From the Desk of&#8230;

From the Desk of…

April 12th, 2011 @ 8:09 am by Mrs. Pain au Chocolat
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Hive, have you ever decided you just had to have something for the wedding? I’m raising my hand here because I sure did. The item in question? A custom return-address stamp. It all started when I stumbled across a custom stamp in Martha Stewart Weddings. I was smitten! But we were nowhere near ready to start on invitations, so I bookmarked it to revisit later.

Image via Martha Stewart Weddings

Months later, our invitation suite was complete. I pulled up that old bookmark to show Mr. PaC. The cost made me pause. Sure, I liked the stamps, but did I like them that much? So I did what any bride on a budget would do. I shopped around. Specifically, for a stamp with fresh, whimsical calligraphy that we could reuse after the wedding.

NoteTrunk - “Fairfax” via Etsy

Perch Papiers via Etsy

Emililies - “Small Square” via Etsy

Emililies - “Rose” via Etsy

Emililies - “Holly” via Etsy

Emililies - “Heart” via Etsy

Mr. P felt many of them were too fussy or too girly. Indulging his request to tone down the flourishes and make it legible (for the post office), I rounded up the following:

Chatty Press - “Ampersand” via Etsy

Mr. P loooooves ampersands on invites. Why not on our return address?

ForYoo - “a1009″ via Etsy

NoteTrunk - “Organic Round” via Etsy

Whimsical but decidedly not calligraphy, none of these were it either.

NoteTrunk - “Flag Banner” via Etsy

In my desire for whimsy and his request for restrained femininity, we found the perfect compromise between the two styles…

Trial by Cupcakes - “Anna” via Etsy

I sent a custom request asking for the entire stamp to be created in the “Anna” script. Two weeks later, a package arrived at my office.

Inside was a blue box wrapped in red twine!

Eeeee, our stamp!

It pains me to blur out the lovely details.

Our stamp in action:

The little stamp will see repeated use on our envelopes, RSVPs, thank you cards, and future newlywed correspondence.

How are you marking your return address on your invitations?

(all personal photos unless otherwise noted)

Tags: invitations, stationery, wilmington |

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27 Responses to “From the Desk of…”

1 2 Last

Bee

Miss Candy Apple (message) 1,465 posts, Bumble bee

Cute! It turned out great, and I love it on the yellow envelopes

4/12/11 @ 8:17 am (reply)

Member

chern (message) 87 posts, Worker bee

Awesome! I am having serious stamp envy right now - it’s beautiful! Ours is a little more casual (which I wanted) but I think I got it bigger than I should have, compared to all the other fonts we chose for our invites.

Sidenote, totally in love with the ForYoo - “a1009″

4/12/11 @ 8:34 am (reply)

Member

mrsbowieii (message) 692 posts, Busy bee

I love how it turned out… Perfect compromise for what both of you wanted.

Btw I am so jealous because I really want to buy a stamp but see as how we will be moving in the next year I don’t think it’s worth the money.

4/12/11 @ 8:43 am (reply)

Member

qwerty1 (message) 154 posts, Blushing bee

I think the custom return address stamp is an absolute must have. It’s cheap and saves so much time– Save the dates, invitations, thank you cards….that’s HUNDREDS of envelopes. Return address stickers end up costing about the same, take the same amount of time, and don’t look as cool. No brainer!

4/12/11 @ 8:44 am (reply)

Member

bRooklynRocks (message) 3,767 posts, Honey bee

I got mine from Notetrunk. It’s a big flourishy (shush, I didn’t tell FI before I ordered) but it’s so beautiful. I stamped and embossed all our invites with the stamp I got from them.

4/12/11 @ 9:20 am (reply)

Bee

Miss Lox (message) 1,128 posts, Bumble bee

Oh man, seeing all of these gorgeous stamps makes me want another one! I’ll consider it research for the next time we move.

4/12/11 @ 9:31 am (reply)

Guest

grace @ wedding favors

I love stamps! All that you have presented in this post are very pretty fonts. The stamp return address is a very good idea.

4/12/11 @ 9:36 am (reply)

Member

Crabbabs (message) 724 posts, Busy bee

Ooo, lovely lovely lovely! Will definitely bookmark this post for future reference!

4/12/11 @ 9:58 am (reply)

Member

Cee-Bee (message) 62 posts, Worker bee

Looks great! I don’t know how you ever managed to make a decision!

4/12/11 @ 9:59 am (reply)

10.

Bee

Miss Biscuit (message) 624 posts, Busy bee

I love it! We’re currently looking for awesome stamps as well! I may be buying that one ;).

4/12/11 @ 10:37 am (reply)

11.

Bee

Miss Gazelle (message) 994 posts, Busy bee

Love your stamp! It is so pretty!

4/12/11 @ 10:52 am (reply)

12.

Member

mizzbaseball (message) 83 posts, Worker bee

Cute! We got the stamper from Note Trunk with the flags! I love it so much that it’s really a shame we bought a house and now I can’t use it anymore (just an excuse to buy a new one!)

4/12/11 @ 11:18 am (reply)

13.

Member

kaybee (message) 631 posts, Busy bee

I love how the zipcode is written! We got a custom stamp too and like yours just had our first names listed since we weren’t married yet.

4/12/11 @ 11:35 am (reply)

14.

Member

napabridekelsey (message) 3,372 posts, Sugar bee

I lovvee that she used twine to tie up your box. Precious!
Your stamp is gorgeous…I bet you can’t WAIT to use it!

4/12/11 @ 12:01 pm (reply)

15.

Bee

Miss Tartlet (message) 3,207 posts, Sugar bee

Love the style you chose! It looks fantastic on those sunny envelopes.

4/12/11 @ 1:20 pm (reply)

16.

Bee

Miss Seal (message) 1,179 posts, Bumble bee

Mmmm…so many pretty stamps. I could stare at these forever. I love your envelopes and I love your choice of stamp! We used a return address stamp for our STDs but our stationer printed our address on the back of our envelopes for the invites.

4/12/11 @ 2:03 pm (reply)

17.

Member

Kcoleybear (message) 683 posts, Busy bee

Since my parents are hosting the wedding they are getting their return address is going on the envelopes, alas no return address stamp for us. But I am so glad I can live vicariously through your purchase, adorable as it is.

4/12/11 @ 4:17 pm (reply)

18.

Bee

Mrs. Starfish (message) 1,924 posts, Buzzing bee

It’s so pretty! I love address stamps!

4/12/11 @ 5:04 pm (reply)

19.

Guest

TribecaBride

Ahh - I love this! I flagged the same image from Martha Stewart Weddings. I am holding off buying a stamp for now because we may end up moving in the next few months, but I am dying to get one!!

4/12/11 @ 5:44 pm (reply)

20.