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Saving on Postage?

BethanyandJacobBethanyandJacob member
5 Love Its Name Dropper First Comment
edited August 2013 in Wedding Etiquette Forum
Hello everyone :)

We are trying to find ways to save money through this process.

Is it tacky to hand deliver invitations, save the dates, and thank yous? It would save us several hundred dollars in postage, as %80 of our guest list lives within 15 miles of us.

Thanks :)
Bethany
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Re: Saving on Postage?

  • BethanyandJacobBethanyandJacob member
    5 Love Its Name Dropper First Comment
    Yeah, I noticed that right after I posted this!

    So I edited it to be a real etiquette question.

    Sorry, and thank you!
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  • s-aries8990s-aries8990 member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Define "hand deliver" please.

    First off, if you're going to hand deliver, skip the save the dates - you can just call them up and tell them *boom* save probably $100+.

    Are you going to drive to every household and deliver them? Or give them to recipients at an event? If it's the latter, I say mail them. It'll cost more, but it'll be less of a hassle for your guests "Oh thank you for the invite Bethany, let me just go find my cocktail purse and HOPE i don't lose the invitation during the night! See it won't fit in Husband's pocket!"

    I say mail them out if you can. It'll cost more, but you'll save money on gas and won't have to take the time to deliver them.

    I say mail thank yous - it's awkward reading a thank you note in front of the person who gave it to you.
     Daisypath Anniversary tickers
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  • MayDay513MayDay513 member
    First Answer 5 Love Its First Comment First Anniversary
    BethanyandJacob said:
    Hello everyone :)

    We are trying to find ways to save money through this process.

    Is it tacky to hand deliver invitations, save the dates, and thank yous? It would save us several hundred dollars in postage, as %80 of our guest list lives within 15 miles of us.

    Thanks :)
    Bethany
    Personally, I did. I would say we were pretty discrete about it. But after the fact, I learned this is kind of frowned upon.

    Example: Handing them out at church is not a good idea because some people will get them and some people won't.
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  • MayDay513MayDay513 member
    First Answer 5 Love Its First Comment First Anniversary
    alisonmarie658 said:
    huynhette said:
    BethanyandJacob said:
    Hello everyone :)

    We are trying to find ways to save money through this process.

    Is it tacky to hand deliver invitations, save the dates, and thank yous? It would save us several hundred dollars in postage, as %80 of our guest list lives within 15 miles of us.

    Thanks :)
    Bethany
    Personally, I did. I would say we were pretty discrete about it. But after the fact, I learned this is kind of frowned upon.

    Example: Handing them out at church is not a good idea because some people will get them and some people won't.
    I'm giggling inside right now because of the bolded. :)
    OMG. I totally wasn't even thinking of Jash when I posted. ;)
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  • KeptInStitchesKeptInStitches member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    Gas is pretty expensive. I'd skip the STDs and mail everything else. I'm not the best up on invite etiquette, so someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but could you maybe use postcards instead of full envelopes for invitations and/or thank-yous? I know the postage on those is cheaper.
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  • TiaTeaTiaTea member
    First Comment 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    How are you going to do that?
    If you go to everybody's house to deliver it, it is not tacky. If anything, it is a very old fashioned form of highest respect. Just like when you ask the father for his daughter's hand, you go in person.

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  • MayDay513MayDay513 member
    First Answer 5 Love Its First Comment First Anniversary
    KeptInStitches said:
    Gas is pretty expensive. I'd skip the STDs and mail everything else. I'm not the best up on invite etiquette, so someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but could you maybe use postcards instead of full envelopes for invitations and/or thank-yous? I know the postage on those is cheaper.
    This is fantastic. Great ideas.
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  • southernbelle0915southernbelle0915 mod
    First Anniversary First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its
    Do not use postcards. We did this with our STDs and it's the one major thing that I wish we would have done differently. Postcards don't have return addresses so if something gets misdirected or someone doesn't get it, you won't know. We had people decline because they told us they realized they didn't get an STD and planned other stuff. We had no idea because it never came back in the mail. They were bummed, we were bummed. 

    For just a few cents per card, use an envelope with a return address. It's not worth it if you want everyone there.
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  • KDM323KDM323 member
    5 Love Its First Comment Name Dropper Combo Breaker

    southernbelle0915 said:
    Do not use postcards. We did this with our STDs and it's the one major thing that I wish we would have done differently. Postcards don't have return addresses so if something gets misdirected or someone doesn't get it, you won't know. We had people decline because they told us they realized they didn't get an STD and planned other stuff. We had no idea because it never came back in the mail. They were bummed, we were bummed. 

    For just a few cents per card, use an envelope with a return address. It's not worth it if you want everyone there.
    Put a return address on the postcard and then you don't have this problem. 


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  • Jessa617 Jessa617 member
    First Comment First Anniversary 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    Save the Dates are not necessary, especially if your entire guest list is local. Just make sure you send out the invitations at the proper time (8 weeks prior to the wedding). For VIPs you can just call them up and let them know your wedding will be on such and such date. 

