Pondering Postage

Now that invitations are on my mind, I am also consumed with thoughts about stamps. (What is it about wedding planning that makes even the smallest, and typically unimportant details, so incredibly significant!?) Truth be told, I probably wouldn't have even thought about stamps yet had they not been the cause of a potential-but-carefully-avoided-freakout when sending our save the dates.

I mentioned previously which save the dates we chose, but just for kicks and giggles, I wanted to give you an idea of what the final product looked like. They are the Bold Stripe Save the Dates from Minted, and I was really pleased with how they turned out. We chose to go with the add-on option of putting a picture as well as a short paragraph on the back, and I'm really glad we did because I think its a nice, cheery surprise when you turn the card over!

All save the date photos are personal!

After addressing and stuffing each envelope, and then attaching the return address stickers, they were all ready to go except for postage. Up until that point, I hadn't even thought about choosing stamps. I figured I would just head to the post office, choose the nicest stamp they had, and hopefully it would be wedding stationary appropriate.

I was wrong. So, so wrong.

After waiting in line at the post office for almost 25 minutes (what is this - the DMV?) I stepped up to the counter and pointed to a cute "love" stamp I had been eyeing on a poster on the wall. They were out of that one, go figure. I then asked for any wedding related stamps they had - again, all out. How about anything cute anything that's not a liberty bell?

I was given these beauties, and told they were out of everything else until sometime the next week:

Source

Romantic, right?

Moment of truth - rant or retreat? ...I shrugged it off, vowing to make up for my lack of preparation when we worked on invitations. So, here we are. I started my search on the USPS website and found a few options that could work, including the original "Love" option I had spotted.

Image via USPS

Image via USPS

These standard stamps really weren't doing it for me though, so I hopped over to Zazzle to see what I could come up with there. There were almost TOO many options. Monograms, wedding flowers, and save the date - they had it all covered.

Image via Zazzle

Image via Zazzle

Nothing was really catching my eye other than the simple monograms. Some of the others were cute, but I didn't feel like they would really match the style of the invitations I wanted. The monogram was classy, understated and nice to look at. I really thought it would add to the look of our invitations, rather than distract or make them look worse.

Image via Zazzle

The only drawback? The price. While the USPS stamps would run about $9 for a sheet of 20, the Zazzle postage is going to cost $22 for the same amount. And with about 75 invitations going out, we're talking about almost ninety bucks for postage. Yes, the personalized stamps would look better, that's why I'm searching in the first place, but I just don't know how much money should be put toward postage that someone will only glance at.

So, this is where I stand - bound and determined to have nice postage for the invitations I'm in love with, but unsure whether or not it's worth the money to pay for it.

Do you guys think it's worth the extra cash to spring for "wedding-like" postage? Tell me how you solved your postage dilemmas!