Ms. Dahlia, Detroit/Cleveland
Age and Occupation: 24, PhD Student
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, IT System Administrator
Engagement Date: December 31, 2006
Wedding Date: May 2008
Blogging Since: September 19, 2007
Venue: United Methodist Cathedral & historic downtown hotel in Cleveland
About Me: I enjoy cooking, dancing and swimming. I am a geek and apply game theory to my everyday life. Winter is my favorite time of year, especially when spent curled up with good coffee and a book by Madeleine L'Engle.
Yes, these

are off in their hand-canceled glory.
A note about the hand-canceling, as I know that some people have different experiences with it than others.
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Mrs. Tulip, DC
Age and Occupation: 36, Retired
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 33, Counsel/DOO for Small Gov't Contractor
Engagement Date: August 8, 2007
Wedding Date: March, 2008
Venue: Still Looking!
About Me: In all my dreams of the man I'd someday marry, I never pictured anyone as perfect for me as Mr. Tulip. So now we just have to make it through the craziness of the wedding and the moving in together! I love crafts, sewing, jewelry making, and photography, so am looking forward to this chance for DIY fun. When not wedding planning, I'm playing with our dog and 4 cats, Ebay shopping, or watching too much TV (often simultaneously!).
For the most part, we’ve focused on only the important things for our wedding. Any high ambitions I may have had regarding fancy DIY projects have fallen by the wayside in light of my lack of time and energy….
But there was one Martha Stewart idea I simply HAD to try:

(image courtesy of Martha Stewart)
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Mrs. Lovebug, Tucson
Age and Occupation in 06: 31, Writer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Professional Game Show Contestant
Engagement Date: February 18, 2007
Wedding Date: April 19, 2008
Venue: Historic Inn
About Me: Likes: blogging, wikis, semi-colons, cuddling, fragrant flowers, syntax, and spooning. Dislikes: typos, dangling modifiers, flypaper, citronella candles, and run-ons. If I had my druthers, I'd exchange simple vows in a candlelit library. But I lost my druthers long ago...anyone seen them?
My theme this week is apparently The Accumulation of Goods. Hardly the stuff of epic posts, but perchance you, too, like to peruse piles of “past-prime” postage?
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Ms. Dahlia, Detroit/Cleveland
Age and Occupation: 24, PhD Student
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, IT System Administrator
Engagement Date: December 31, 2006
Wedding Date: May 2008
Blogging Since: September 19, 2007
Venue: United Methodist Cathedral & historic downtown hotel in Cleveland
About Me: I enjoy cooking, dancing and swimming. I am a geek and apply game theory to my everyday life. Winter is my favorite time of year, especially when spent curled up with good coffee and a book by Madeleine L'Engle.
I just saw that the price of a first class stamp is supposed to increase by one cent to $.42, beginning May 12.Now, the RSVP date for our invitations is May 1, although the wedding date is after the increase. The most logical solution, of course, would be to use the forever liberty bell stamp.

You, liberty bell forever stamp, are just not interesting enough for my invites.
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Mrs. Lemon, Los Angeles/Monterey
Age and Occupation in 06: 26, Graduate Student (Public Policy)
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Environmental Consultant
Engagement Date: April 7, 2006
Wedding Date: July 7, 2007
Venue: Rosary Chapel & Monterey Marriott, Monterey, CA
About Me: My FI and I met online, but we like to tell people that we met at a "cookie shop" which is the technical location of our first encounter. He proposed exactly 1 year, 1 month and 6 days after our first date (it's the only part of his proposal speech that I remember), and we're planning long-distance from Los Angeles for a July wedding in my hometown of Monterey, CA. I have a passion for all things "cool, cute and quirky" and I enjoy video games, reading blogs (WeddingBee, trashy celeb, consumer & political) and crafting in my spare time, if I have any!

