Anyway, the reason I'm blogging is I've hit a bit of a snag with the stamps. Like the invitation design, I am having a hard time deciding. Do I go with something that the USPS has or do I custom make the stamps? Is it worth the price difference? I've already cut corners with the lack of inner envelope and lack of calligraphy (which still makes me a little sad) so I don't want to necessarily wimp out on the stamps. At the same time, I don't think people will actually notice or care. I mean, I would notice, but is that really a good thing? Here are my options:
This is the only "wedding" like stamp that the U.S. postal service has for the new rate. The colors will go with our envelopes, but we're not big card players so it seems kind of weird . . .
This is one that we can custom make at Zazzle.com. Custom making the stamps adds about 45 cents per stamp to the cost. What concerns me (and Erik) about this stamp design is whether the monogram is too much. It's already on our invitations so would it be overkill to have on the outside on the envelope too? Plus, we want to be able to use these stamps for TY cards so I worry that with the TY cards being our monogram only it would be overkill. I also worry about the impropriety of using the "wedding monogram" before the wedding.
This is not my favorite, but it does have our wedding flower on it. Well, it's probably the wedding flower — there have been some issues with the blue hydrangeas, but I'll save that for another post. Anyway, the font on this stamp matches our invitations which is nice, but I don't love it.
I think this one is Erik's and my favorite. It took me an hour to create the Wordle (I'm creatively challenged sometimes), but I think it was worth it. Is it bad that I had a hard time coming up with words that were wedding related but not party-planning related or overly legalistic. I asked E what the first would to come to mind with our wedding was and he had all these great words like "love," "cherish", "friends." Mine were "commitment," "true love," and "details". Not overly romantic. Another thing we like about this is that our guests will be impressed with the Wordle. Not a lot of people know about the website and it would have a nice "wow" factor to detract from my penmanship.
I'm leaning towards the last one but cringe at the extra expense (45 cents/ stamp). What do you think? Is it worth it?
eee. i follow you on the other stamps. (The usps stamps) i don't like those either.
ReplyDeleteIt might be worth it. (and i like the wordle one the best) as far as the upcharge, ehhh that's not fun. I'm not sure really.
(good call on the forever stamps. i need to do that like pronto)
I would go with the USPS ones. It's not worth the extra 45 cents for the few seconds someone will look at the stamp.
ReplyDeleteAlso, with the Wordle one, I wonder how readble it will be. The picture you have on your blog is a lot larger than the actual stamp would be, and most people won't be able to read the really small words at that size. In fact, I can't even read the smallest words on your picture. The Wordle one is cool, but I just don't think it would work as a stamp.
I vote for the monogram, if you don't do USPS.
The Stamp Test, to determine whether a custom stamp should be adopted, is composed of the following elements:
ReplyDeleteA) How much more, in aggregate, will it cost?
- i) Will the extra cost require an elimination of any other Offerings in the Event?
- ii) If so, are the other offerings significant to the Event?
B) Will the Couple derive any reasonably significant worth in the custom stamp in a reasonably distant period?
- i) Note: Recipient celebrant worth is not to be considered given that Recipients tend not to care about stamps beyond "Oh, how cute."
- ii) Exception: Creation of jealousy in Recipients, especially ones that made stop-motion video invitations, is acceptable.
Elements A and B are to be balanced equally.
Trust me no one will remember your stamps 5 seconds after throwing the envelope in the trash! Save the money and splurge somewhere more important!
ReplyDeleteI'm not a big card player either, but I think the USPS ones are pretty cute, actually, at least compared to the wedding stamps that have been available for the past year or two, which were just a boring heart design on a purple background. at least the king and queen of hearts design has character -- I mean, you can tell that an artist designed it. and I don't think it's "weird" to use stamps that aren't particularly suited to your taste or interests or whatever -- most people use standard USPS stamps, so I can't imagine that anyone would look at those stamps and think it's weird that you used them. (that old heart design was not to my taste -- it looked kind of like a doily to me -- but I put them on my wedding invitations anyway.)
ReplyDeleteso, clearly, I'm not of the opinion that personal stamps are worth splurging on. but if you do decide to splurge, I think any of the choices you designed would look nice. the wordle might not be readable, but people would get the idea, and it's a cute-looking design.