About Hand Cancelling...

jaceyjc

Have you hand cancelled your Save the Dates or Invites?  Is it a matter of looking more finished or so things will arrive in one piece?  Was the attendant receptive to the idea.  It's a new concept to me, so just looking for a little guidance...  Thanks!

acollupy

I was a bit nervous too about asking but I went to a smaller post office in Newton off Oak St and they were very helpful, they weighed a few of my invites then gave me the correct postage to use I put them all in one big box and they hand cancelled them and it def makes a difference on the general look of the envelope. There are no black smudges and never goes through a machine so any decoration, ribbon, etc. will not be crushed. Its def worth asking the person at the post office and they should do this with no problems. I only did this for my invites.

ebigelow

We did our invitations.  Before I stuffed them all, I took one to a post office near my work to have it weighed and asked them if they would hand canel them - they said yes, but asked nicely if I wouldn't mind bringing them in the morning, so they wouldn't be stuck doing it at the end of the day.  My mother took them to a different post office near their home and they said they wouldn't do it, but offered to give her the stamp to do it...so I think it depends on where you go. 

jkepros

hahaha....i hand cancelled all of our invites on monday.  I sent us one & got it yesterday in the mail.  the ink from the stamp used to hand cancel rubbed off & they REcancelled them all by machine.  oh well!

(my envelopes are dark brown though, so even the machine cancelling I could barely see--I think if you have light colored envelopes it would make more of a difference)

jquirke9881

For what it is worth I did not hand cancel them and they still looked pretty once they were mailed. 

iwalktheline

i did have mine hand cancelled... but i honestely don't know if it made a huge difference.  they still get kind of dirty and smudged just by going though the whole mail process.  i also asked a few people that received them and no one even noticed it until i had mentioned it.

SunFlwr324

Hand cancelling only skips one machine ... there are still 5 others that it will go through before delivery ... Your envelope will get one less stamp on it, but there will be smudged and crinkles from the standard delivery process...

sboston06

Just make sure they don't charge you extra to do this.  Some postal employees can be sneaky

I think hand cancelling is a little silly to be honest.  I have been planning my wedding for a year and a half and even as a bride, I have NEVER noticed the stamp or the method of cancelling.   As long as the calligraphy or address font is pretty, the envelope looks nice enough to know it's an invitation.

jaceyjc

Thanks.  We'll see how ambitious I am after addressing!
---
JKE your post introduced me to the mysterious world of hand cancelling!

jkepros

 

A funny note about hand-cancelling.  My aunt lives in Nebraska & is very crafty (very Martha Stewarty!).  She sent out vintage-style Valentines this year, and shipped them so that they would be hand-cancelled with a postmark from Valentine, Nebraska!  I noticed right away on the envelope and sent  her a note thanking her and mentioned the postmark.  She said she sent out dozens of valentines and that I was the ONLY person who noticed!  I don't see how others didn't notice tho--in addition to the cancellation over the stamp they ALSO stamped the front of the envelope with a rubber stamp that said something like:
Sent with Love from Valentine, NE!
and had an arrow and big red heart.

If your envelopes are classic white or ecru, the red hand-cancelled stamp looks prettier than the black lines, but if you have colored envelopes, I doubt most people will notice. 

This is what the stamp looks like (the outer circle is ~1.5"):

jc0n15

Why do I have no idea what hand cancelling is....can someone clue me in. Although maybe I don't want to know so I don't have to add it to the list

arllinma

I would never have noticed this. I also throw away the envelopes too of invitations I get. I only ever save the actual invitation and those are only for a choice few people. I don't know if I would notice the kind of postage stamp... maybe, maybe not. I know some people buy the ones that say Love on them.