The 1 cent stamp increase rumors have faded completely … as it seems that someone in the philatelic community read a memo incorrectly and set the collecting world all a flurry!
So mail your .41 cent invitations with pretty stamps without any fear!
(my apologies for any panic that was raised from my earlier post!!!)
Mrs. Lovebug, Tucson
Age and Occupation in 06: 31, Writer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Professional Game Show Contestant
Engagement Date: February 18, 2007
Wedding Date: April 19, 2008
Venue: Historic Inn
About Me: Likes: blogging, wikis, semi-colons, cuddling, fragrant flowers, syntax, and spooning. Dislikes: typos, dangling modifiers, flypaper, citronella candles, and run-ons. If I had my druthers, I'd exchange simple vows in a candlelit library. But I lost my druthers long ago...anyone seen them?
Ignore the timestamp on this post. Because it was written at three a.m., and you need to know that, in order to fully comprehend what a psycho I am. I have spent the past three hours going blind over a glaring laptop screen, scrolling a ginormous PDF catalog of vintage stamps from Champion Stamp Co.
I know. They’re stamps. They’ll be thrown away. I ought to be locked up for putting so much time into this. I can’t stop italicizing.
At any rate (puns always intended), here are the stamps I’ve lost 5% of my vision for.

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Mrs. Lemon, Los Angeles/Monterey
Age and Occupation in 06: 26, Graduate Student (Public Policy)
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Environmental Consultant
Engagement Date: April 7, 2006
Wedding Date: July 7, 2007
Venue: Rosary Chapel & Monterey Marriott, Monterey, CA
About Me: My FI and I met online, but we like to tell people that we met at a "cookie shop" which is the technical location of our first encounter. He proposed exactly 1 year, 1 month and 6 days after our first date (it's the only part of his proposal speech that I remember), and we're planning long-distance from Los Angeles for a July wedding in my hometown of Monterey, CA. I have a passion for all things "cool, cute and quirky" and I enjoy video games, reading blogs (WeddingBee, trashy celeb, consumer & political) and crafting in my spare time, if I have any!
So I was happily looking up the release date for the new LOVE stamp for someone on the bulletin board, when I realized something wasn’t right.
Every stamp past April 2008 was listed as being 42 cents… not the current 41 cents. Umm… uh oh? (I had to deal with the postal rate increase in May ’08 so I completely empathize with those that would have to wait and worry about cute stamps)

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Mrs. Canary, New York
Age and Occupation: 24, Marketing
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Journalist/Editor
Engagement Date: February 16, 2007
Wedding Date: July, 2008
Blogging Since: October 19, 2007
Venue: Pier Sixty, Chelsea Piers
About Me: I'm a born and raised New Yorker who loves all things crafty and artsy, food (cheese and dessert!), magazines, and shoes. I'm a power shopper always on the lookout for good deals or great quality-- sometimes I'm lucky and I find both! I love to dance and "shake what my momma gave me" but can also really enjoy a quiet night in with Mr. Canary and a good episode of Seinfeld or curl up with a good book.
I was searching through the USPS Web site shopping for stamps for my upcoming save-the-date mailing, and I discovered some new issues for 2008. I’m so excited! As part of being a true nerd, I collected stamps when I was younger… I think it spawned my love of paper and all things related to letters and cards. I know a few brides were a bit disappointed with last year’s offering, but this year, the selection is pretty vast (well, as far as stamps go!)
I found the perfect ones for our mailing. Check it out:
Lunar New Year 2008© 2007 USPS. All Rights Reserved.
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Mrs. Penguin, Sacramento
Age and Occupation: 26, Video & TV Producer/Director/Editor
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Doctor of Physical Therapy
Engagement Date: January 29, 2007
Wedding Date: June 7, 2008
Blogging Since: September 14, 2007
Venue: Winery in the Gold Country
About Me: I'm a silly mess of a girl who, above all else in this world, LOVES the Spice Girls. I eat sushi at least 3 times a week, and feel guilty about how much it costs the other 4 days a week. I love designer jeans and cheap accessories. I don't like sweets, but I love the UCLA Bruins!

usps.com
I ran into the post office yesterday to get some stamps for my Save the Dates. I thought there would be a cute little display of all the stamps they have available, but there wasn’t. I panicked, then endured several eye rolls as I made the cashier pull out every 41cent stamp currently available.
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Mrs. Bird of Paradise, New Orleans
Age and Occupation in '06: 26, Graphic Designer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Operations Manager
Engagement Date: November 28, 2005
Wedding Date: November 18, 2006
About Me: The wedding is around the corner and planning has been a blast! I've enjoyed nearly every detail obsessed minute of it and I can't imagine what I did with my time before all of this! I can't wait for our wonderful day and the rest of my life with Mr. Soon-to-be Bird of Paradise.
From wedding invitations to bridal shower invitations to thank you cards, I love using stamps to personalize envelopes and pull together a theme. Be sure to check out USPS. They have lots of fun new stamps!
Celebrate
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