Wedding Blog
Warning: This story is somewhat embarrassing for me. Apparently as a bride, there are things we’re supposed to know, and I must’ve missed the memo. Please be nice…
Our save the dates were FINALLY completed, and I couldn’t get them to our guests soon enough. There’s something so exciting about the big send off! During my lunch hour, I walked to the post office proudly carrying our STDs in an Adidas shoe box. I get to the post office and there’s no line. Saweeeeet. I’d been a good little bee and researched how much the postage would be, and the logistics of sending them through the post office. After so many suggestions from previous bees, I knew I wanted to hand cancel the envelopes, but I guess I didn’t really think about what this meant. For those of you who don’t know what canceling is - aaahh, who am I fooling… I’m probably the only one. 
So I proudly tell the post office worker that I’d like to hand cancel my envelopes. She politely smiles as though I’ve said the secret postal worker code for “I know what I’m doing”. She hands me a stamp, and tells me to get started. Seems simple enough to me- just stamp the envelope, right? WRONG! I get half way through my 100 envelopes, and another employee says “oh hun, you’re doing that all wrong. We thought you had done this before. Look, Rachel- she stamped the envelopes instead of the stamp! It’s called cancelling for a reason, hun. You have to get the date on the actual stamp!” They laugh and everyone looks. The line that was non-existent when I entered the post office is now out the door. I turn completely red. Not only do I hate to be called hun, but I had just stamped half the envelopes and I’d been completely put in my place!
Apparently you have to stamp over the actual corner like this:
(source)
DUHHH!
All of this nonsense is to prevent your pretty stamp from getting washed out with ink like this:
(source)
Why didn’t I research a little more?! Some of our guests will have two stamps on the STDs. It’s my first “oops”, and I’m sure it won’t be my last.
What are the mistakes you’ve made during the planning process?
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Share this post: The First of Many “Oops” Moments
You’re not the only one… I’ve always had no clue what this hand-canceling was all about! If you ask me, you’re a brave little bee. 
Ditto to Miss SB - you are a brave little bee… and I wasn’t exactly sure what hand canceling was either, but I get it now, thanks
Hand cancelling……no idea what that even means. I should add that to my post from today. LOL. Im glad you posted this, because I hear everyone talking about it and Im too afraid to raise my hand and say “Hi, im a bride who doesnt know what it means to hand cancel” for fear of looking like a dummy.=)
Thanks, Miss Champ!
Isn’t the idea behind hand canceling to avoid damage to envelope by going through less automated machinery?
Ie. the envelope doesn’t require going through machines to have the stamp machine canceled, thus avoiding over processing of the envelopes, and a less damaged invitation at the end of it’s journey? I realize they still have to go through some machines, but the less the better.
So take heart Miss Champagne, although some envelopes might have two stamps, they should show up in good condition in your guests mailbox
Hand cancelling is when they “cancel” the stamp by hand, rather than sending it through a machine. Basically its just a rubber stamp they use over the stamp on the invite so the stamp can’t be used again - as opposed to a machine adding a postmark.
Even though you can request any old regular piece of mail to be hand cancelled, you want to do this for wedding invites to prevent it from going through the sorting machine and getting a large and ugly postmark across your pretty envelope and possibly damaging your invite, especially if you have any embellishments (ribbon, etc) on them. I was worried the post office would object to hand cancelling mine from all the horror stories I’d heard about post offices refusing to do it or promising to do it and then not, and my envelopes were so pretty and I worked so hard on the calligraphy. But when my mom took them to the post office she was told they would be hand cancelled anyway because of their odd size (5×5 square). Yay!
I did, however, send a test invite to my mom that went through the regular process and it arrived clean and intact - so don’t worry too much about this little detail! I just had to remember that people are not even going to pay attention to the envelope the invite arrives in
I, too, had no idea what it was. Though, everywhere except here, it seems, says it’s a waste of time because they end up going through the machine anyways. No idea.
Thank you for clarifying for those of us brides & bees who are too afraid to admit not knowing!
You’re not the only one and thanks for the clarification in case I decide to do this! I don’t think I will because I have serious Post-Office worker anxiety!
Sigh. I was promised hand cancelling. I got to the post office at 7:15 a.m. to ensure I got it. The nice lady looked at me and promised. I reiterated how important it was and said I’d be happy to do it myself to ensure it was done and save her time etc. … yeah, no hand cancelling was done. And the heat of the automated canceler (is that a word?) smeared the ink from the directions/what to pack insert onto the invitation. USPS at its finest, I suppose.
Thank goodness for you, Champagne. I theoretically knew what hand canceling was, but I’m quite certain I would have done the same thing you did. You saved me hours.
Dude! Its only because of WB that I knew hand canceling was possible. Now its only because of you Miss Champ that I know how its supposed to be done. Though, the invites are not a high enough priority to us to even get calligraphy, let alone hand canceling. I am damn impressed chickadee.
hhaha i’m sure none of your guests even noticed!
I’m amazed that this would even be an issue-It would be hard to convince me that one guest would even notice this on an envelope. I have more to think about than if they are appreciating the stamp or not!
