All You Need to Know about Wedding Postage
Wedding Postage!
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Wedding Postage! -
You probably have found yourself here because you are ready to mail out your wedding invitations, or at least will need to soon and need a game plan. You know that sticking one forever stamp on your envelope is probably not the safest bet because you don’t want to risk getting some sent back to you, delaying even longer for it to get to your guest! As a wedding stationer, I spend an awful lot of time at my post office and I am happy to help and give you some tips to decide how much postage you need.
As a little note, I will be talking about current prices not future prices. So make sure you keep up to date on any future changes in the postage rates. I will do my best to keep everything updated as it happens, but I know that there are changes to come in the future!
Photo by Hayley Moore Photo
First things first, you need to know how much your invitation weighs, 1 oz? 1.01 oz? (yes that is a price difference!), or heavier?
So a typical letter is less than an ounce so you would only need 1 forever stamp, which is $0.58. Or if it is just a post card then it is $0.40 (however I do not recommend making your invite or your save the date a post card because it will look like a hot mess before it reaches your guests).
Now even though you may just have cards for your invites and no embellishments I would suggest at least adding an extra $0.20 because I am going to bet that you chose a heavier weight of baby to make it more sturdy and luxurious, so it should be over 1 oz.
Now if you are like me and love all the stationery for your wedding and you want to dress it up so your guests get that exciting first glance at what to experience on your wedding day, then you will need to add a little more than just $0.20, you will need to add that $0.20 and $0.30 because with ribbon or wax seals it is now non-machinable and someone at the post office will have to hand cancel each envelope themselves instead of running it through a machine.
Now to recap on how much postage you will need:
1 oz is 58 cents (a forever stamp)
Additional postage is 20 cents each oz
non-machinable is 30 cents
If you are mailing out your invitations after July then there will be some postage rate changes!
Now if you really want to get creative with your postage then you can get vintage postage. This will cost you more, as these are discontinued USPS stamps and that there is a scarcity of them.
So you may be thinking, how do I get my hands on vintage stamps?
First step is figuring up how much postage you need.
Second step is figuring out what look you want to go for with your stamps. Do you want to stick to a color scheme? Do you want to add specific themed stamps, like florals or location? Is there something special about your relationship you would love to find a stamp to represent?
Third step, find a curator that can help you find a variety of stamps or search for stamps yourself
I personally love working with a curator because they know stamps and they may have specific ones in mind already that I have no clue even exist. But if that is not the route you would like to choose I really suggest going with etsy and looking at reviews and reading the description. The bad part about looking on Etsy and not knowing stamps is that you might accidentally order stamps that have been used, from another country, damaged, or even sometimes the are fake! Curators are a person you can trust to work through all of that for you and source your stamps from reliable sources. However, some only work with stationers so if this is something you want to do and the curator you want to use only works with stationers, ask your stationer to reach out to them for you. If you are working with me, I don’t up-charge on stamps so I am more than willing to get a quote for you and be your middle man, plus I already have my favorites I like to work with.
I am sure this seems like a lot of information to throw at you and if you have any questions do not hesitate to ask! I will help in any way I can but you can also head to your local post office and they will help you out as well.
Once you have your invites out the rest will go by quickly! Take a moment to pause and love this moment you are in because it goes by so fast. And Happy Wedding Planning!!
