provides inconsistent, often infuriatingly lousy service because it can. What are you going to do, take your business to the competition? (And that postal clerk gets extra points for being nasty to you about the stamps.)
this website here http://www.squidoo.com/perfectpostage has been pretty helpful for wedding stamps info. =) hth others too.
this has also been helpful. http://faq.usps.com/eCustomer/iq/usps/request.do?create=kb:USPSFAQ&view()=c%7Be771e3a0-f503-11dc-4675-000000000000%7D
What do you use to glue the liners?? regular glue?
@no thanks: We used this stuff… it was awesome. Super fast drying and it didn’t show through at all.
http://artgirlzscrappinattic.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=233
They look beautiful. And I love the liners!
My hand canceling experience was entirely pleasant–the post office person did it himself and was very friendly. Buying the “wedding” stamps was less so–the people were extremely rude and it was a very left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing. I’m glad you stuck to it and got what you wanted! How sad that that woman seemed to enjoy making your wedding preparations more difficult.
Those look great! Can I ask where you got the paper? I love both patterns
@JC: Hi! Thanks!
Both are from paper-source. The one on the left I can’t find online, but the other is here:
http://paper-source.com/cgi-bin/paper/10163050.html?cm_id=3140.230
There are a lot more here:
http://paper-source.com/cgi-bin/paper/cm/3140.001/paper/flat-paper
We got about 13-14 liners out of each sheet. Hope that helps!
I want to use the dragonfly stamps too but have not been successful finding them at any post offices. My next try is the down town post office but I’ve heard bad things about the service there. Did you buy yours online or at a post office?
@Becca: I got them online- I think the shipping was maybe $1.
Thanks! The US post office told me on the phone that they couldn’t be bought online but I just didn’t believe it! How long did they take to get to you? Sorry for all of the questions!! Thank you for the answers!
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Mrs. Tiramisu, Annapolis, MD/Maine
Age and Occupation: 26, Eye Doctor
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Project Manager/Real Estate Management grad student
Engagement Date: May 15, 2007
Wedding Date: July, 2008
Blogging Since: March 4, 2008
Venue: Oceanfront lawn and tent
About Me: I was born and raised in Maine, now living in Annapolis, Maryland and planning a hometown wedding from afar. I’m nothing short of obsessed with wedding planning, and am loving the do-it-yourself madness that has now taken over my life! As for me, I’m a craft-loving, martini-drinking, girly-girl who loves traveling, photography, my schnauzer, and above all, spending time with Mr. Tiramisu.
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