On Tuesday, October 18th, the U.S. Postal Service announced that on January 22, 2012, the cost of a first-class mail postage stamp would increase from 44 cents to 45 cents. Now while a one penny increase may not seem a lot, when you are mailing hundreds of STDs, wedding invitations, and thank you cards, it could have an impact.
When I created my wedding invites, I knew from the start that my postage would be more expensive due to the 6 x 6 size I chose. Mailing a square envelope costs more. What I didn’t think about was that the gorgeous card stock we used was a little heavier than most invitations. Put those two together and you have one heavy and oddly sized invite.
When I took an invite in for a preliminary weigh-in, the postman had a yikes look on his face when he saw how much it would be. I honestly think he was scared to tell me! I told him I knew it would be pricey due to the size but I was not expecting over $1.00 a piece! Thankfully I have saved a ton of money in other areas of the wedding so this isn’t going to hurt our budget, but I still don’t like the idea of having to pay that much either! Oh the price of fabulous invites.
I can’t wait to share the finished product with you all! They should be on their merry way on Monday.
For you 2012 brides, you may have no clue what your invitations will even look like, let alone weigh, but maybe pre-buying forever stamps before the price hike would be a fiscally smart strategy. Heck, even if you used them just for thank-yous and STDs, it might be worth it.
The Garden of Love stamp is quite popular for wedding mailings and is a forever stamp so there would be no need for additional postage after January 22nd.
Image via USPS.com
There is also the traditional wedding roses:
Image via USPS.com
Interestingly enough, the wedding (rings) stamp is not listed as a forever stamp so additional postage would be needed if you used it after the deadline. Neither is the LOVE: Pansies in a Basket stamp.
Image via USPS.com
Image via USPS.com
You could always go a non-traditional route and use something fun like the celebration stamp!
Image via USPS.com
A part of me sort of wishes I had found this stamp before we finished our invites, but it really doesn’t go with the formal look of what we are doing.
Anyone planning pre-buying stamps to hoard before you need them? I’m sure I’ll pick up several books of everyday forever stamps to have on hand when needed.
I love this post. And I was realy excited about the fact that our invitation will go out before the price hike!
I also had square 6X6 envelopes for not only my invitations but my reply envelope as well, that was a double yikes, I had no idea when I design my invitations that the squares would cost more. I wasn’t quite over the dollar mark, but was at .88$
Oooh thanks for the tip! I definitely need to start hoarding stamps because it might be until 2012 until I finally get these thank you notes out! 
Thank you so much for posting this!!! I had no idea, and I am not getting married until next year…… I’m definitely going to stock up
Funny enough, I bought stamps for our STDs not too long ago. I specifically asked the lady at the counter if postage was going up, and she repeatedly said no. Thanks for the heads-up!
Thank you so much for the tip! We are using the Garden of Love stamp for our save the dates that are going out in a few weeks, but our invitations and thank you’s wont be until after the change. I may have to start hoarding!
Being a postal employee, a penny is not a price hike, but yes, I do agree that pre-buying the forever stamps is a great idea….
Over $1 for each invite…..YIKES!!! Sorry about that 
Thanks so much for the heads-up! I had no idea that the garden one was a forever stamp. It’s so much cuter than the bell.
Ah yeah, totally sending out our thank you notes before we leave the States! (That’s also literally hundreds of dollars cheaper than sending them from Swiss land!) Just another reason to write timely thank you notes.
More incentive to actually write and send out our thank you notes, thanks for the tip Sunhat!
I was the one with the yikes look when the guy at the post office told me my invites would cost over $1 to mail them. UGH! Thankfully, we didn’t have toooo many.
Since we’ll most likely be mailing our thank you cards in 2012 I will be hoarding up on pretty forever stamps! Thanks for the heads up!!
I always have books of stamps on hand, and even have a huge stack of wedding stamps leftover as well.
A friend of mine actually designed her own stamps for her wedding invitations that matched the whole set. It was really cute!
Warning to all about postage: I stopped by the post office to check the postage rates on my invites and reply cards. I got there too late and they were closed. So…I used the machine/computer in the lobby to get an estimate. My invites are thick and both the invites and reply cards are square so I knew they would be a bit more. I wasn’t surprised at the prices. Just to be sure, I went back the next day to talk to someone at the counter. She told me they were large envelopes and NOT letters. The price hiked 20 cents each for both the invites and reply cards! I was furious because the computer did not give this information. So…I went to a DIFFERENT post office the next day. They confirmed the COMPUTER! So…beware, beware, beware. I just saved myself $40 because the first lady didn’t know what she was talking about!
Canada Post hikes postal rates every January, so I made sure to buy a couple rolls of permanent stamps in December. Those are only good for mail within Canada though, and there aren’t international permanent stamps, so I had to pay the higher rate for those. And of course, that’s the rate that goes up like 10c each time, and the Canadian rate just goes up 1c.
Mrs. Sunhat, Dyer, IN Age and Occupation: 32, Tax Accountant Fiance's Age and Occupation: 35, Landscape Foreman Engagement Date: September 25, 2010 Wedding Date: December 2011 Venues: St. Andrew the Apostle, Fiesta Palace About Me: I'm a Midwest girl who grew up in the country and now works in the big city! I love cooking, entertaining, reading (addicted to my Kindle) and going to the movies. I don't miss an episode of Hoarders and I start cleaning every time I watch! My profession doesn't call for much creativity so wedding planning has been a great outlet. Mr. Sunhat and I met online three years ago, cheer for rival MLB teams and share a home with our dog, Wrigley. We are planning a traditional, Polish, Catholic wedding with lots of DIY elements and some fun surprises. I'm so excited to be married on New Year's Eve and we can't wait to ring in the new year as husband and wife!
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