You’ve spent countless hours compiling your guest list and either DIY-ing or working with a stationer to create your perfect invitation suite, so don’t forget to take the final step and check your postage directly at the post office before purchasing and applying your stamps. Even more importantly, do it before mailing the entire bundle of invites!
Some tips/steps to remember:
1. Perform this extra step no matter what you are sending. Your “standard” invitation may be an odd thickness and most commonly an odd size. Common offenders are square envelopes and most invitation suites that have more than one piece, especially letterpress as they are printed on particularly thick paper. This applies for postcard mailings {think save the date map postcard!} as well ~ there are “oversized” postcards too that can take extra postage.
2. Take an entirely assembled finished piece to the post office to be weighed. The post office can tell you the exact postage and any special handling required for your pieces and/or suite. This means you must assemble all of the pieces of your suite, including any add-ons such as ribbon, sequins, shells, etc, and insert them into a completed envelope {liner included if you are having one}.
3. While you are at the post office, find out if that specific office will hand-cancel your invitations. It is very common for couples to forget that when you send invitations through the mail, they will be run through a machine and inked across the top right corner where the stamps are! Some post offices will hand-cancel your stamps giving them a much cleaner look when delivered. Be sure you know in advance that many post offices these days will no longer accommodated hand-cancelling.
4. Keep machine mailing in mind when you are adding “extras” like wax seals and even ribbon inside the envelope. It is always a good idea to mail a sample invitation to yourself if you are especially concerned about the condition your invitations will arrive to their recipients in.
Feel free to let us know any questions y0u have on the subject, but keep these tips in mind as your prepare to send out any save the dates or invitations…for any event!