Embossing Return Address on Outer Envelope

chraron

Has anyone every tried to use a pocket or a desk embosser?   I am thinking about buying one to create the return address on the outer envelopes for my invitations.  I am worried that embossed lettering may not stand up during the mailing process or that the embosser won't be able to handle 140 invitations. 

Thus, I am teetering between getting the embosser or printing the return addresses directly onto the envelopes.  Any opinions on which would look more formal or which is the better option etiquette wise.

I look forward to your responses!

AmJam04

The embossing idea sounds cool, but I have no idea how it would stand up to being processed through the mail -- the post office is so incompetent as it is (based on personal experience) that I would probably refrain from doing anything that could potentially complicate the process.  I'd stick to hiring a professional calligrapher and having them hand write your return address instead, which will still give a beautiful formal appearance.

wabanzi

chraron said:

Has anyone every tried to use a pocket or a desk embosser?   I am thinking about buying one to create the return address on the outer envelopes for my invitations.  I am worried that embossed lettering may not stand up during the mailing process or that the embosser won't be able to handle 140 invitations. 

Thus, I am teetering between getting the embosser or printing the return addresses directly onto the envelopes.  Any opinions on which would look more formal or which is the better option etiquette wise.

I look forward to your responses!

Do you mean one like this? http://www.neimanmarcus.com/Address-Embosser/prod78980063/p.prod?ecid=NMCIGoogleProductAds&ci_sku=prod78980063sku&ci_gpa=pla

I used it for our return address on our invitations and it worked wonderfully.  I mailed one of our invitations to my home as a test run.  Also, one invitation got returned to us in the mail from Canada and the embossing was still nearly perfect.  We did not request/use hand canceling either.

chraron

yes, exactly - an embosser just like that!  Awesome, thanks for the response.  I really appreciate it!   Can you please tell me the kind of paper your envelopes were made out of? Do you happen to know the weight of the paper? 

wabanzi

chraron said:

yes, exactly - an embosser just like that!  Awesome, thanks for the response.  I really appreciate it!   Can you please tell me the kind of paper your envelopes were made out of? Do you happen to know the weight of the paper? 

I don't know the weight/bond of the envelope paper I used.  I DIY'ed my invites and used envelopes from a stationary set I bought from Michaels (cards & envelopes).  They were pretty much standard weight, not thick or luxury paper by any means.

We use the embosser now for all our mail, even on the cheapie white (1000 for a dollar) envelopes and 65# paper.  It works great.

skyhigh27

We used an embosser from Paper Source on our save the date's and various pre-wedding invitations. Worked wonderfully on the luxury linen envelopes and so-so on the thin envelopes we got from Papyrus (they ended up pretty flat through the mail but you could still read what it said). 

Blergbot

The only downside you might want to consider is that the repetitive pressing can be hard on your joints. So just give yourself enough time to do them in small increments. Have a table at the right height helps a lot, too.

chraron

Great thank you all for your responses.  I think I am going to go for it!  Hopefully it works beautifully.