    As far as hand delivering, it would be worth it to me to spend the extra money on postage rather than trying to find time to deliver every single invitation within the right time frame using my gas and valuable time. I am a very busy girl and would have to take a day or two off from work. 
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  • Maggie0829Maggie0829 member
    First Anniversary First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its

    Skip the STD's.  They are not necessary and if  you have some guests that need to travel either give them a call to chit-chat or send them a "how you doing" email and then slide in your wedding date.

    For invites.  I would mail them.  When picking out invites consider the weight of the final invite and the shape.  Square invites will always cost more in postage.

    Mail the thank you cards.

    Honestly, the time and gas it would take to hand deliver the invites would equal the money you would be spending in postage.  Also unless you are inviting 1000 or more people postage really will not cost you that much.


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  • bethsmilesbethsmiles member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    I agree with the PPs who suggested skipping the STDs. They aren't necessary. But mail your invites and thank-yous.


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  • Jessa617 Jessa617 member
    First Comment First Anniversary 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    What you put in your invitation envelope will also help save on postage. I had just a one piece invitation with a response card/envelope. I did not use an outer envelope or anything else inside the invitations. It was 3 pieces inside the envelope so it was under the weight limit of using just the standard postage. I got away with sending all my invitations at 48 cents each (or whatever the rate is now).
    Anniversary
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  • LDubHawksFanLDubHawksFan member
    First Anniversary First Answer 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    drexelkathy said:



    southernbelle0915 said:

    Do not use postcards. We did this with our STDs and it's the one major thing that I wish we would have done differently. Postcards don't have return addresses so if something gets misdirected or someone doesn't get it, you won't know. We had people decline because they told us they realized they didn't get an STD and planned other stuff. We had no idea because it never came back in the mail. They were bummed, we were bummed. 

    For just a few cents per card, use an envelope with a return address. It's not worth it if you want everyone there.

    Put a return address on the postcard and then you don't have this problem. 





    We did postcard stds and RSVPs to save a little on postage. Our postcard design had a place for return address. For the std it was ours, for the RSVP we added their address.

    image
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  • gpeeplesgpeeples member
    5 Love Its Name Dropper First Comment
    huynhette said:
    BethanyandJacob said:
    Hello everyone :)

    We are trying to find ways to save money through this process.

    Is it tacky to hand deliver invitations, save the dates, and thank yous? It would save us several hundred dollars in postage, as %80 of our guest list lives within 15 miles of us.

    Thanks :)
    Bethany
    Personally, I did. I would say we were pretty discrete about it. But after the fact, I learned this is kind of frowned upon.

    Example: Handing them out at church is not a good idea because some people will get them and some people won't.
    Also, you run the chance of "Not Invited to Wedding in a Park" showing up.

    OP, like many others have said, skip the save the dates (no I will not call them that disease thing...).  I spread the word in person, over the phone, or word of mouth once we had a date.  As far as the invitations go, I think immediate family you might be able to hand deliver (my nearest and dearest punished me for mailing mine by playing pranks on me with response cards), but most should be mailed.  Thank yous should be mailed.
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  • saraboppsarabopp
    Name Dropper First Comment
    I agree- skip the save the dates.
    FI and I sent out simple invitations that fit in a "regular" card envelope using one postage stamp.
    We also did our RSVPs through our wedding website. The website contains all of the information such as directions and lodging. It has gone over very well! It's super easy and our guests can RSVP using a smart phone.
    This saved us money (reg. stamps, less on invitations and RSVP envelope stamps), made it easy to keep track of guests and food selections and saves some trees!
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  • muenginerdmuenginerd member
    5 Love Its First Anniversary First Comment Name Dropper

    I've been handed a wedding invite at a funeral before.  We laughed afterward how incredibly inappropriate it was.  I don't know something about being handed an invite out and about seems awkward.  Like other's have said, I would probably lose it. If you want to hand deliver to mailboxes that might work...

    A friend sent STD email.  She had graphic design skills and made a really cute save the date card, just didn't have it printed.  This worked really well and was good since most of us were on email more than we checked regular mail...

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  • ElcaBElcaB member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    Several other PPs have it right; I'd mail invites & thank-yous. I know it adds up, but I think it's best that way. Are you including response cards? If I were you, I'd have guests RSVP on your wedding website (list your phone number in case they aren't internet-savvy). 

    A close friend skipped the paper invites altogether and sent them online. I know it's a little out of the norm (and maybe considered tacky), but the B&G are huge environmental advocates. I thought it worked in that scenario. 
    image
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  • BMoreBride6BMoreBride6 member
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    alisonmarie658 said:
    huynhette said:
    BethanyandJacob said:
    Hello everyone :)

    We are trying to find ways to save money through this process.

    Is it tacky to hand deliver invitations, save the dates, and thank yous? It would save us several hundred dollars in postage, as %80 of our guest list lives within 15 miles of us.

    Thanks :)
    Bethany
    Personally, I did. I would say we were pretty discrete about it. But after the fact, I learned this is kind of frowned upon.

    Example: Handing them out at church is not a good idea because some people will get them and some people won't.
    I'm giggling inside right now because of the bolded. :)
    HAHA I was about to say..."if you want them out at church you might inadvertently end up being stalked by a crazy with too much time on her hands...." you beat me to it
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