Tips: Using Vintage Stamps

Many couples like the idea of choosing and using vintage stamps for their wedding invitations. It can be a fun way to personalize your invitations, which are, afterall, the first impression that your guests will have of your wedding! But before you take the plunge, here are a few tips to consider.

1. Many vintage stamps are sold above face value, but you can also find vintage stamps at their face value. It is important that you decide if you want to purchase only face value stamps or if you are willing to spend a little extra to get the "perfect" stamps.

2. You definitely want to start searching for your stamps in advance. Often your wedding planner can help you with this, but if you are on your own, it could take a while to accumulate enough stamps - remember a lot of vintage stamps are smaller values and wedding invitations generally run from $0.61 to over $1 each to mail! That's a lot of stamps!

3. Ebay is a good source for vintage stamps. You can simply search for "vintage stamps," but be sure that you only purchase "unused" stamps. Collectors will sometimes sell and/or buy used or cancelled stamps because they may still have some value even though they are no longer in mint condition. You can also check your local coin shops because they often stock vintage stamps as well.

4. Make sure you designate some time to separate the stamps into sets of your necessary postage. As always, you should take one completed invitation to the post office and have it weighed to ensure that your invitations aren't returned to you. If your envelopes require $1.05 each (the current rate for oversized envelopes with invitations held together by ribbon, adding a slight bulge), you will need to come up with stamps equaling approximately that amount. This is of course easier with less invitations and would be quite time consuming with over 100 invitations.

5. Also allocate a good amount of time to adhere your stamps on the invitations. A lot of your vintage stamps will not be self adhesive - a modern luxury that we often overlook! You will need to be prepared to either lick many, many stamps...or you can use a glue stick to adhere your stamps.

All stamps featured on this post are available from Verde Studio. Happy stamp hunting!