We just received a friend’s invitation in the mail last week, which her FI had dutifully taken to be hand cancelled. While the post office did hand cancel them, the invites had also been run through at least one machine (for zip codes, maybe?) that plastered a bar code across the bottom. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that the invite arrived pretty beat up (even bent a little). Makes me wonder if there’s really any way to ensure that the invites don’t go through machines?
@subee: The invites must go through machines because the machines are what sorts the mail to send it to the correct destination. They also go through one to code the zip code along the bottom. Hand cancelling is only for envelopes that are strange shapes (such as square) or for items that may be ruined by the machine canceler which is known to cause problems if you have ribbons, beading, or other details that make your envelope thicker in some spots than others. There is no way to get out of using the machines because otherwise the mail will never get sent to the destination!
eh, I didn’t know either, even though I’d heard about it a million times. I just didn’t get around to asking.
@hbowar: I totally have post worker anxiety now. I feel you
Hee hee Champagne, this made me smile I’m sorry you had to go through that!
You are not alone; I didn’t know what hand canceling was until this post.
Oh my goodness….I did the same exact thing!
@Nancy: oh thank god someone else experienced that!
I haven’t even had the guts to ask my guests if the envelopes came out hand canceled because I think that the post office ladies were laughing at my request and just pretending they would do it to please me. Ugh.
I personally think that hand-canceling is one of the sillier things that the wedding community believes is important. I can’t imagine getting an invite and thinking “Man, these are amazing, except for that stamp across the top … that every other letter I’ve ever received has.” When I told my FI about this, he threatened to make me stop looking at wedding blogs so I didn’t get stressed about ideas that I’d never heard of before.
On a separate note, I really hate being embarrassed like that, but I’m glad you came out ok and have a good support group to come to!
historybride: thank you for your comment. i am very sure my FH feels the same way yours does when i come to him stressed out about all the pressure. these ridiculous standards these blogs push makes us brides only have 1 more thing to stress about.
@historybride: @beaninca: I agree that it may seem silly and unnecessary, but I had the extra time and figured that since we used a photo stamp and paid for it we might as well try! The photo stamp was one of the things Mr. Champ actually cared about so why not, right?! No stress here about the double stamps, I was just embarrassed!
When I asked for hand-canceling of my invitations, the post worker did it for me. The Post Office advised I only bring 10 or so envelopes at a time because it takes a little while and it can hold up the line. But some employees are nice and may do 20 at a time if there’s no line.
you should’ve bitch-slapped those postal workers. i’ve pretty much never had a pleasant encounter with any postal worker i’ve ever come into contact with.
no…not the only one.
i too had heard of this secretive “hand cancelling”. i only knew that it involved a stamp and that it would keep my invitations looking pristine….
well, i just went to the post office this morning. (Praise God! Finally) and “hand cancelled” 4 invitations to the left of the postage before asking the guy if i was doing it right.
he was really sweet with me and let me know that i wanted to actually get the stamp ON the postage… the stamp “cancels” the postage so that it can’t be reused.
Oooooh. ok. so i went thru my stack of 40 and then redid those 4.
its all good. no worries. i’m sure this post has enlightened thousands of brides.
I had amazingly good luck when I took ours to get hand-canceled… I bet if I did it myself I would’ve made the same mistake as you! No worries, how are we supposed to know?!
Okay, too funny. Everybody needs to look harder at the envelopes you get in the mail in the future! Unfortunately, the various bridal magazines don’t show stuff like this. For instance, the lovely Martha envelope with the whole row of vintage stamps - you know, EVERY one of those stamps has to be cancelled. What do you think that envelope looks like when it arrives - with the stamp put on 4 or 5 times to cancel every stamp? Great advice, Martha.
And yes, your envelope will go through a machine somewhere along the way, unless you ensure that it is non-machinable (oversized, really thick, or bumpy). And, you have to pay extra postage for a non-machinable item. But that little bar code sticker is how they sort the mail to get it to the right carrier and address, so if it doesn’t get machined at the sending post office, it will often get machined at the receiving post office (again, unless it physically won’t go through the machine).
You’re lucky you even got the option! Stupid LA post office was all “We Don’t DO THAT” like I asked her for a urine sample or something!
I admire your sharing this with us!
awesome. i too make bridal gaffs on a semi regular basis! love that you posted about it!!
[...] know how Ms. Champagne posted yesterday on silly mistakes? This was one of my “oops” moments! I still love the RSVPs, but was honestly just so [...]
No worries. Guests will assume an incompetent post office employee did it anyway.
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Miss Champagne, DC/Vail/Colorado
Age and Occupation: 26, Eye Doctor
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Attorney
Engagement Date: March 13, 2006
Wedding Date: February 2009
Blogging Since: July 30, 2008
Venue: Small church ceremony with mountain-view log cabin reception
About Me: I'm a small town mountain girl with a city heart. Found my way to the east coast, and Mr. Champagne kept me here so we're planning a wedding from afar in my hometown Vail, Colorado. I'm secretly obsessed with reality TV, Wii games where I can shoot a gun, country music, and Caesar: Dog Whisperer. I also spend time pretending to golf, backseat driving, having one way conversations with our MinPin Maxwell, loving champagne, and wedding perfecting… I mean, planning. I use way too many repeated symbols and letters when I write, and I'll love Mr. Champagne endlessly…
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