Wedding Blog
I always knew we would end up with a pocketfold invite, but I guess I never considered that they would be significantly heavier than your average invitation and would require a lot more postage. The invitations Champ and I have received were usually delivered with two stamps, and I figured ours would be no different. Just to make sure, I decided to go to the post office to get them weighed (which I highly suggest you do if you’re unsure). The first post office I went to quoted me 76 cents per invitation—a hefty price tag, but one I was expecting. The second post office I went to told me that our invitations were too stiff for their machine and we would have to send them at the package rate of $1.51 per invitation. Um whaaaaa? At nearly twice the original quoted price, I took my chance at an eighty-cent stamp and mailed them out at the post office where I was quoted the lesser amount. Risky? Perhaps, but I saved a good chunk of change.
Here’s the stamp we chose. It’s really the only 80-cent stamp I could find, but I thought it actually fit our winter wedding perfectly!
Mount McKinley 80-cent stamp:
I know that some of the bees have sent out boxed invitations, and I can only imagine how much those cost. Has anyone else been quoted a ridiculous amount for postage for your invites?!
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Share this post: Invite Postage Woes and a Risky Decision
Beautiful! When will you know that they have arrived safely? (Or do you already?)
I was quoted at $1 per invite. It was expensive, so I opted to hand deliver the invites to all the local people and only sent it via snail mail for out of town guests.
oh it looks sooooo gorgeous!
I just went online to see what new stamps are coming out this year and there is a GORGEOUS king and queen one- but it comes out too late.
the mountain stamp looks so so so perfect! love it!
We were quoted $1.41 - like you, because it was defined as a package. Apparently part of the package criteria is not only size and thickness, but stiffness - the envelope has to have a certain flexibility to be machinable.
We just went with the higher postage, and used three wedding stamps (alternating the pink and lavender) which looked quite pretty. We OFTEN get envelopes from SIL for the kids that have been determined somewhere along the way to be packages rather than letters, because of all the stuff she has packed into the envelope, and it’s REALLY annoying having to drive out to the post office after work to pay the excess postage to collect whatever she has sent. You see, any post office along the way can actually decide that more postage is required - so the fact that your post office will process it with the stamps you have on it doesn’t mean it will get where it’s going. For what worked out to be less than $50 extra, I thought it was worth it to make sure none of our invites showed up postage due.
I am still drooling over that calligraphy. Too gorgeous.
I too got lucky and only had to use 42 cent stamps.
Your stamp is a perfect compliment to your wedding! Who did your calligraphy?
@Suzanno: omg I will die of embarrassment if anyone had to pay postage for our invite 
:(
@amandopolis: @Mrs. Cookie: Calligraphy by Michele- she’s uh.may.zin
I’m with you — I took ours to the post office and they told us that it’s going to be $1 per invitation b/c of the large size of the envelope. There are no cute $1 stamps. BTW, Michele did our calligraphy too! Love her!
I was quoted $0.76 at one PO and then $1.01 at another (they claimed bulkiness and stiffness)! I went with the cheaper one as well and they all got there just fine.
They love to try to overcharge you. I had one post office try that with me and I was having none of it. I already knew the rules for the size/weight/thickness of my invites so I asked for a manager to review it because I knew what it SHOULD cost. Sure enough, I was right!
Looks great! I have heard recently there will be another postage rate increase in May, so watch out those of you who will be sending yours out around then!
Many years ago, I was in an interminable line at the post office waiting to apply for my first passport. In the other interminable line, to actually mail stuff, was a girl not too much older than me with two trays of wedding invitations. She’d already stamped them, and was just waiting to mail them at the counter instead of dropping them in the box because she’d put them in zip code order for the convenience of the postal employees. When she finally got up to the counter, the clerk noted that she’d used what at the time was a normal first-class stamp (probably 22 cents, because I’m that old). Not even close, sister. So to kill time waiting in my line, I helped a sobbing stranger add postage to a couple hundred envelopes. Definitely more fun than just sitting there, and a learning experience to boot.
Hey, random, who did your calligraphy? I really like it!
juuuuust kidding, i read the rest of the posts and saw the answer!
Beautiful! I love the stamp. I hope all goes well and they arrive safely.
@Rachael: she moved, but we actually live pretty darn close to where she lived;)@Sarah: That’s so sweet of you to do~ how awful for her to have to experience that!
Love your calligraphy! Wish I had it or the time in my budget.
Our cost barely over a gram, 1.03, 1.1, 1.08, etc. (why they were different, I have no idea)
But it had a belly band with a bow tied around it and the knot in the bow made it juuust slightly bulky. So due to that, they wanted to charge us way more since it wouldn’t go through the machine.
We mailed ours out in waves since it was ALL DIY (printing, assembling, calligraphy)
Each of the 4 times my poor FH went to mail them out he got a different price. Smallestwas 68 cents, highest was 89 cents.
I meant ours weighed.. whoops. Guess who needs to go to bed??
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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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